TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2022 (1) TMI 947
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....er appropriate Writ, Order or direction, directing the Respondent No. "1" and/or "2" to extend the due date of filing of Tax Audit Report and the Income Tax Returns for the assessment year 2021-2022 till March 31, 2022; (b) To issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction, directing the respondents not to levy interest under section 234A till the revised due dates provided vide Circular 17/2021 dated 09.09.2021; (c) Your Lordships may be pleased to pass a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ, Order or direction to issue appropriate directions to authorities for accepting the TAR and/ or ITR in physical form till the New Income Tax Portal stabilizes and becomes glitch free; (d) Your Lordships may be pleased to pass a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ, Order or direction to not invoke Section 271B for late filing of the audit report and the physical filing be sufficient compliance of the Section; (e) Pending admission, hearing and final disposal of this Petition, Your Lordships may be pleased to direct respondents to allow filing of TAR/ITR in physical form to jurisdictional authorities; ....
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....the writ applicants and Mr. Devang Vyas, the learned Additional Solicitor General of India appearing for the respondents on an advance copy served upon him. 5 This litigation has something to do with extension of due date of filing of Tax Audit Report and the Income Tax Returns for the assessment year 2021-2022 and levy of interest under Section 234A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short, "the Act, 1961"). 6 We had an occasion to deal with one such litigation yesterday in the form of the Special Civil Application No.272 of 2022. We passed the following order in the said matter dated 11th January 2022: "1. We have heard Mr. Avinash Poddar and Mr. Nikul Singhavi, the learned counsel appearing for the writ applicants, Mr. M.R. Bhatt, the learned senior counsel appearing for the respondent No.2 and Mr. Devang Vyas, the learned Additional Solicitor General of India appearing for the respondent No.1 - Union of India. 2. We have been able to understand to some extent the difficulties, which are being experienced by the assessee in uploading the audit report for the purpose of filing the its income tax return. Our attention has also been drawn to the Ci....
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....roversy at this point of time. The issues of penalty, interest etc. would arise when the final order of assessment is passed. Even for the purpose of penalty under Section 271B, it is necessary to issue a notice to the assessee. If the assessee has not been in a position to file his return in time on account of his inability to upload the audit report on account of technical glitches in the Portal, he can always point out all such circumstances beyond his control when he is called upon to show cause as to why penalty should not be imposed. 6. However, with all the aforesaid, we once again impress upon the respondent to attend to the technical glitches, which are being experienced in the Portal at the earliest. The Portal is something which is within the control of the respondent and if there are any technical problems in the same, it is only the respondents, who can take care of such problems. At this stage, Mr. Devang Vyas, the learned Additional Solicitor General of India received information that CBDT has issued a Circular No.01/2022 dated 11.01.2022 extending the timeline for filing the income tax return and various reports of audit for the A.Y. 2021-22. The due date o....
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....vision of the Act for the Previous Year 2020-21, which was 30 th September 2021, in the case of assessees referred in clause (a) of Explanation 2 to subsection (1) of section 139 of the Act, as extended to 31 st October 2021 and 15 th January 2022 by Circular No.9/2021 dated 20.05.2021 and Circular No.17/2021 dated 09.09.2021 respectively, is hereby further extended to 15th February, 2022; 2. The due date of furnishing of Report of Audit under any provision of the Act for the Previous Year 2020-21, which was 31 st October, 2021, in the case of assessees referred in clause (aa) of Explanation 2 to subsection (1) of section 139 of the Act, is hereby extended to 15th February, 2022; 3. The due date of furnishing of Report from an Accountant by persons entering into international transaction or specified domestic transaction under section 92E of the Act for the Previous Year 2020-21, which was 31 st October 2021, as extended to 30 th November 2021 and 31 st January 2022 by Circular No.9/2021 dated 20.05.2021 and Circular No.17/2021 dated 09.09.2021 respectively, is hereby further extended to 15th February, 2022; 4. The due date of furnishing of Return of Inco....
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.... Devang Vyas, the learned Additional Solicitor General of India to speak to the highest authority concerned and try to ascertain whether the department would be agreeable to accept the filing of the TAR / ITR in the physical form. We request the authority concerned to take a practical view of the problems which the assessees are facing as on date on account of the technical glitches in the portal. The authority should not overlook this fact and try to solve the problems or rather ease the difficulties which the assessees are facing. 11 We appreciate the decision taken by the CBDT to extend the time period upto 15thFebruary 2022, but the assessees should be in a position to make the best of this extended time period. Mr. Hemani is right to a certain extent that if the technical glitches are going to continue, then even extension of further three months would not solve the problems. 12 Let Notice be issued to the respondents, returnable on 17th January 2022. 13 We request Mr. Vyas to discuss this matter at the earliest with the highest authority concerned and revert to us by the returnable date. One copy of this order shall be furnished to Mr. Vyas today it....
