ASAN Memorial Association Vs DCIT (ITAT Chennai)
In the case of ASAN Memorial Association Vs DCIT (ITAT Chennai), the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) granted relief to the assessee, a trust, for its claim under Section 11 of the Income Tax Act. The issue arose from the assessee’s filing of the Income Tax Return for the Assessment Years (AY) 2016-17 and 2017-18, where it incorrectly reported the statutory deduction claim in the wrong column of the return. The assessee had declared the accumulated income of ₹5,30,42,826 (15% of income derived) in the wrong section (Column 9(iv)) instead of Column 9(v) for charitable purposes. As a result, the Centralized Processing Centre (CPC) disallowed the statutory deduction and noted the absence of Form 9A, which is typically required to claim such deductions. The CIT(A) upheld the CPC’s decision, dismissing the appeal.
The assessee contended that despite the filing error, the statutory deduction of 15% was clearly reflected in the return, and no requirement for Form 9A existed for this deduction under Section 11(1)(a). The ITAT agreed with the assessee’s argument, emphasizing that the claim should not be denied simply because the figure was entered in the wrong column. The Tribunal noted that the audit report filed with the return clearly supported the claim. Therefore, it set aside the CIT(A)’s order and directed the Assessing Officer (AO) to allow the claim under Section 11(1)(a). The same reasoning was applied to the appeal for AY 2017-18, where the identical issue existed. Both appeals were allowed for statistical purposes.
