2025 (11) TMI 1495

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....ssment Year (AY) 2019-2020. 2. The assessee has raised the following grounds of appeal: "1. The Hon'ble Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) [CIT(A)] has erred in law and on facts in upholding the order passed under section 154 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 ("the Act"), by the learned CPC, Bengaluru (hereinafter referred to as 'the Learned AO'), wherein the appellant was denied the benefit of exemption under section 11 of the Act despite being a trust registered under section 12A of the Act. 2. The Hon'ble CIT(A) has erred in law and on facts in denying benefit of section 11 of the Act solely on the ground of procedural lapse in filing the income-tax return and the audit report in Form 10B despite there be....

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....lapse and did not affect the charitable nature of its activities. The assessee requested the CPC to allow the expenditure of Rs. 1,13,37,985/- and grant exemption as per law. However, the CPC, Bengaluru, rejected the rectification petition vide order dated 27.06.2023, holding that such an issue did not fall within the ambit of a "mistake apparent from record" under section 154 of the Act. 4. Aggrieved by the said order, the assessee preferred an appeal before the CIT(Appeals). Before the CIT(Appeals), the assessee reiterated that the delay in filing the return and Form 10B was caused by genuine hardship due to the serious illness of its controlling trustee and relied upon the decision of the Hon'ble ITAT Ahmedabad in the case of Shardabe....

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....d. counsel for the assessee submitted that due to Covid pandemic, there was an extension in timelines wherein the belated return of income could be filed by the assessee by 30th November 2020 for the impugned assessment year 2019- 20. The ld. counsel for the assessee drew our attention to Order u/s 119(2)(a) of the Act dated 30th September 2020 in this regard. The ld. counsel for the assessee submitted that that the assessee filed return of income on 28-09-2020 along-with Form 10B (which was also filed on the same date) and therefore, benefit of section 11 of the Act should not be denied to the assessee. 6. In response, Ld. DR placed reliance on the observations made by CIT(Appeals) in the appellate order. 7. We have carefully conside....

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....e limit permissible under section 139(4) of the Act, such a return is to be treated as a valid return under section 139 and the benefit of section 11 cannot be denied merely on the ground that Form 10B was not filed along with the original return. The Tribunal in the said decision further observed that the amendment to section 12A(1)(ba) of the Act is effective only from assessment year 2018-19 and that, as clarified by CBDT Instruction dated 23.04.2019, the expression "time allowed under section 139" includes a belated return filed under section 139(4) of the Act. The decision also emphasized that the beneficial amendment made by the Finance Act, 2023, w.e.f. 01.04.2023, expressly recognizes that return of income filed under section 139(1)....