TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (8) TMI 1299
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ue date? 2. Whether on facts and circumstances of the case and in law, Ld. Addl./ JCIT(A) was justified in allowing the deduction u/s 80IA on the ground that the delay in filing of Form 10CCB was due to technical glitches that are claimed to have prevailed in the Income Tax portal on the night of 31.10.2022 at the time of filing of Form 10CCB relying only upon the statement provided by the assessee in Form 35, ignoring that no evidence whatsoever has been adduced by the assessee in this regard, such as ticket raised in ITBA or screenshot of the error or e-mail sent to concerned authority or screenshot of the dialogue box / message appearing on screen declining the uploading of Form 10CCB, etc.? 3. Whether on facts and circumstances of the case and in law, Ld. Addl./JCIT(A) was justified in condoning delay in submission of Form 10CCB based on the contention that due to the technical glitches in the Income Tax Portal on 31.10.2022, the due date for filing of Tax Audit report was extended by 7 days, i.e., till 7th November 2022, ignoring that the extended due date till 7th November 2022 issued vide CBDT circular no. 20/2022 is not applicable in the case of the assess....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....22. But the appellant filed Form 10CCB at 01.22 a.m. on 01.11.2022 which makes a slight delay of one hour and 22 minutes. As per the statement in form 35 filed by the appellant, the delay was due to technical glitches that prevailed in the Income Tax portal on the night of 31.10.2022 at the time of filing of form 10CCB. At this juncture, it is also relevant to note that due to the technical glitches in the Income Tax Portal on 31.10.2022, the due date for filing of Tax Audit report was extended by 7 days, i.e., till 7th November, 2022. Hence, the appellant's reasons for delayed filing of Form 10CCB due to technical glitch in Income Tax portal appears to be genuine, and therefore appellants request for condonation of delay warrants to be condoned. Accordingly, the delay in filing Form 10CCB by one day (more specifically one hour and 22 minutes) on grounds of technical glitch in the Income Tax portal is hereby condoned. Therefore, considering the technical glitch in the departmental portal on 31.10.2022 night and the fact that the due date for filing of Tax Audit report was also extended till 7th November, 2022, and also since appellant has now fulfilled meeting the mandatory require....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....e assessee as per their statement of facts furnished in Form 35, ignoring that no evidence whatsoever has been adduced by the assessee in support, such as ticket raised in ITBA or screen shot of the error or e-mail sent to concerned authority or screen shot of the dialogue box / message appearing on screen declining the uploading of Form 10CCB. 8. It is further submitted that Ld. Addl./ JCIT(A) have condoned the delay in submission of Form 10CCB believing the contention and explanation offered by the assessee that delay was occasioned due to technical glitches in the Income Tax Portal on 31.10.2022. Ld CIT-DR, further contradicting the contentions of the assessee that the income tax portal was not functioning properly and for that reason only due date of filing of Tax Audit Report was extended by 7 days till 7th November 2022 vide CBDT circular 20/2022, but such extension granted has nothing to do with the filing of Form 10CCB, therefore, such explanation cannot be helpful or applicable in the case of present assessee. Ld. CIT-DR further referring to the grounds of appeal have submitted that the condonation of delay allowed by the Ld. Addl./JCIT(A) was not justified, as the prov....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....cceptance/rejection of such applications/claims if the amount of such claims is not more than Rs. 10 lakhs for any one assessment year. The Principal Chief Commissioners of Income-tax/Chief Commissioners of Income-tax (Pr.CCsIT/CCsIT) shall be vested with the powers of acceptance/rejection of such applications/claims if the amount of such claims exceeds Rs. 10 lakhs but is not more than Rs. 50 lakhs for any one assessment year. The applications/claims for amount exceeding Rs. 50 lakhs shall be considered by the Board. 3. No condonation application for claim of refund/loss shall be entertained beyond six years from the end of the assessment year for which such application/claim is made. This limit of six years shall be applicable to all authorities having powers to condone the delay as per the above prescribed monetary limits, including the Board. A condonation application should be disposed of within six months from the end of the month in which the application is received by the competent authority, as far as possible. 4. In a case where refund claim has arisen consequent to a Court order, the period for which any such proceedings were pending before any Court of....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ons/claims for condonation of delay under section 119(2xb) which are pending as on the date of issue of the Circular. 9. The Board reserves the power to examine any grievance arising out of an order passed or not passed by the authorities mentioned in para 2 above and issue suitable directions to them for proper implementation of this Circular. However, no review of or appeal against the orders of such authorities would be entertained by the Board. 