ITO Vs Old Girtonians Association Property Fund (ITAT Mumbai)
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) Mumbai dismissed an appeal by the Income Tax Department against the Old Girtonians Association Property Fund regarding assessment year 2016-17. The appeal challenged the decision of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) [CIT(A)] from the National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi, which had quashed the reassessment proceedings initiated under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The department contended that the CIT(A) incorrectly quashed the reassessment, arguing that the fund’s activities fall under the seventh limb of Section 2(15), which would disqualify it from tax exemption under Section 11. Additionally, the department raised concerns about the potential for double taxation, as the exempt amount was not utilized within the statutory time limit. However, the department’s representative acknowledged that the appeal was now infructuous, referencing CBDT Circular No. 9/2024, which increased the minimum monetary limit for filing appeals before the ITAT to ₹60 lakh. Given that the tax effect in this case was ₹57,92,897, below the updated threshold, the tribunal found the appeal to be non-maintainable and dismissed it accordingly. The appellant’s representative concurred with the department’s submission, leading the ITAT to conclude that the appeal did not meet the requisite monetary criteria for further review. All pending applications related to the appeal were also dismissed in the tribunal’s final order, pronounced on October 15, 2024.
