Bangalore ITAT Condones 4-Year Delay as Assessee Bona Fide Pursued Section 119(2)(b) Remedy

Amit Agarwal Vs ITO (ITAT Bangalore)

The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Bangalore, considered the assessee’s appeal against the order of the Joint Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals), who had dismissed the appeal solely on the ground of refusing to condone a delay of more than four years in filing the appeal against an order passed under Section 154 of the Income-tax Act, 1961. The Tribunal first condoned a separate 62-day delay in filing the appeal before it after accepting the explanation that the assessee had initially acted on professional advice to pursue departmental remedies, including an application under Section 119(2)(b), before approaching the Tribunal.

The assessee had originally filed a return declaring total income of ₹5,70,000. The return was processed under Section 143(1), and the Central Processing Centre determined the total income at ₹12,65,749, primarily due to duplication of casual income and an addition arising from mismatch with Form 26AS. The assessee filed a rectification application under Section 154, which was rejected. Thereafter, instead of immediately filing an appeal, the assessee continued making representations before the Revenue authorities seeking rectification. The appeal before the CIT(A) was eventually filed on 30 December 2023 against the Section 154 order dated 31 October 2019, resulting in a delay exceeding four years.