Facts
The assessee, a trust registered u/s 12A, claimed deduction for application of funds which was inadvertently shown in the wrong column while filing the return online. The AO-CPC disallowed the claim, and the CIT(A) decided the appeals ex-parte due to a delay in filing the appeal.
Held
The Tribunal condoned the delay in filing the appeal before the CIT(A). It held that if the funds were actually applied by the trust, the deduction should be allowed, restoring the issue to the JAO for decision on merits.
Key Issues
Whether the delay in filing the appeal before the CIT(A) should be condoned, and if the deduction for application of funds can be allowed despite an error in online return filing.
Sections Cited
250, 12A
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, “D” BENCH,KOLKATA
Appearances by: Assessee represented by : Somnath Ghosh, Adv. Department represented by : Sanat Kumar Raha, CIT-DR Date of concluding the hearing : 10.12.2025 Date of pronouncing the order : 23.12.2025 O R D E R Per Rajesh Kumar, AM
The present appeals filed by the assessee arise from order dated 16.06.2025passed u/s 250 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereafter “the Act”) by the Ld. Additional/Joint Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), [hereafter “the Ld.CIT(A)].
At the outset, the Ld. Counsel for the assessee pointed out that the Ld. CIT(A) has decided both the appeals exparte by not condoning the delay in filing the appeal of 2315 days. After perusing the facts in the & 1986/Kol/2025 Sree Ramakrishna Prema Bihar appellate order and hearing the rival contentions, we hereby condone the delay in filing the appeal before CIT(A). We observe that the assessee is a trust duly registered u/s 12A of the Act and has claimed deduction from gross income qua the application of funds which inadvertently shown in the wrong column while punching the return of income online. Consequently, the AO-CPC disallowed the claim of the assessee and added the same to the income of the assessee. In our opinion, the ends of justice would be well served if the issue is restored to the file of JAO with the direction to decide the same on merit afresh. Needless to say, that if the assessee has actually incurred application of funds/income during the year and the mistake is only while preparing the return of income online as regards application of funds in the wrong column then this has to be considered of application of funds by the trust and deduction has to be allowed to the assessee. With these observations, we restore these appeals to the file of JAO with a direction to decide the same after affording a reasonable opportunity of being heard to the assessee,
In result, appeals of the assessee are allowed for statistical purposes.