2010 (11) TMI 1051 - AT - Income Tax

Summary

Issues involved: The judgment deals with appeals against the orders of the learned CIT (A) Visakhapatnam related to the assessment years 1992-93 to 1997-98, focusing on the deduction of amounts spent by the assessee against the income assessed.

Issue 1 - Registration under section 12A:
The assessee trust was formed in 1989 but applied for registration under section 12A of the Act in 1997, which was granted with effect from 1997. As the registration was not obtained for the years under consideration, the Assessing Officer assessed the gross receipts as the total income without allowing any deductions. The assessee appealed, citing a previous ITAT decision, and the CIT (A) partially allowed the appeals by directing the Assessing Officer to allow deductions for specific purposes and welfare programs. The revenue appealed this decision.

Issue 2 - Verification of expenditure claims:
The revenue contended that since the assessee did not have registration under section 12A for the relevant years, it could not claim exemptions under sections 11 to 13 of the Act. The Assessing Officer did not verify the claims of amount spent, and the CIT (A) accepted the assessee's version without proper verification. The revenue argued that the previous ITAT decision cited by the assessee was distinguishable and required examination. The ITAT decided to set aside the CIT (A) order and directed the Assessing Officer to examine the expenditure claims in light of the previous ITAT decision after giving the assessee an opportunity to be heard.

Conclusion:
The ITAT allowed the appeals of the revenue for statistical purposes, emphasizing the need for a thorough examination of the expenditure claims in line with the previous ITAT decision. The judgment was pronounced on November 18, 2010.