Vishva Kalyan Foundation Vs ITO (ITAT Ahmedabad)
The Ahmedabad Bench of the ITAT allowed the appeal of a charitable trust for AY 2020-21 and held that exemption under Sections 11 and 12 cannot be denied merely on account of belated filing of audit report in Form 10B, when such report was already available on record at the time of processing the return under Section 143(1). The CPC had denied exemption and taxed gross receipts of ₹82.96 lakh solely due to delay in e-filing Form 10B, and the CIT(A) dismissed the appeal in limine by refusing to condone a substantial delay in filing the first appeal.
The Tribunal noted that although Form 10B was filed about 73 days after the due date, it was uploaded well before the CPC processed the return. Relying on a consistent line of decisions of the Gujarat High Court (Sarvodaya Charitable Trust, Babubhai C. Jariwala Charitable Trust, Parul Mahila Pragati Mandal, Laxmanarayan Dev Shrishan Seva Khendra) and several Ahmedabad ITAT rulings, the Bench reiterated that filing of Form 10B is a procedural requirement and delay therein is a curable defect. Denial of exemption on such technical grounds at the processing stage was held to be beyond the scope of Section 143(1).
The ITAT further held that the CIT(A) erred in refusing to condone the delay without appreciating that the underlying adjustment itself was contrary to binding precedents. Accordingly, the Tribunal directed that exemption under Sections 11 and 12 be allowed and set aside the demand raised by CPC. The appeal was allowed in full.
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF ITAT AHMEDABAD
