Form 10E Filed, Yet Relief Denied: Section 89(1) Relief Denial Case on Technical Ground Remanded to AO

The present appeal has been filed by a taxpayer named Sachin Bhaskar Kurandale in the ITAT Pune, challenging an order dated April 02, 2025, passed by the CIT(A)/JCIT(A)-6, Kolkata. The case is related to the Assessment Year 2017-18.  

The assessee is a salaried employee who filed his income tax return (ITR) for the year in consideration, declaring the total income of Rs. 1,575,530. During the assessment, the AO noticed that the assessee had revised his return three times. Hence, the return was chosen for scrutiny through CASS and issued statutory notices to the assessee under Sections 143(2) and 142(1). During the course of assessment proceedings, the assessee furnished the Form 10E online acknowledgement, requesting to allow relief under Section 89(1) of the IT Act, but he forgot to mention the final revised return, which was claimed in the initial return.

The Assessing Officer (AO) did not consider the claim of the assessee and completed the assessment under Section 143(3), declaring the total income at Rs. 15,66,930 vide order dated December 11, 2019. However, it disallowed the claimed relief under Section 89(1) of the IT Act.

The aggrieved assessee filed an appeal before the CIT(A); however, the CIT(A) dismissed his appeal on the ground that the same was not claimed in the last return filed by the assessee. Thereafter, the assessee approached the ITAT Pune. When the tribunal heard the arguments of both sides, it noted that the assessee was only a 10th standard pass and had not been properly advised by his professional, which is evident from the number of returns.
filed on his behalf.

The assessee argued that “since the income disclosed in the computation of income furnished on 10.11.2019 before the Assessing Officer was accepted as it is, the claim of relief u/s 89(1) made by the assessee in the same computation furnished before the Assessing Officer was also required to be accepted.”

When the tribunal analysed/verified the facts of the case, it noted that the Form 10E was indeed furnished online by the petitioner. The AO did not accept the income shown in the revised return but accepted the income shown in the computation of income; the claim for relief under section 89(1) should have been considered.

Therefore, without deciding the claim on merits, the Tribunal set aside the order of the CIT(A) and sent the matter back to the Assessing Officer. The Assessing Officer is directed to re-examine the claim under section 89(1) according to law after giving the assessee a fair hearing. The assessee must cooperate fully and submit all required documents without seeking adjournments. Hence, the appeal is allowed for statistical purposes.