Cosmopolitan Education Society Vs ACIT (ITAT Mumbai)
The appeal before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Mumbai Bench arose from the denial of exemption under section 11 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, for Assessment Year 2019–20 due to belated filing of audit report in Form 10B. The assessee had filed its return of income on 26.10.2019 declaring nil income after claiming exemption of ₹19,19,54,063 under section 11. While processing the return under section 143(1)(a), the Centralised Processing Centre disallowed the exemption on the ground that Form 10B had not been e-filed on or before the due date of filing the return, treating such filing as mandatory.
Aggrieved, the assessee preferred an appeal before the CIT(A), National Faceless Appeal Centre, and simultaneously filed an application before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions) seeking condonation of a delay of 133 days in filing Form 10B under section 119(2)(b). The CIT(E) rejected the condonation application by order dated 26.03.2025. Relying on this rejection, the CIT(A) dismissed the assessee’s appeal and upheld the denial of exemption under section 11.
The assessee challenged the order of the CIT(E) refusing to condone the delay before the Hon’ble High Court. During the pendency of that challenge, the CIT(A) passed the impugned appellate order. Subsequently, the Hon’ble High Court, by order dated 13.10.2025, quashed the order of the CIT(E) and condoned the delay of 133 days in filing Form 10B. These facts were not in dispute before the Tribunal.
