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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, MUMBAI BENCH “B”, MUMBAI
Before: SHRI VIKAS AWASTHY & SHRI GAGAN GOYAL
This appeal by assessee is directed against the order of National Faceless Appeal Centre (for short “NFAC”) dated 27.02.2023 u/s. 250 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (in short ‘the Act’) for A.Y. 2016-17. The assessee has raised the following grounds (revised) of appeal:-
1 The Ld. CIT (Appeals) erred in dismissing the appeal in limine on the ground that the appeal was filed with a delay of 216 days. It is submitted that the order passed under section 154 of Act dated 20th June 2019 was digitally signed and served upon the appellant on 21st February 2020. In accordance with the provisions of Section 246A of the Act, an appeal to the CIT (Appeals) should be filed within 30 days. The Appellant filed the appeal against the impugned order on 29th February 2020 i.e. within the statutory time limit for filing the appeal. 2 The Ld. CIT (Appeals) erred in confirming disallowance of Rs. 12,88,782/- under section 36(1) (va) of the Act without appreciating that the payment of employee's contribution to the provident fund was paid within the extended due date granted by EPFO. 3 The Ld. CIT (Appeals) erred in confirming disallowance of Rs. 12,88,782/- under section 36(1)(va) of the Act without appreciating that the disallowance made by CPC, Bengaluru was beyond the scope of permissible adjustments under section 143(1)(a) read with section 154 of the Act.
The brief facts of the case are that assessee company engaged in the business of transport and logistics. Assessee filed its return of income on 27.10.2017 declaring total income at Rs. 9, 54, 40,142/-. The return was processed by Central Processing Cell, Bengaluru vide intimation dated 28th March 2019 u/s 143(1) of the Act determining the total income of Rs. 9,89,74,885/-. The assessee filed request for rectification on 11.04.2019. The rectification request was disposed vide order dated 28th June 2019 but the same was digitally signed on 21.02.2020 by ADIT, CPC and assessee received the same through an email on very same day. In this order u/s. 154, ADIT, CPC rejected the claim of the assessee again. Assessee being aggrieved with this order passed u/s. 154 preferred an appeal before the Ld. CIT (A) on 29.02.2020. In this order passed u/s. 250, Ld. CIT (A) rejected the appeal of the assessee on ground that the same is time barred by 216 days. This appeal of the assessee before the Ld. CIT (A) dismissed in limine without discussing the merits of the case.
Assessee being further aggrieved filed this appeal before us. We have gone through the order of CPC passed u/s. 154 dated 28th June 2019, intimation from CPC dated 21.02.2020 with DIN No. CPC/1718/U6/1902526511 with even date and order of the Ld. CIT (A). It is observed that the Ld CIT (A) in his order picked a wrong date of order u/s. 154 i.e. 28th June 2019. Whereas the actual date of signing the order is 21.02.2020. Considering these facts, we find that ground no. 1 raised by assessee has merit and there is a mistake in the order of Ld. CIT (A). In the result, ground no. 1 raised by the assessee is allowed and matter is restored back to the file of Ld. CIT (A) for fresh adjudication to consider the merits of the case after giving a proper opportunity of being heard. We further hold that the appeal of the assessee before Ld. CIT (A) was filed within limitation.