CIT Vs Gemini Communication Ltd (Madras High Court)
The Madras High Court examined whether a company could validly file a manual return of income for Assessment Year (AY) 2008–09 after electronic filing of returns had become mandatory. The appeal arose from an order of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), which had remanded the matter to the Assessing Officer on the ground that electronic filing was mandated only by CBDT schemes and not expressly by the Income-tax Act.
The assessee, a company, filed its return for AY 2008–09 belatedly on 06.11.2008. The assessment was completed under Section 143(3) on 31.12.2010, during which the Assessing Officer denied deduction under Section 80-IC. The denial was based on the finding that the electronically filed return was belated and that Section 80AC required the return to be filed within the due date to claim the deduction. The assessee argued that it had already filed a manual return on 30.09.2008, within time, and therefore the deduction should be allowed.
The Assessing Officer rejected this contention, holding that from AY 2007–08 onwards, companies were mandatorily required to file returns electronically and that a manual return had no legal validity. The first appellate authority confirmed this view. However, the ITAT allowed the assessee’s appeal, holding that the obligation to e-file flowed only from CBDT schemes and circulars and that the Act itself did not mandate electronic filing.
