TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (9) TMI 1299
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....s consolidated order. 2. Brief facts of the case are that the assessee is a cooperative society formed by the employees of the Kerala State Electricity Board, which employees are working in the district of Trivandrum. The business of the assessee society is to accept deposits from the members and lending to the members as eligible loans. For the assessment year 2017-2018, the assessee has not filed the tax audit report and the return of income within the time prescribed by the Act for filing the return of income. Observing this that the assessee has not filed the return of income within the prescribed time u/s.139(1) of the Act, the A.O. disallowed the claim of deduction u/s.80P to the assessee in view of the provisions of sec. 80A(5) of t....
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....wo orders of the co-ordinate bench in ITA No.1007/Coch/2022 in the case of Chalakudy Multipurpose Co-operative Society Ltd. (order dated 11.10.1023) and ITA No.308/Coch/2023 in the case of The Aymanam VSCB Limited (order dated 18.01.2024) and contended that the lower authorities have erred in levying the penalty u/s.271B of the Act. 5. The learned Departmental Representative appearing on behalf of the Revenue relied upon the judgment of the Hon'ble jurisdictional High Court in the case of Nileshwar Range Kallu Chethu Vyavasaya Thozhilali Sahakarana Sangham v. CIT reported in 459 ITR 730 and contended that when the assessee is not entitled for deduction of sec.80P itself on the ground that the assessee has filed belated return, then the A.O....
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....t along with copy of the receipts and distribution statements. It is also evident that the appellant had furnished a Certificate issued by the Joint Director (Audit) of the Co-operative Department. When the second proviso carves out an exemption from the general provisions of section 44AB, the stipulations therein need to be strictly adhered and the mere fact that the audit of the assessee was conducted under the provisions of the Co-operative Societies Act, would not be sufficient for such compliance. Furnishing of the report of audit in the prescribed form accompanied with a further report by an Accountant in the prescribed form, is a mandatory requirement for proper compliance. Since the appellant had failed to show any 'reasonable c....
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....proper audit report within the date stipulated in the relevant provision. 11. For the reasons mentioned as above, we are of the opinion that, no substantial question of law arises for consideration in challenge against the impugned order of the Tribunal. Accordingly, the above appeal fails and the same is hereby dismissed 7. The above decision of Hon'ble Jurisdictional High Court has been recently considered in the case of Chavakkad Service Co-op Bank ltd reported in 169 Taxman.45(Ker) wherein the Hon'ble Jurisdictional High Court has allowed the appeal of the assessee, observing as under: - "11 The Appellate Tribunal has chosen to confirm the penalty against the assessees before us by relying on the decision of a Division Bench of t....
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....orts before the completion of assessment and the assessment was completed by the Assessing Authority by placing reliance on the said audit reports. There was therefore no prejudice caused to the Department while completing the assessment against the appellants/assessees. Secondly, there is no material on record to suggest that it was on account of any fault with the assessees Societies that a delay was occasioned in the preparation of the final audit report. The statutory provisions under the Kerala Co-operative Societies Act and Rules noticed above would reveal that the auditors had time that extended to six months after expiry of the financial year in question to submit their audit report, and if they took more time than was allowed under....
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....ar, being of a binding nature, insofar as the Department is concerned, the Assessing Authority, First Appellate Authority and the Appellate Tribunal ought to have taken due note of it while deciding on whether or not a penalty was called for in relation to the assessees before us. 12 The net result of our findings above would be that the appellants/assessees before us cannot be seen as persons who did not establish a reasonable cause for the belated filing of the audit reports before the Assessing Authority. The peremptory phraseology used in Section 273B of the I.T. Act therefore mandated that no penalty under Section 271B be imposed on them. For the same reason, and since reasonable cause was demonstrated by the assessees in the instan....