Savitribai Phule Shikshan Prasarak Mandal Vs Directorate General of Income Tax Investigation (Bombay High Court)
The writ petition sought to quash orders dated 17 March 2025 and 30 June 2025, by which the authority rejected the petitioner trust’s application for condonation of delay in filing Form 9A for Assessment Year (AY) 2022-23. The petitioner also sought a direction to condone the delay of approximately one year and four months in filing the form.
The petitioner filed its income tax return on 19 October 2023 declaring nil income after claiming exemption under Section 11. The dispute arose following an amendment inserted by the Finance Act 2022 to the Explanation below Section 11(7), which mandated that charitable trusts must claim application of income only on an “Actual Payment Basis.” The petitioner claimed it believed, based on the 67th Edition of Taxmann’s Income Tax Act, that this amendment was applicable from AY 2023-24. Therefore, it applied the accrual system while filing its return and did not file Form 9A, assuming that more than 85% of income had already been applied.
During scrutiny assessment under Section 143(3), the petitioner learned that the amendment was actually applicable from AY 2022-23. On an actual payment basis, its application of income fell short of the statutory 85% threshold. Consequently, it submitted Form 9A on 30 March 2024 and later filed an application on 8 July 2024 under Section 119(2)(b) seeking condonation of a delay of 509 days.
