9911796707
TMI Blog2025 (3) TMI 1280X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... case are as follows: 3.1 The Petitioner is a registered company, inter alia, engaged in the business of manufacturing LED contour linear solutions and advanced technology. The Petitioner-Assessing Company filed its return of income on 28.10.2021, for the Assessment Year 2021-22, under Section 139 (1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, (for short "the Act"). 3.2 The Petitioner availed the benefits of lower tax rate under Section 115BAB of the Act. The Petitioner made numerous attempts to fill Form 10-ID under Section 115BAB read with 23AF of the Income Tax Rules, 1962, however, it could not file its Form-10-ID within the prescribed time limit under Section 139 (1) of the Act, on 07.11.2021.The Petitioner's consultant made a tweet on Twitter.com and tweeted that the income tax portal was not working efficiently, and he was unable to file the Form 10-ID for the companies. 3.3 While processing the return of the Petitioner company, the Central Processing Centre (CPC) Authority admitted that the Petitioner had opted for the benefits of provisions of the Section 115BAB of the Act. 3.4 Meanwhile, the Central Board of Direct Taxes ('CBDT') noticed that, while claiming the benefits of lower t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... B read with Rule 21AF of the rules on 12.09.2022 as legal and valid; (B) During the pendency and final disposal of the present petition, YOUR LORDSHIPS may be pleased to direct the respondent no.03 to accept the Form 10-ID filed for A.Y. 2021-22 on 12.09.2022; (C) Pass any such other and/or further orders that may be thought just and proper, in the facts and circumstances of the present case." 5. Mr. Darshan B. Gandhi, learned advocate on behalf of the Petitioner submitted that there was genuine hardship in terms of technical difficulty and glitches in the income tax portal while filing Form 10-ID before the due date and therefore, the same could not be filed in time. He further submitted that the Petitioner had claimed the benefit of special rate of tax in Form 6 in its Income Tax Return. Further, the consultant of the Petitioner-Company tweeted about the difficulty in filing Form 10-ID contemporaneously on 07.11.2021, which is admitted by the CBDT in terms of issuance of Circular No.6 of 2022 and Circular No. 19 of 2023 and therefore, the benefit of the special rate of tax claimed by the Petitioner-Company in its return cannot be denied on mere technicalities and therefore ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sment years may be condoned. 3. With a view to avoid genuine hardship to the assessees in exercising the option, under section 115BAA of the Act read with Rule 21AE of the Rules or under section 115BAB of the Act read with Rule 21AF of the Rules, the CBDT in exercise of the powers conferred under section 119 (2) (b) of the Act, hereby authorizes:- a) the Pr.Commissioners of Income Tax ('Pr. CsIT')/ Commissioners of Income Tax ("CsIT") to admit and deal with the applications for condonation of delay in filing of Form No. 10-IC or Form No. 10-ID for Assessment Years 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 where there is a delay of upto 365 days. b) the Pr. Chief Commissioners of Income Tax ('Pr. CcsIT)/ Chief Commissioners of Income Tax ('CCsIT)/ Directors General of Income Tax ('DsGIT) to admit and deal with the applications for condonation of delay in filing of Form No. 10-IC or Form No. 10-ID for Assessment Years 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 where there is a delay of more than 365 days. 4. The Pr. CCsIT/ CCsIT/ DsGIT/ Pr. CsIT/ CsIT while deciding such applications for condonation of delay in furnishing of Form No. 10-IC or Form No. 10-ID to exercise the optio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e delay in filing Form 10-IC by the petitioner instead of rejecting the review application filed by the petitioner on technical ground as in substance, the petitioner has exercised the option for lower rate of tax under section 115BAA of the Act which is clear from the computation of income available on record. Even in Form ITR-6, the petitioner has filled in the details by computing the tax as provision for current tax in Column 54 at Rs. 49,58,000/- by applying lower rate of tax meaning thereby, the petitioner has exercised option merely because in absence of any provision for exercising the option in Column (e) as per the Circular No. 19/2023, the petitioner cannot be deprived of lower rate of tax and the delay in filing Form 10-IC ought to have been condoned by respondent No. 2 so as to fulfill the condition prescribed in sub-section (5) of section 115BAA of the Act read with section 21AE of the Rules providing for procedure for filing Form 10-IC. 26. In view of the foregoing reasons, the impugned order dated 13.10.2023 passed under section 119 (3) (b) of the Act and intimation under section 143 (1) of the Act dated 13.11.2022 are hereby quashed and set aside and the mater i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... oresaid Circular. 14. It is true that the petitioner could not have made such a prayer of treating Form 10IC filed for Assessment Year 2021-2022 for Assessment Year 2021. The petitioner ought to have prayed for permission to file the Form 10IC for the year 2021 as per the Circular No.6 of 2022 under Section 119 (2) (b) of the Act by treating the Form 10IC filed for subsequent year 2021-2022 as null and void as the petitioner had already opted for a reduced rate of tax for Assessment Year 2021 in the return of income which was permitted to be regularised by condoning the delay in filing Form 10IC as per Rule 21AE of the Rules by the CBDT by issuing the aforesaid Circular for Assessment Year 2021. 15. The contention raised on behalf of the respondent that in view of the decision of the Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Wipro Limited (Supra), the petitioner is not entitled to file Form 10IC belatedly after the filing of the return under Section 139 (1) of the Act is concerned, the said aspect is taken into consideration by this Court in case of Commissioner of Income Tax versus Gujarat Energy Development Agency by considering the decision of the Wipro Limited (Supra) vis-a-vis the f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion under Section 11 of the Act being a technical in nature by rejecting such application. But, in the facts of the case, when the assessee has already uploaded the audit report in Form 10B as required under Section 10 (23 )C read with Section 12A (1) (b) of the Act before the Assessing Officer prior to the original assessment order under Section 143 (3) passed on 06th April, 2021." 16. Learned advocate Mr. Manish Shah for the petitioner also invited the attention of the Court to paragraph No. 10 of the decision of the Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Wipro Limited (Supra) wherein, the Hon'ble Apex Court has held as under : "10. Even the submission on behalf of the assessee that it was not necessary to exercise the option under section 10B (8) of the IT Act and even without filing the revised return of income, the assessee could have submitted the declaration in writing to the assessing officer during the assessment proceedings has no substance and the same cannot be accepted. Even the submission made on behalf of the assessee that filing of the declaration subsequently and may be during the assessment proceedings would have made no difference also has no substance. The signifi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lly required to be paid by them and thereafter seek refund of the monies so paid by mistake after the proceedings under the Act are dropped by the authorities concerned. The State is not entitled to plead the hyper-technical plea of limitation in such a situation to avoid return of the amounts. Section 119 of the Act vests ample power in the Board to render justice in such a situation. The Board has acted arbitrarily in rejecting the petitioner's request for refund." 19. Considering the above facts as well as the settled legal position, the petition succeeds and accordingly allowed. The petitioner is permitted to obtain Form 10IC for Assessment Year 2021 in the facts of the case and after obtaining such Form, the petitioner shall make a fresh Application to condone the delay for the same and the respondent No. 1 is directed to consider such Application in light of the observations made in this Order within a period of twelve weeks from the date of filing of such Application by the petitioner. Rule is made absolute. No orders as to cost. 9. Several decisions referred to hereinabove categorically go to show that once a benefit is claimed in the return of income, the filing o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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