Satishkumar Ekambaram Vs ITO (ITAT Chennai)
The case of Satishkumar Ekambaram Vs ITO before the ITAT Chennai involved an appeal concerning the allowance of Foreign Tax Credit (FTC) for the Assessment Years (AY) 2018-19 and 2019-20. The issue centered on the denial of FTC claimed by the assessee due to the late filing of Form 67, a mandatory document for claiming FTC under Section 90 of the Income Tax Act. For AY 2018-19, the assessee initially filed a return without claiming FTC of ₹9.59 lakhs, but later filed a revised return along with Form 67. However, the Centralized Processing Centre (CPC) denied the claim on the grounds that Form 67 was submitted after the due date, and the CIT(A) upheld this denial, citing that Form 67 must be filed along with the original return as per Rule 128(9) of the Income Tax Rules.
The ITAT, however, considered a similar case in ITO vs. Smt. Chengam Durga (ITA No.1491/Chny/2023) and a Madras High Court ruling in Duraiswamy Kumaraswamy (WP No.5834 of 2022), where it was held that the requirement to file Form 67 with the original return was directory, not mandatory. The tribunal emphasized that the rule’s purpose was to facilitate the implementation of the provisions, and non-compliance with the filing deadline should not automatically disqualify the FTC claim. Following this precedent, the ITAT directed the CIT(A) to allow the FTC claim after verifying the late-filed Form 67. The same reasoning was applied to the appeal for AY 2019-20, and both appeals were allowed for statistical purposes, with the final order pronounced on November 4, 2024.
