Sadguru Dada Maharaj Sangavadekar Seva Pratishthan Vs ITO (ITAT Pune)
The assessee, a charitable trust registered under Section 12AA of the Income-tax Act, filed an appeal against the order of the Addl./JCIT(A)-3, Ahmedabad, passed under Section 250 for Assessment Year 2024-25. The dispute concerned the denial of exemption under Section 11 on the ground that Form No. 10BB had not been filed one month before the due date prescribed under Section 139(1).
The assessee stated that its return of income for Assessment Year 2024-25 was filed on 21.10.2024, declaring Nil income after claiming exemption under Section 11 within the extended due date under Section 139(1), i.e., 15.11.2024. Form No. 10BB was also electronically filed on 21.10.2024. Subsequently, the Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) processed the return under Section 143(1) on 23.12.2025 and denied exemption under Sections 11 and 11(1)(a) on the ground that Form No. 10BB had not been filed one month before the due date for filing the return. Consequently, the total income was assessed at Rs. 58,50,580.
The assessee challenged the processing before the Commissioner (Appeals), who confirmed the action of the CPC and dismissed the appeal. Aggrieved, the assessee preferred the present appeal before the Tribunal.
Before the Tribunal, the assessee submitted that the Commissioner (Appeals) failed to consider that Form No. 10BB had been electronically filed on 21.10.2024, much before the CPC processed the return under Section 143(1). The assessee relied upon the acknowledgement of online filing and various judicial decisions in support of the contention that exemption could not be denied where the audit report was already available on record before processing of the return.
