ITO Vs United Education Society (ITAT Mumbai)
The Revenue appealed against the NFAC/CIT(A) order dated 13.10.2025 for AY 2015-16, whereby exemption under sections 11 and 12 was allowed and addition of ₹2,82,80,080/- was deleted. The assessee, a public charitable trust running Abdullah Qureshi High School in Mumbai, had applied for registration under section 12A on 31.03.2016 and obtained registration under section 12AA on 08.09.2016, operative from AY 2016-17. It filed its return for AY 2015-16 on 23.09.2016, while the statutory period for filing the return remained open up to 31.03.2017. The AO denied exemption principally because registration was not available for AY 2015-16, no assessment proceedings were pending on the date of registration, and Form No. 10B was uploaded electronically only on 01.07.2017. The Tribunal noted that the first proviso to section 12A(2) was intended to mitigate genuine hardship and that the statutory period for filing the return was subsisting when registration was granted. Following Shri Hingulambika Education Society, the Tribunal held that the benefit of sections 11 and 12 could not be denied in the circumstances. As regards Form No. 10B, the Tribunal noted that the accounts were audited and the report was uploaded nearly five months before completion of assessment on 30.11.2017. Since the report was available to the AO before completion of assessment, no defect or prejudice to the Revenue was demonstrated. Relying, inter alia, on the reasoning concerning procedural compliance in Form 10B cases, the Tribunal rejected the Revenue’s grounds. The Revenue’s appeal was dismissed.
Key Findings of ITAT Mumbai
The Tribunal noted that the assessee had applied for registration under section 12A on 31.03.2016 and registration under section 12AA was granted on 08.09.2016. The return for AY 2015-16 was filed on 23.09.2016, merely fifteen days after registration and within the statutory period that remained available for filing the return.
