DCIT Vs Ansec Human Resource Services Limited (ITAT Pune)
80JJAA Deduction Can’t Be Denied for Portal Glitches Alone: ITAT Pune Sends Form 10DA Issue Back for Verification
Pune ‘ITAT allowed the Revenue’s appeal for statistical purposes and restored the issue of deduction u/s 80JJAA to the file of the AO for limited verification.
The Assessee, engaged in security and manpower services, had claimed deduction of ₹2.07 crore u/s 80JJAA. The AO disallowed the claim on the ground that Form 10DA was incomplete on the e-filing portal, holding that the Assessee had sufficient time to revise the report. The CIT(A)/NFAC, however, allowed the deduction after accepting the Assessee’s explanation that Form 10DA was duly filed on 16-08-2018, and non-visibility of certain columns was due to Income-tax portal migration issues, for which even a draft/preview version had been submitted during assessment.
Before the Tribunal, it was an admitted position that Form 10DA had in fact been filed within time and later became visible on the new portal after migration. However, the Revenue contended that the AO had not verified the Assessee’s eligibility on merits due to the technical glitch. Notably, the Assessee fairly agreed to limited remand.
Considering the totality of facts, the ITAT set aside the CIT(A)’s order and restored the matter to the AO for the limited purpose of verifying the Assessee’s claim of deduction u/s 80JJAA on the basis of the complete Form 10DA now available on the portal, after granting due opportunity of hearing. The appeal was thus allowed for statistical purposes.
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF ITAT PUNE
