CIT (Exemption) Vs Anjana Foundation (Gujarat High Court)
The appeal before the Gujarat High Court was filed by the Revenue under Section 260A of the Income-tax Act, 1961, challenging the order dated 07.02.2024 passed by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Ahmedabad Bench, for Assessment Year 2021–22. The Revenue proposed questions of law on whether furnishing the audit report in Form 10B is a mandatory requirement under Section 12A(1)(b) or merely procedural, and whether the Tribunal was justified in admitting Form 10B filed after the due date and granting exemption under Section 11.
Read SC Judgment: SC Declines to Entertain delayed Revenue SLIP on Denial of Exemption for Late Form Filing
The assessee is a public charitable trust registered under the Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950. For AY 2021–22, it filed its return of income on 28.12.2021 declaring a nominal income of ₹22,967 against expenditure of ₹74,061, resulting in a deficit of ₹51,094. The return was processed under Section 143(1) by the Centralised Processing Centre (CPC). By intimation dated 20.09.2022, the CPC denied the exemption claimed under Sections 11 and 12 solely on the ground that the audit report in Form 10B had not been filed along with the return of income. Consequently, the CPC treated the entire income of the trust, including corpus donations and voluntary donations, as taxable and raised a demand of ₹8,59,78,930.