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....ed an affidavit filed on behalf of the CBDT, duly affirmed by Shri Jagannath Bidyadhar Mohapatra, the Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, inter-alia stating as under: I, Jagannath Bidyadhar Mohapatra, Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, aged 59 years, S/o Shri B.J.B. Mohapatra, for and on behalf of Union of India (Respondent No. 1) and Central Board of Direct Taxes (Respondent No. 2) in the above matter, hereby solemnly affirm as under: 1. It is submitted that the present affidavit is filed pursuant to the oral directions of this Hon'ble Court given on 18.01.2022. 2. The Central Board of Direct Taxes, hereinafter referred to as 'the Board', reiterates its position, which has been kindly taken note of by this Hon'ble Court, that filing of Tax Audit Report (TAR) and/or Income Tax Return (ITR) either in physical form or through specified e-mail id, is not in conformity with the existing structure for the following reasons: i) It is submitted that filing of ITR and TAR has to be done in the electronic format on e-filing portal. Over 6.01 crore ITRs for AY 21-22 a....
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....84 217 6,355 141 98,675 12-18-Jan-22 (after extension) 18616 1,62,535 5,347 165 848 11,444 267 1,99,222 Total 127931 11,32,825 26,996 1,051 2,155 74,750 1,630 13,67,338 The daily statistics as given in the Table above shows that there has been an increase in filing of TAR (Form 3CA-3CD and Form 3CB-3CD) for Financial Year 2021-22 in the few days prior to the due date of 15th January, 2022, before CBDT issued a circular (No.1/2022) on 11th January, 2022 extending the due date to 15th Feb 2022. Filing of TAR is picking up again and nearly 2 Lakh TARs have been filed from 12th to 18th Jan 2022. This indicates that filing of TAR has been progressing smoothly. With the extension of the due date, it is expected that the tax professionals will be able to complete their filings smoothly. 3.1 It may also be submitted that filing of ITR remained smooth as is evident from the data given in the Table below: TABLE ITR-1 ITR-2 ITR-3 ITR-4 ITR-5 ITR-6 ITR-7 Grand Total (Date Wise) Before 14.12.21 2,33,03,192 36,41,756 41,85,472 1,01,66,182 4,31,225 1,83,572....
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.... be given to taxpayers. If the issue reported is new and has to be analysed or requires multiple changes or involves process change or issues that need clarification at higher departmental levels then the resolution may take additional time. After any software change is made, the change has to be tested to ensure that existing functionality already in use by lakhs of taxpayers are not disturbed. Therefore, the resolution time is significantly dependent on the nature of the technical or taxpayer specific issue reported. 4.1 The portal has many linkages and all have to be up and working from the departmental side as well as the taxpayer side. The band width on taxpayer side, the quality of connectivity and functioning of the lease lines also play significant role in the entire process of uploading Tax Audit Report and Income Tax Return. In case of any difficulty, the helplines are there to provide assistance to the taxpayers. Moreover, in case of any assistance in the form of technical infrastructure sought by the tax payer, the Aayakar Seva Kendras (ASK Centers) are at the service of the taxpayers. 6. The Hon'ble Court is assured that a team of Departmental off....
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.... care of as explained in the affidavit filed today. 9. Having regard to the stance of the CBDT as it emerges from the affidavit, we are convinced that no further adjudication is required in the present litigation. We appreciate the efforts put in by the CBDT to ensure that the assesses do not have to face any hardships or difficulties on account of the technical glitches in the portal. 10. We take notice of one pertinent feature emerging from the affidavit and i.e. the E-mail ID, which has been created to assist the filing of Tax Audit Report. A team of six members or if need be more are to examine and resolve the E-mails received at this E-mail ID. Our suggestion to Mr. Singh as well as to Mr. Krishnamurthy is that one such E-mail ID may also be created for the Income Tax Returns. Our suggestion has been graciously accepted by Mr. Singh and Mr. Krishnamurthy. They have assured that the needful shall be done in this regard also. 11. In the overall view of the matter, we are convinced that with the cooperation of one and all, we have been able to resolve the controversy as regards the technical glitches in the Income Tax Portal. 12. At this stage, Mr. Hemani, the learned....