Roman Catholic Church of St. Joseph Vs Central Processing Centre Income Tax Department (ITAT Mumbai)
Form 10B Delay Condoned – Exemption U/s 11 Cannot Be Denied for Procedural Lapse
Assessee, a charitable trust, claimed exemption u/s 11 & 12. CPC denied exemption in intimation u/s 143(1) on ground that Form 10B (audit report) was filed with delay of 29 days, though return itself was filed within due date.
CIT(A) upheld denial relying on Wipro Ltd. decision.
ITAT held:
- Delay in filing Form 10B is procedural in nature
- Audit report was filed before completion of processing u/s 143(1)
- Various HC rulings (Gujarat HC, Bombay HC) consistently hold that substantial compliance is sufficient
- Denial of exemption merely on technical delay leads to genuine hardship
Tribunal emphasized:
- Authorities must adopt justice-oriented approach, not hyper-technical view
- Procedural lapse should not defeat substantive exemption rights
Accordingly:
- Delay of 29 days condoned
- Orders of lower authorities set aside
- AO directed to consider Form 10B as valid & allow exemption on merits
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF ITAT MUMBAI
This appeal has been preferred by the Assessee against the order dated 04.09.2025, impugned herein, passed by Ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) ADDL/JCIT (A) – 1, Ahmedabad [in short Ld. Commissioner] u/s 250 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, [in short ‘the Act’] for the A.Y. 2023-24.
Paid content
Become a Premium Member, or log in if you are already a Premium member.
