ITAT Allows Section 80JJAA Deduction, Holds Return and Form 10DA Filed Within Due Date

The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Bengaluru Bench has ruled in favour of Mindteck (India) Ltd. for the Assessment Year 2018-19 and allowed its claim for deduction of Rs. 11,90,545 under Section 80JJAA of the Income Tax Act.

The Income Tax Department had raised the dispute while processing the income tax return of the company, wherein it disallowed the deduction. The company had filed its return on 30 November 2018 showing total income of Rs. 7,95,23,620. It was argued that the deduction was rightly claimed and was supported by Form 10DA which was also filed along with return.

In the appeal proceedings the CIT(A) upheld the disallowance. The appellate authority held that the income tax return and Form 10DA were filed after the due date of 31 October 2018 and therefore the company was not entitled to the deduction.

In the Tribunal, Mindteck argued that the actual due date for filing the return was 30 November 2018 and not 31 October 2018. The company submitted that in the intimation issued under Section 143(1) itself due date has been recorded as “30.11.2018“. The return and Form 10DA were filed on that date and therefore were filed within the prescribed time limits.

The ITAT perused the records and found the contentions of the company to be correct. The Tribunal noted that due date for filing the return was 30 November, 2018 and both the return as well as Form 10DA had been filed in prescribed time.

The Tribunal held that the CIT(A) had incorrectly taken 31 October 2018 as the due date and therefore incorrectly denied the deduction. It directed the Assessing Officer to allow deduction of Rs. 11,90,545 claimed under Section 80JJAA.

Hence, the appeal filed by the assessee was allowed.