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TMI Blog2022 (1) TMI 947X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e Respondent No. "1" and/or "2" to extend the due date of filing of Tax Audit Report and the Income Tax Returns for the assessment year 2021-2022 till March 31, 2022; (b) To issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction, directing the respondents not to levy interest under section 234A till the revised due dates provided vide Circular 17/2021 dated 09.09.2021; (c) Your Lordships may be pleased to pass a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ, Order or direction to issue appropriate directions to authorities for accepting the TAR and/ or ITR in physical form till the New Income Tax Portal stabilizes and becomes glitch free; (d) Your Lordships may be pleased to pass a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ, Order or direction to not invoke Section 271B for late filing of the audit report and the physical filing be sufficient compliance of the Section; (e) Pending admission, hearing and final disposal of this Petition, Your Lordships may be pleased to direct respondents to allow filing of TAR/ITR in physical form to jurisdictional authorities; (f) Your Lordships may be pleased to grant any other relief or reliefs' as this Hon& ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... This litigation has something to do with extension of due date of filing of Tax Audit Report and the Income Tax Returns for the assessment year 2021-2022 and levy of interest under Section 234A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short, "the Act, 1961"). 6 We had an occasion to deal with one such litigation yesterday in the form of the Special Civil Application No.272 of 2022. We passed the following order in the said matter dated 11th January 2022: "1. We have heard Mr. Avinash Poddar and Mr. Nikul Singhavi, the learned counsel appearing for the writ applicants, Mr. M.R. Bhatt, the learned senior counsel appearing for the respondent No.2 and Mr. Devang Vyas, the learned Additional Solicitor General of India appearing for the respondent No.1 - Union of India. 2. We have been able to understand to some extent the difficulties, which are being experienced by the assessee in uploading the audit report for the purpose of filing the its income tax return. Our attention has also been drawn to the Circular No.17/2021 issued by the Ministry of Finance Department of Revenue, CBDT dated 09.09.2021 with respect to extension of the time limit for filing income tax returns and various repor ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he assessee. If the assessee has not been in a position to file his return in time on account of his inability to upload the audit report on account of technical glitches in the Portal, he can always point out all such circumstances beyond his control when he is called upon to show cause as to why penalty should not be imposed. 6. However, with all the aforesaid, we once again impress upon the respondent to attend to the technical glitches, which are being experienced in the Portal at the earliest. The Portal is something which is within the control of the respondent and if there are any technical problems in the same, it is only the respondents, who can take care of such problems. At this stage, Mr. Devang Vyas, the learned Additional Solicitor General of India received information that CBDT has issued a Circular No.01/2022 dated 11.01.2022 extending the timeline for filing the income tax return and various reports of audit for the A.Y. 2021-22. The due date of furnishing of Report of Audit under any provision of the Act for the Previous Year 2020-21, which was 30th September, 2021, in the case of assessees referred in clause (a) of Explanation 2 to subsection (1) of Section 139 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... .2021 and Circular No.17/2021 dated 09.09.2021 respectively, is hereby further extended to 15th February, 2022; 2. The due date of furnishing of Report of Audit under any provision of the Act for the Previous Year 2020-21, which was 31 st October, 2021, in the case of assessees referred in clause (aa) of Explanation 2 to subsection (1) of section 139 of the Act, is hereby extended to 15th February, 2022; 3. The due date of furnishing of Report from an Accountant by persons entering into international transaction or specified domestic transaction under section 92E of the Act for the Previous Year 2020-21, which was 31 st October 2021, as extended to 30 th November 2021 and 31 st January 2022 by Circular No.9/2021 dated 20.05.2021 and Circular No.17/2021 dated 09.09.2021 respectively, is hereby further extended to 15th February, 2022; 4. The due date of furnishing of Return of Income for the Assessment Year 2021-22, which was 31 st October 2021 under sub-section (1) of section 139 of the Act, as extended to 30 th November 2021 and 15 th February 2022 by Circular No.9/2021 dated 20.05.2021 and Circular No.17/2021 dated 09.09.2021 respectively, is hereby further extended to 15th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e technical glitches in the portal. The authority should not overlook this fact and try to solve the problems or rather ease the difficulties which the assessees are facing. 11 We appreciate the decision taken by the CBDT to extend the time period upto 15thFebruary 2022, but the assessees should be in a position to make the best of this extended time period. Mr. Hemani is right to a certain extent that if the technical glitches are going to continue, then even extension of further three months would not solve the problems. 