ITAT allowed the appeal of the assessee, holding that the...

ITAT allowed the appeal of the assessee, holding that the Finance Act, 2022 amendment removing the additional one-year post five-year utilisation window cannot be applied retrospectively to existing accumulations. Applying the doctrine lex non cogit ad impossibilia, the Tribunal found that retrospective application would render utilisation impossible and produce an absurd outcome. The Tribunal followed precedent treating the amendment as prospective for fresh accumulations from 1-4-2022, and upheld that accumulations arising in FY 2016-17 and FY 2017-18 remained governed by the pre-amendment six-year window (with deadlines of 31-3-2023 and 31-3-2024 respectively). Consequently, additions for those accumulations were deleted.