TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (12) TMI 1921
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....me-tax Act, 1961, for the assessment year 2023-24. Through the grounds raised, the assessee has essentially challenged the denial of exemption under section 11 of the Act and the consequential action of the Assessing Officer in bringing to tax the entire receipts of the trust amounting to Rs.6,94,592/-, without allowing deduction for the expenditure admittedly incurred in the course of its charitable activities. 2. The factual matrix, as emanating from the record, reveals that the assessee-trust filed its return of income for the assessment year under consideration on 31.10.2023 declaring nil income, having claimed exemption under section 11 of the Act. The return was selected for scrutiny primarily on the premise that the assessee did n....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... absence of registration under section 12A/12AB for the relevant year, the assessee was not eligible for exemption under section 11, and therefore the assessment as framed did not warrant interference. Aggrieved by the said confirmation, the assessee is in appeal before us. 5. We have carefully considered the rival submissions, perused the material available on record, and examined the impugned orders in the light of the statutory provisions and the settled legal position governing the issue. At the outset, it is an admitted and undisputed position that the assessee did not hold a valid registration under section 12A/12AB for the assessment year 2023-24 and, consequently, the claim of exemption under section 11 of the Act could not have ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....flawed. 8. In the present case, the assessment order reveals that the Assessing Officer has brought to tax the entire receipts of Rs.6,94,592/- without examining or verifying the expenditure reflected in the income and expenditure account of the assessee. Such an approach is clearly unsustainable in law. The Hon'ble Bombay High Court, in Godavari Shikshan Prasarak Mandal (Sindhi) v. Union of India [W.P. No. 16464 of 2025, dated 09.12.2025], has categorically held that even where the assessee is not registered under section 12A, the Assessing Officer cannot tax gross receipts without considering the expenditure incurred, as what is chargeable under the Act is income and not receipts. Though the said observations were made in the context o....