12 Let Notice be issued to the respondents, returnable on 17th January 2022. 13 We request Mr. Vyas to discuss this matter at the earliest with the highest authority concerned and revert to us by the returnable date. One copy of this order shall be furnished to Mr. Vyas today itself for its onward communication. We permit service of notice to the respondents by Speed Post R.P.A.D. as well as by E-mail." 4. We have heard Mr. Tushar Hemani, the learned Senior Counsel assisted by Dr. Avinash Poddar and Mr. Nipun Singhvi, the learned counsel appearing for the writ applicant, Mr. M.R. Bhatt, the learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. Karan Sangani, the learned ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dia (Respondent No. 1) and Central Board of Direct Taxes (Respondent No. 2) in the above matter, hereby solemnly affirm as under: 1. It is submitted that the present affidavit is filed pursuant to the oral directions of this Hon'ble Court given on 18.01.2022. 2. The Central Board of Direct Taxes, hereinafter referred to as 'the Board', reiterates its position, which has been kindly taken note of by this Hon'ble Court, that filing of Tax Audit Report (TAR) and/or Income Tax Return (ITR) either in physical form or through specified e-mail id, is not in conformity with the existing structure for the following reasons: i) It is submitted that filing of ITR and TAR has to be done in the electronic format on e-filing portal. Over 6.01 crore ITRs for AY 21-22 and nearly 13.7 lakh various types of TARs have already been filed electronically. The filing of ITR and associated TAR is only the first step in the entire procedure for processing and assessment. Without the availability of data in the prescribed digital format, the ITR cannot be processed and refunds, if any, and intimations cannot be issued. (ii) There is no existing mechanism to digitize paper ITRs and such data ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Lakh TARs have been filed from 12th to 18th Jan 2022. This indicates that filing of TAR has been progressing smoothly. With the extension of the due date, it is expected that the tax professionals will be able to complete their filings smoothly. 3.1 It may also be submitted that filing of ITR remained smooth as is evident from the data given in the Table below: TABLE ITR-1 ITR-2 ITR-3 ITR-4 ITR-5 ITR-6 ITR-7 Grand Total (Date Wise) Before 14.12.21 2,33,03,192 36,41,756 41,85,472 1,01,66,182 4,31,225 1,83,572 34,661 4,20,29,921 14-Dec-21 4,13,951 1,27,970 1,84,837 3,58,359 23,306 9,235 2,093 11,19,751 15-Dec-21 4,14,769 1,30,352 1,94,633 3,96,049 22,069 8,123 2,032 11,68,027 16-Dec-21 3,14,904 93,835 1,38,504 3,09,940 14,697 4,632 1,209 8,77,721 17-Dec-21 6,19,573 1,72,565 2,37,990 4,79,721 27,136 9,869 2,977 15,49,831 18-Dec-21 7,24,459 2,09,691 3,02,518 6,01,871 35,084 11,993 3,461 18,89,057 19-Dec-21 8,54,136 2,59,633 3,76,717 7,74,354 42,921 12,250 4,242 23,24,253 20-Dec-21 11,61,082 3,51,445 5,50,070 11,41,651 65,652 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n the entire process of uploading Tax Audit Report and Income Tax Return. In case of any difficulty, the helplines are there to provide assistance to the taxpayers. Moreover, in case of any assistance in the form of technical infrastructure sought by the tax payer, the Aayakar Seva Kendras (ASK Centers) are at the service of the taxpayers. 6. The Hon'ble Court is assured that a team of Departmental officers will also supervise a special team of helpdesk, technical, functional personnel from the Managed Service Provider (MSP) for the project, to ensure that any grievance reported or technical issue identified is addressed at the earliest and to ensure that the taxpayer is facilitated in the filing process. 7. Further, this Hon'ble Court is assured that the following additional mechanism including a dedicated email for this purpose (given below) will be made available for issues related to filing of Tax Audit Reports to facilitate its timely filing. Source Details Action Email id [email protected] This email id is dedicated to assist the filing of Tax Audit Report. A team of 6 members (which can be increased) will be dedicated to examine and resolve ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ngh and Mr. Krishnamurthy. They have assured that the needful shall be done in this regard also. 11. In the overall view of the matter, we are convinced that with the cooperation of one and all, we have been able to resolve the controversy as regards the technical glitches in the Income Tax Portal. 12. At this stage, Mr. Hemani, the learned Senior Counsel submitted that by and large all issues can be said to have been taken care of with view of what has been stated in the affidavit except the issue as regards the levy of interest under Section 234A of the Income Tax Act. 13. We do not intend to look into the above controversy in the present litigation as we are informed that one writ application as regards Section 234A is already pending before this High Court. This issue shall be looked into as and when the pending writ application is taken up for hearing by this Court. 14. With the aforesaid, we close both the writ applications and dispose of the same accordingly. The affidavit, which has been filed today on behalf of the respondents Nos.1 and 2 shall be taken on record. 15. We are once again thankful to Mr. Singh as well as Mr. Krishanmurthy for joining this Video Conferenc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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