2024 (5) TMI 185

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....n law and deserves to be cancelled. 2. In law and in the facts and circumstances of the appellant's case, CIT(EXEMPTION) has erred in rejecting the application for final registration on the ground that the said application is belatedly filled without considering genuine hardship faced in filling Form 10AB which is also an admitted position in the CBDT circular dated 24 May, 2023. 3. In law and in the facts and circumstances of the appellant's case, the Ld. CIT (EXEMPTION) erred in drawing a conclusion that application filled under Section 80 G for final registration is beyond time limit prescribed under the referred Section without considering the effect of provisions of sub-Clause (iii) to first proviso of sub-Clause (5) to Section 80 G of the Act under which the only effective condition which is applicable in the current case for filling of such application was that the same has to be made 6 months prior to the expiry of the period of provisional registration and the application so filled was within such time frame as prescribed in the referred condition. 4. In law and in facts and circumstances of the appellant's case, the Ld. CIT (EXEMPTIO....

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....ade 6 months prior to the expiry of the period of provisional registration and the application so filled was within such time frame as prescribed in the referred condition. 4. In law and in facts and circumstances of the appellant's case, the Ld. CIT (EXEMPTION) has grossly erred in not considering the fact that the one of the conditions provided in sub-Section (5) of Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961 which is relevant for reckoning the time limit for filling the application, being that the application must be filled within a period of 6 month form the date of commencement of its activities, was rendered otiose or nugatory due to technical default on the part of department to make available such form before such period expired in terms of said condition. 5. In law and in facts and circumstances of the appellants case the Ld. AO has grossly erred in not considering the fact that since one of the two conditions providing for arriving at period within which the application for final registration ought to be filled under sub-Section (5) of Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961 was already rendered otiose and therefore, the time limit for filling the applic....

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.... order passed by CIT(Exemption) dismissing the application filed by the assessee in Form No. 10AB under Section 80G(5) of the Act. 5. Before us, the Counsel for the assessee firstly submitted that the ITAT has the power to condone the delay in filing of Form 10AB of the Act for obtaining the final registration under Section 80G on the Act. The Counsel for the assessee relied upon several judicial precedents on this issue. Secondly, the Counsel for the assessee submitted that it could not file the application for final registration in time due to amendment in law regarding provisional and regular registration. The Counsel further submitted that the entire procedure of certification of trusts has undergone a substantial change/overhaul and various Circulars have been brought out by CBDT to mitigate the hardship to file the application for final registration of trust, and the time limit has been extended many times. Thirdly, the Counsel for the accessory relied on the recent case of CIT-1982, Charitable Trust in ITA No. 827/Chennai/2023 in which the ITAT held that timeline prescribed under Clause (iii) of first proviso to Section 80G(5) should be treated as directory and not mandat....

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....tification before actually starting the activities. To make the process of registration completely electronic under a 16 digit Unique Registration Number (URN), the new regime was introduced for new as well as to existing charitable institutions. Due to change in law, a new clause (ac) has been inserted in sub-section (1) of section 12A w.e.f. 01.04.2021 which states that notwithstanding anything contained in clauses (a) to (ab), the person in receipt of the income who wants to claim benefit of section 11 & 12 is to made an application in the prescribed form 10A or 10AB and in prescribed manner to the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, for registration of the trust or institution. 7.3 Similarly, for approval u/s.80G of the Act, similar changes were effected in the provisions of section 80G(5), the first and second provisos, which were made applicable with effect from 01.04.2021 for existing trusts as well as new trusts or entities. This amendment is brought in by Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 amended the provisions related to application by a trust for registration or approval by amending the first and second provis....

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....assessee only on 17.03.2023, which is belated application. There is no dispute about the final registration granted to the assessee trust u/s.12A of the Act in Form No. 10AD under the new regime vide order dated 13.09.2023 but rejected assessee's application filed in Form No. 10AB u/s.80G of the Act dated 17.03.2023 vide order dated 25.09.2023 as the application is a belated one. 7.5 We have considered the case laws of Co-ordinate Bench of Jaipur Tribunal in the case of Go Gram Eco Foundation, supra and noted that the Jaipur Bench has considered this issue of delay in application filed in Form No. 10AB in term of clause (iii) of first proviso to section 80G(5) of the Act, wherein the provisional registration was granted to the assessee trust on 16.10.2021 in Form No. 10A u/s.12A(1)(ac)(vi) and under clause (iv) of first proviso to section 80G(5) of the Act. In that case, the provisional registration was granted in form No. 10AC on 27.10.2021. Admitted fact in the case is that the assessee trust commenced its activities from 13.10.2021 being new trust and assessee filed application for grant of approval under clause (iii) of first proviso to section 80G(5) on 16.12.2022, wh....

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....ed 11.02.2019 under the old regime. The new regime of taxation of charitable trusts / institutions started w.e.f. 01.04.2021 and hence, reliance placed by Revenue on the Co-ordinate Bench decision of Kolkata Tribunal in the case of Bishnupur Public Education Institute, supra is not at all relevant and even the case law of Hon'ble High Court of Madras and the Hon'ble High Court of Andhra Pradesh are also relating to taxation of old regime prior to 01.04.2021. Hence, these are clearly distinguishable on facts and hence, not applicable. In term of the above, we now go through the factual aspect. 7.8 After hearing the arguments of ld. counsel for the assessee and ld. CITDR as noted above, we find from the facts that the timeline prescribed for filing Form No. 10AB for registration u/s.12A of the Act in the case of assessee trust has been extended up-to 30.09.2023 after considering the genuine hardship faced by charitable institutions vide various CBDT circulars and finally, vide Circular No. 6/2023 dated 24.05.2023. Similarly, the timeline prescribed for filing Form No. 10A for recognition u/s.80G of the Act was also extended up-to 30.09.2023 by the same circular for trusts fi....