ITAT Pune: Late fee under section 234E for F.Y. 2012-13 deemed unlawful. Appeal timeline upheld.

The Appellate Tribunal ITAT Pune ruled in favor of the assessee in a consolidated order for Sixteen Appeals. It held that the levy of late fee under section 234E for F.Y. 2012-13 was unlawful and directed the Assessing Officer to delete the late fee. The Tribunal also found the appeal filing timeline before the ld.CIT(A) to be timely and allowed the appeal based on this determination.

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Issues involved:
Late fee under section 234E for F.Y. 2012-13, Appeal filing timeline before the ld.CIT(A).

Late fee under section 234E for F.Y. 2012-13:
The Appellate Tribunal ITAT Pune addressed the issue of whether late fee under section 234E can be levied for the financial year 2012-13. The Tribunal referred to previous cases where it was held that the Assessing Officer was not empowered to charge fees under section 234E of the Act for the period prior to 01.06.2015. The Tribunal cited various orders where it was established that the intimation issued under section 200A of the Act for the relevant period was beyond the scope of adjustment provided by law. The Tribunal noted that the Hon'ble High Court of Karnataka also held that the amendment to section 200A of the Act had prospective effect and was not applicable for the period before 01.06.2015. Consequently, the Tribunal ruled that the levy of late fee under section 234E for Quarter-2 of F.Y. 2012-13 was unlawful and directed the Assessing Officer to delete the late fee, ultimately allowing the appeal of the assessee.

Appeal filing timeline before the ld.CIT(A):
The Tribunal reviewed the timeline of appeal filing before the ld.CIT(A) and found that the appeal was filed within one month of the order passed under section 154 r.w.s 200A of the Act. Contrary to the ld.CIT(A)'s finding of the appeal being out of time, the Tribunal determined that the appeal was timely filed by the assessee. The Tribunal highlighted the incorrect finding of fact by the ld.CIT(A) and concluded that there was no delay in the appeal filing process. As a result, the Tribunal allowed the appeal of the assessee based on the timely filing of the appeal before the ld.CIT(A).

In summary, the Appellate Tribunal ITAT Pune, in a consolidated order for Sixteen(16) Appeals, addressed the issue of late fee under section 234E for F.Y. 2012-13 and the appeal filing timeline before the ld.CIT(A). The Tribunal ruled in favor of the assessee, holding that the levy of late fee for the specified period was unlawful based on previous judgments and directed the deletion of the late fee. Additionally, the Tribunal found the appeal filing before the ld.CIT(A) to be timely, contrary to the ld.CIT(A)'s assessment, and allowed the appeal on that basis.

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