In March, Tarasov was appointed commander of the 24th Army in the RVGK, but in April he was demoted to deputy commander for "inconsistent performance". On 16 April it was redesignated the 4th Guards Army. As part of the Voronezh Front, the 4th Guards Army fought in the Belgorod-Kharkov Offensive Operation and the Battle of the Dnieper from the summer through the early fall of 1943. In November he briefly transferred to become deputy commander of the 7th Guards Army, and took temporary command of the 53rd Army in December when army commander Ivan Managarov was wounded. Due to "command failures" he was demoted to deputy commander of the army on 5 January 1944. While the army was part of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, Tarasov served in that position during the Korsun–Shevchenkovsky Offensive, the Uman–Botoșani Offensive, the Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive, and the Battle of Debrecen. During the latter operation, he was killed in fighting on the outskirts of Kisújszállás on 19 October. Tarasov was buried in Kotovsk, Odessa Oblast.