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Facts
The assessee filed its return of income with a NIL income and its audit report in Form 10B belatedly. The CPC denied the exemption claimed due to the late filing of Form 10B, raising a demand. The First Appellate Authority (FAA) dismissed the assessee's appeal as not maintainable because it lacked the power to condone the delay.
Held
The CIT(Exemptions) condoned the delay in filing Form 10B, citing a ransomware attack as a reasonable cause for the delay. The Tribunal noted that since the delay in filing Form 10B has been condoned by the CIT(Exemptions), it is appropriate to send the matter back to the Assessing Officer for fresh consideration.
Key Issues
Whether the delay in filing Form 10B can be condoned, and if so, whether the matter should be remanded to the Assessing Officer.
Sections Cited
Sec 143(1), Sec 11, Sec 119(2)(b), Sec 10(23C), Sec 139(1)
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, “A” BENCH : BANGALORE
Before: SHRI LAXMI PRASAD SAHU & SHRI SOUNDARARAJAN K.
Per Laxmi Prasad Sahu, Accountant Member
This appeal is filed by the assessee against the ex parte order dated 31.01.2024 of the Addl./Jt.CIT(A), Madurai for the AY 2022-23.
The brief facts of the case are that the appellant is a company registered u/s. 8 of the Companies Act on 01.07.2021. The appellant is registered under the provisions of section 12AA of the Income-tax Act vide Active DIN ITBA/EXM/F/EXM44/2022-23/1050641368(1) dated 11.03.2023. The assessee filed return of income on 03.11.2022 declaring NIL income. The extended due date for filing return of income was 07.11.2022. Audit report was filed in Form 10B as per Rule 17B on 16.01.2023. While processing the return u/s. 143(1), the CPC denied the exemption u/s. claimed by the assessee because of late filing of Form 10B by the assessee, raising a demand of Rs.12,07,550.
Aggrieved by the intimation u/s. 143(1), the assessee filed appeal before the First Appellate Authority (FAA). The FAA noted that all the grounds raised related to exemption u/s. 11 due to delay in filing Form 10B. Relying on the judgment of Ahmedabad Tribunal in the case of Association of Indian Panelboard Manufacturer v. DCIT [2022] 143 taxmann.com 418 (Ahd. Trib.) dated 22.07.2022, the FAA observed that the power of condonation of delay in filing Form 10B rests with CIT(E) only and not with the FAA. The FAA therefore dismissed the appeal as not maintainable. Against this, the assessee is in appeal before the ITAT.
At the outset, the ld. AR fairly submitted that the ld. CIT(Exemptions) has condoned the delay in filing Form 10B u/s. 119(2)(b) on an application filed by the assessee on 20.02.2023 vide order dated 03.04.2024, which is as follows:-
Accordingly, the ld. AR requested that the matter may be sent back to AO for fresh consideration.
The ld. DR submitted that Form 10B requires examination.
Considering the rival submissions, we note that the assessee filed Form 10B belatedly due to which exemption u/s. 11 was denied by the CPC. The FAA dismissed the appeal as not maintainable since he had no power to condone the delay in filing Form 10B belatedly. On the other hand, the assessee filed condonation application on 20.2.2023 before the CIT(Exemptions) and the ld. CIT(Exemptions) by order dated 03.04.2024 has condoned the delay in filing Form 10B, copy of which is placed on record. Since the belated filing of Form 10B is condoned by the CIT(Exemptions), we deem it fit to send back the matter to the Assessing Officer for fresh consideration and decision as per law. The assessee is directed to comply the notices issued by the Assessing Officer and not seek unnecessary adjournment for early disposal of the case.
In the result, the appeal is allowed for statistical purposes.