11. Ld. CIT-DR further placed his reliance on the order of ITAT, Delhi in the case of Pradeep Kumar Batra, New Delhi vs Dcit -CPC, New Delhi on 23 October, 2020 wherein on the similar issue ITAT, Delhi has held as under: 8. We have carefully considered the rival contention and perused the orders of the lower authorities. We have also perused the communication of the proposed adjustment u/s 143 (l)(a) of the income tax act issued by the central processing centre, Bangalore on 24/9/2018 wherein it is intimated to assessee that there is an incorrect claim Under Chapter VIA of the income tax act of Rs. 271,654 for non-filing of the audit report u/s 80 IB in form number 10CCB within due date of the filing of the return of....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....te of law, therefore, such disallowance made u/s 143(1) should be upheld. 13. Contradicting the aforesaid submission, of the revenue, Ld. Authorised Representative, Shri R. B. Doshi, CA (in short "Ld. AR"), on behalf of the assessee have submitted that assessee was under obligation to file Tax Audit Report u/s 80IA(7) in Form 10CCB. In order to fulfil with such compliance, the assessee had tried to upload the said report before the prescribed time limitation on 31.10.2022 i.e. before 12:00 in the mid night, however due to certain technical glitches in the IT Portal, Form 10CCB could not be uploaded within the available time. In continuation, assessee again attempted to upload the same electronically on 01.11.2022 at 12.25 am, but remain unsuccessful, screen shot showing date and time of such facts was placed before us at page no. 123 of PB, the same is extracted hereunder. 14. Another attempt was made again on 01.11.2022 at 1.19 AM, this time page kept on loading, but report could not be uploaded. Screen shot showing date and time of this fact has also placed before us at page no. 124 of PB, the same is extracted hereunder. 15. Finally, in next attempt assessee succeed and....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... (ii) Tax audit report uploaded on 31.10.2022. (iii) MAT report uploaded on 01.1 1.2022. (iv) Return filed on 24.1 1.2022, within time allowed u/s 139(1). (v) Audit report u/s 80IA(7) also filed before filing of ITR. (vi) UDIN for all audit reports generated on 31.10.2022, PN 1 15 of PB. (vii) Due date of filing various audit reports (30.09.2022) extended to 07.10.2022 vide Circular no. 19/2022 dt. 3().09.2()22 extended to 07.10.2022 due to technical glitch. 10. Insignificant delay condoned in DCIT vs M/S Palava Dwellers P. Ltd. in ITA no. 2147/Mum/2018 dated 20.02.2020, para no. 14, 17 & 28. 16. Ld. AR further submitted a statement showing relevant date and time for filing of various documents with the department to substantiate that the assessee is a law-abiding company and the appellant assessee, who had filed almost all the mandatory forms with the department, except a few, where the unintentional delay in filing was caused due to technical glitches on the website of department, the statement furnished before us showing some details is extracted as under: 17. Ld. AR further submitted that Audit Report though was fi....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....Realtors (P.) Ltd. (2015) 229 Taxman 283 (Mad.), PN 202 to 204 of PB. Tribunal allowed deduction even when assessee did not file audit report in Form 10CCB along with return of income nor was it filed before the date of completion of assessment. It was held by Hon'ble High Court that filing of the audit report along with return is only directory and not mandatory. 4. CIT vs Ramco International (2011) 332 ITR 306 (P & H), PN 171 & 172 of PB The assessee claimed deduction u/s 80IB. Form 10CCB was filed during assessment proceedings. On appeal, Id. CIT(A) and ITAT upheld the claim of the assessee. It was held by Hon'ble High Court that the Tribunal has considered this issue and found that claim of the assessee as per Form 10CCB filed during the assessment proceedings was admissible. 5. CIT vs Medicaps Ltd. (2010) 323 ITR 554, PN 148 to 150 of PB AO denied the benefit u/s 80-1A on the ground that the audit report was not filed and the conditions of sec. 80IA(2) were not satisfied. ITAT held that fulfilment of conditions mentioned u/s 80IA(2) were not disputed before Tribunal and that proper books of accounts were maintained, audited ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ng of statutory return with the department on account of technical glitches, Ld. AR placed his reliance on the order of Coordinate Bench of ITAT, Mumbai in the case of DCIT vs. Palava Dwellers Pvt. Ltd. & Anr. Dated 20.02.2020, wherein the delay caused due to technical glitch and last hour rushed on the website was decided in favour of the assessee with the directions to Ld. AO to treat the return filed with delay as return filed in time. The observations of the Mumbai Tribunal in the aforesaid case are culled out to interpret the issue in the present case: 14. Briefly stated the facts are that, the assessee is a Builder and engaged in the business of construction and development of real estate projects. During the assessment year under consideration assessee executed various projects and many of them were still under construction. The assessee filed its return of income electronically on 30.11.2014 midnight. However due to technical glitch and rush hours there was a delay of two minutes in return getting uploaded and due to which the date of filing of return appeared on the acknowledgment as 01st December 2014. In its return of income, the assessee declared income of Rs......
