2024 (3) TMI 61 - AT - Income Tax

Notice sent on wrong email addresses - Rejection of application filed for regular approval u/s 12AB citing the reason that the assessee has not furnished any explanations to the queries made by him - as argued since assessee did not receive any notice through post / email, the assessee was in the dark about the purported show cause notice, supposed to have been issued by the Ld. CIT(E) - HELD THAT - Neither the show cause notice was never served upon the assessee by post nor on the correct email Id [email protected]. Instead it is noted that the notice from office of Ld. CIT(E) was issued on [email protected], which is not the email id of assessee. In such scenario, we find force in the submission of the Ld. AR that in the absence of the assessee being aware of the show cause notice issued by the Ld. CIT(E) , the assessee cannot be faulted for not responding to the quires raised by the Ld. CIT(E) which in this case was never conveyed to the assessee. Therefore, the impugned action of the Ld. CIT(E) cannot be sustained and therefore we are inclined to set it aside and restore the application back to the file of the Ld. CIT(E) with a direction to sent notices to the correct registered email ID of assessee, and after giving proper opportunity to the assessee, the Ld CIT(E) to pass order in accordance to law. Appeal of the assessee is allowed for statistical purpose.

Summary

Issues involved:
The appeal against the order of the Ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemption), Pune, rejecting the application for regular approval u/s 12AB of the Act for AY 2022-23.

Summary:
The appellant, an assessee, had been granted provisional approval/registration certificate u/s 12AB of the Act on 31.12.2021, and subsequently applied for regular registration u/s 12AB(1)(i)(b) of the Act. However, the Ld. CIT(E) rejected the application, citing the reason that the assessee did not respond to queries, which the assessee claimed was due to not receiving any notice. The Ld. CIT(E) had sent notices to the wrong email id, leading to the assessee being unaware of the show cause notice. The Tribunal found that the assessee was not at fault for not responding to queries that were never conveyed, thus setting aside the Ld. CIT(E)'s action and directing proper notice to be sent for a fair opportunity to respond before passing an order in accordance with the law. The appeal of the assessee was allowed for statistical purposes.

Separate Judgment:
No separate judgment was delivered by the judges in this case.