Jogniya Mata Shaktipith Vs ITO (ITAT Jodhpur)
The appeal concerned the denial of the assessee’s claim for exemption under Section 11 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 for alleged late filing of Form 10B for assessment year 2022-23. The assessee was an institution/trust registered under Section 12A. It filed its return of income claiming exemption under Section 11, while the audit report in Form 10B was furnished along with the return rather than within the prescribed statutory time limit. While processing the return under Section 143(1)(a), the Centralized Processing Centre (CPC) denied the exemption on account of delayed filing/uploading of Form 10B.
The assessee challenged the denial before the First Appellate Authority, but the appeal was dismissed on the ground that the jurisdiction to condone the delay lay with CIT(E). Before the Tribunal, it was noted that the audit report in Form 10B had been furnished along with the return. The order records the return date as 21.12.2022 in paragraph 4, while paragraph 3 states that the return was filed on 31.12.2022. The return was processed by CPC on 28.07.2023. Thus, the Tribunal found that the Form 10B report was available with CPC well before the processing of the return.