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... minutes. In this regard reliance was placed on the following decisions: * ITO vs Mantangi Rubber Pvt Ltd (Delhi ITAT) (ITA No. 4498/Del/2013) dated 29 May 2015. * Bombay Mercantile Co-op Bank [322 ITR 87] (Bombay High Court) * Cosme Matias Menezes Pvt. Ltd., [379 ITR 31] (Bombay High Court) * Lodhi Property Co. Ltd [323 ITR 441] (Delhi High Court) * CBDT vs Regen Infrastructure (Writ Appeal No. 1314 of 2016) dated 01.11.2016. * Himuda v. ACIT in ITA.No. 480, 481 & 972/CHD/2012 dated 10.05.2019 28. In view of the above judicial pronouncements and also taking note of the fact that the delay is only of two minutes which was caused due to technical glitch and last hour of rush in the website, we direct the Assessing Officer to treat the original return filed by the assessee for the A.Y. 2014-15 as filed in time and consequently to consider the revised return of income filed by the assessee for the purpose of computing the income of the assessee. 20. Ld. AR further drew our attention to page no. 101 & 116 of the PB, with the explanation that the UDIN No. "22402568BBPGLD8566", to be mentioned on Form 10CCB was generated b....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
..../s 80IA as the prescribed statutory Form 10CCB which was to be filed on or before 31.10.2022 was actually filed at 01:22 AM on 01.11.2022. The requisite Form was filed on delay of 1 Hour 22 Minutes which debars the assessee from its eligibility to claim the deduction u/s 80IA. It was the also the allegation by revenue that the delay occurred could not be substantiated by the assessee with any cogent evidence such as ticket raised in ITBA or screenshot of the error or any email to the concerned authorities. It is further agitated that the Addl/JCIT(A) does not have the powers to condone the delay in filing of Form 10CCB, therefore, there was a violation of principle laid down by Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Dilip Kumar & Company (supra) that "Exemption notifications should be interpreted strictly". First, we shall be dealing with the issue regarding technical glitch and over burden due to last minute rush on the website of Income Tax Department. On perusal of the copies of screenshots submitted before us, it is transpired that the assessee was consistently trying to upload Form 10CCB on the website of the department, after few unsuccessful attempts, it finally got success to fi....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....-II) Department of Revenue [323 ITR 441] observed as under: - "7. In view of the foregoing, it is absolutely clear that the submissions sought to be raised before us by the learned counsel for the respondent have specifically and categorically been rejected by the Karnataka High Court and the same have been accepted not only by the Board, but also by the Ministry of Law. We notice that a similar view has also been taken by the Bombay High Court in the case of Sitaldas K. Motwani v. Director General of Income-tax (International Taxation): 187 Taxman 44 (Bom). Consequently, agreeing with the Karnataka High Court, we are of the view that the Board has the power under Section 119 (2) to condone the delay in the case of a return which is filed late and where a claim for carry forward of losses is made. 8. Coming back to the facts of the present case, we find that the impugned order under Section 119 passed by the Board is a nonspeaking one. Normally, we would have remanded the matter to the Board to consider the application of the petitioner afresh. However, we find that in the present case, the delay is only of one day and the circumstances have been explained and hav....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....fficulty in uploading his return, as alleged by him due to a technical snags in the website of the Income Tax Department due to the last hour rush of filing of Returns, the delay deserves to be condoned." 25. Considering the aforesaid judicial pronouncements, the delay involved in the present case for 1 Hour 22 Minutes caused even after continuous efforts of the assessee to upload the Form on the web portal of the income tax department, it cannot be construed that there was some discrepancies or failure on the part of the assessee, therefore, we are of the considered view that the Form 10CCB filed by the assessee shall be treated as filed within the prescribed time with no delay. It is pertinent to mention that the prescribed Form was filed and available before the Ld. AO(CPC) when the return of the assessee was processed u/s 143(1) of the Act, the department was very much in possession of Form 10CCB while the intimation was issued. Since, it is decided that delay in filing of Form 10CCB in present case was occasioned due to technical issues on the portal of income tax department for which the assessee cannot be held liable, therefore, the case laws relied upon by the revenue qu....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ling A A BA* DEEPAK GARG Tax Professional (CA) Call Us English e-File Pending Actions Grievances Чир Session 2: Dashboard Income-tax Forms Form 10CCB Audit report under section 80-1(7)/80- IA(7)/80-IB/80-IC/80-1AC/ 80-IE No. 10CCB] Audit report under section 80-1(7)/80-4A(7)/80-48/80-10/80-1AC/ 80-IE. This form is in compliance with rule 18888. Re-Submit Submission failed! Response form server Please fix the following issues and try to submit again: Go To Dashboard Ifaach Webert Polices Site Map Browser Support Accessibility Statement CoBrowse Help This site is best viewed in 1024*768 resolution with latest version of Chrome. Firefox, Safen and Internet Explore Last reviewed and updated on 1-Nov-2022 Copynght Income Tar Department, Min stry of Finance, Greenment of India All Rights Rese https departal incometax.gov.i Form/audit-for-4F10CCB SHYAM SHRI S ISPAT R ל×יירוס 1/1 Document 2 11/1/22, 1:10 AM 8 28:27 e-Filing Income The Department o Cashboard Dashboard Income-tax Forms Form 100CB Data Sign Income Tax Portal Governme....