Inderjit Kaur Vs ITO (ITAT Amritsar)
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Amritsar Bench, ruled in the case of Inderjit Kaur Vs. ITO to condone a delay of 146 days in filing the appeal by the assessee and restored the matter to the Assessing Officer (AO) for fresh adjudication. The appeal was initially dismissed in limine (at the threshold) by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) [CIT(A)] due to this delay, without considering the merits of the case.
Factual Background and Assessee’s Plea
The assessee, a senior citizen, had filed her original return for the relevant assessment year (A.Y. 2012-13) on July 26, 2016, declaring an income of ₹9,16,995, derived from the surrender of a Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance policy. Reassessment proceedings were initiated by the AO via a notice under Section 148 on March 31, 2021. Due to a lack of response, the AO completed the assessment under Section 144 read with Section 147 on March 22, 2022, determining the total income at ₹18.33 lakhs by adding the entire amount from the surrendered policy back to her income.
The assessee’s appeal to the CIT(A) was delayed by 146 days. Before the ITAT, the legal representative submitted that the assessee was out of India for an extended period, returning only in August 2022, which was after the assessment order had been passed. She claimed she was unaware of the proceedings because the email ID listed on the Income Tax portal belonged to her life insurance agent, not her. She provided passport copies as proof of her entry into India in August 2022 and demonstrated that she filed the appeal with the CIT(A) on September 15, 2022—within one month of her return. This period of absence, it was argued, constituted sufficient reason for the delay.
