ITAT upholds denial of tax exemption on failing to file electronic form

ITAT upholds denial of tax exemption on failing to file electronic form

The revenue department submitted that Form 10B was filed by the assessee manually during the appellate proceedings

The Ahmedabad bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has upheld the denial of exemption claimed under Sections 11 and 12 of the Income Tax Act for failure to file Form 10B electronically.

The appellant, Ambica Sarvajnik Trust Anklav is a public charitable trust. During scrutiny assessment, the CPC denied the trust deduction claimed under the IT Act, alleging that Form No.10B was not filed electronically. It demanded a tax of Rs.7,73,720 and the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) dismissed the appeal.

Aggrieved by the order, the appellant filed an appeal before ITAT.

The appellant submitted that the benefit of exemption under Sections 11 and 12 would be available to the assessee in respect of the income derived from the property held under the trust for earlier assessment years. There was no change in either object or the activities for the Assessment Year 2016-2017 compared to the Assessment Year 2018-19.

But the revenue department submitted that Form 10B was filed manually during the appellate proceedings and no evidence of filing the same electronically was adduced by the appellant.

The Coram of T.R. Senthil Kumar (judicial member) and Waseem Ahmed (accountant member) observed that the assessee was free to file Form 10B online and/or approach the CIT(Exemption) after filing the form electronically. This was to condone the delay in accordance with the delegated powers vested under the IT Act. The bench maintained that such a power was not vested with the CIT(A).

The tribunal held, "We do not find any infirmity in the order passed by the CIT(A) and therefore, have no hesitation in confirming the order."