RANG AVDHUT MANDIR TRUST,BARDOLI vs. INCOME TAX OFFICER, WARD - 1, BARDOLI

Assessee represented by Shri Kiran K Shah, CA Department represented by Shri Vinod Kumar, Sr. DR Date of hearing 12/04/2023 Date of pronouncement 12/04/2023 Order under Section 254(1) of Income Tax Act PER: PAWAN SINGH, JUDICIAL MEMBER: 1. This appeal by the assessee is directed against the order of learned National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC)/Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) (in short, the ld. CIT(A)) dated 14/09/2022 for the Assessment year (AY) 2017-18 wherein the assessee has raised following grounds of appeal: “1. The ld. CIT(A) grossly erred in not allowing application of income for Rs. 8,51,066/- (Expenses for the object of the Trust) merely because 10B was not filed alongwith return of income as discussed in para 5.1 of the CIT(A) order.

2. The appellant reserves right to add, alter and withdraw of any grounds of appeal.”

2. Brief facts of the case are that the assessee-trust filed its return of income for A.Y. 2017-18 on 05/08/2017. Return was processed under Section 143(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (in short, the Act) by the Rang Avdhut Mandir Trust Vs ITO Central Processing Centre (CPC), Bangalore vide order dated 09/03/2019. The CPC while processing the return of income, disallowed the deduction of application of income of Rs. 8,51,066/- as Form 10B was not filed alongwith return of income.

3. Aggrieved by the disallowance made by the CPC, the assessee filed appeal before the ld. CIT(A). Before the ld. CIT(A), the assessee submitted that due to technical default, the assessee could not file Form- 10B while filing return of income, though, it was obtained prior to date of filing of return of income. The assessee substantially fulfilled all the conditions. The disallowance of application of income is unjustified. The assessee also stated that the assessee has already filed Form-10B before processing the return of income. The ld. CIT(A) confirmed the action of Assessing Officer by holding that the assessee has filed Form-10B after due date of filing return of income. The assessee should have filed application for condonation of delay under Section 119(2)(b) of the Act. The assessee filed/uploaded Form-10B after due date of filing of return of income under section 139(1), which cannot be ignored. Further aggrieved, the assessee has filed present appeal before this Tribunal.

4. I have heard the submissions of the learned Authorised Representative (ld. AR) of the assessee and the learned Senior Departmental Representative (ld. Sr. DR) for the revenue and have gone through the orders of lower authorities carefully. The ld. AR of the assessee submits Rang Avdhut Mandir Trust Vs ITO that the assessee obtained audit repot/Form-10B from Auditor on 09/10/2017. The return of income was filed on 27/12/2017. Due date for filing return of income was extended for the relevant financial year up to 31/03/2018. Form10B (audit report) was filed on 27/08/2018. The return of income of assessee was processed on 09/03/2019. The ld. AR of the assesse submits that on the date of processing the return of income by the CPC, the audit report/Form-10B was available on the system. The ld. AR for the assessee submits that non-filing of Form-10B before due date prescribed under Section 139(1) of the Act was a procedure lapse and the assessee should not be denied the benefit of application of income under Section 11 and 12 of the Act, when the assessee is having valid registration under Section 12AA of the Act.