PACE CHARITABLE TRUST ,CHENNAI vs. CIT(A),NFAC, DELHI

This appeal filed by the assessee is directed against the order of the ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), National Faceless Appeal Centre [NFAC], New Delhi dated 18.11.2021 relevant to the assessment year 2018-19.

Brief facts of the case are that the assessee is a charitable trust registered under section 12AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 [“Act” in short]. The assessee trust filed its return of income on 25.10.2018 for the assessment year 2018-19 admitting income of ₹.14,58,407/-. The tax audit report in Form 10B was filed on 30.10.2018. The CPC, Bangalore processed the return on 30.09.2019. The CPC in their intimation under section 143(1) of the Act disallowed the total income received which was claimed under section 11 of the Act as exempt for the reason that the audit report in Form 10B was not filed along with the return of income as per section 12(A)(1)(b) of the Act. On appeal, by following CBDT circular, the ld. CIT(A) has observed that the jurisdictional Commissioner is the competent authority for the granting the condonation of delay in filing of the Form 10B and dismissed the appeal of the assessee.

On being aggrieved, the assessee is in appeal before the Tribunal and the ld. Counsel for the assessee has prayed for condonation of short delay in filing the Form 10B.

On the other hand, the ld. DR supported the orders of authorities below.

We have heard both the sides, perused the materials available on record and gone through the orders of authorities below. In this case, the return of income was filed on 25.10.2018, whereas, the audit report in Form 10B was filed on 30.10.2018. Since, the audit report in Form 10B was not filed along with the return of income as per section 12(A)(1)(b) of the Act, the Assessing Officer has disallowed the claim of deduction under section 11 of the Act. On appeal, the ld. CIT(A) [NFAC] dismissed the appeal of the assessee by observing as under: “On perusal of the above Circular, it is observed that the jurisdictional Commissioner of Income Tax of the appellant is the competent authority for the granting the condonation of delay in filing of the Form 10B. As no such order of condonation has been furnished during the appellate proceedings, the appellant is not entitled to the deduction u/s. 11 and the disallowance made by the CPC is therefore, held to be correct and is upheld. Accordingly, all the grounds of appeal

In the result, the appeal filed by the assessee is dismissed.