Navayuga Engineering Company Limited Vs ACIT (ITAT Hyderabad)
No Fresh 80-IA Claim Allowed in 153A Return for Completed Assessment; ITAT Follows Earlier Years Dismisses Appeal
Assessee, a construction company, originally filed return u/s 139(1) declaring income of ₹164.25 Cr for AY 2016-17, which was assessed u/s 143(3) accepting the returned income. Subsequently, a search u/s 132 was conducted on 25.10.2018 & notice u/s 153A was issued. In response, Assessee filed a fresh return declaring NIL income by claiming deduction u/s 80-IA for the first time. AO, while completing assessment u/s 153A, disallowed the deduction & determined income at ₹168.59 Cr. CIT(A) upheld the disallowance.
Before Tribunal, there was a delay of 129 days in filing the appeal. Assessee submitted that it was under bona fide belief that the appeal for this year was already pursued along with other years. On realizing that the order for AY 2016-17 was adverse, the Assessee immediately filed the appeal. Tribunal, relying on the Supreme Court judgment in Vidya Shankar Jaiswal SLP (Civil) Nos. 26310-26311/2024 (31.01.2025), adopted a liberal approach & condoned the delay.
On merits, the Ld. AR conceded that facts were identical to Assessee’s own case for AYs 2013-14 to 2015-16 decided in ITA Nos.239-241/Hyd/2022 dated 11.12.2023 where deduction u/s 80-IA was disallowed. Tribunal in that decision held that once assessment u/s 143(3) is completed & no appeal or revised return is filed within time, Assessee cannot use 153A return to make a fresh deduction claim or seek refund, relying on Shelly Products (SC) that assessed income cannot be less than returned income. Since in the present year also the original assessment was completed & no 80-IA claim was made earlier, & the claim was raised for the first time in the 153A return, Tribunal followed its earlier decision & held that the Assessee is not eligible for deduction u/s 80-IA. Accordingly, the appeal was dismissed.
