ITAT Accepts Delay Due to Death of Person Handling Accounts, Restores Matter for Reconsideration:

ITAT Accepts Delay Due to Death of Person Handling Accounts, Restores Matter for Reconsideration The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Ahmedabad, has provided relief to a company by condoning huge delays that happened due to the death of the person handling the accounts for the assessee trust. The assessee, Gujarat Sales Tax Bar Association, a charitable trust, had filed three appeals relating to Assessment Years 2015-16, 2016-17, and 2017-18. The issue in all three appeals was related to the denial of exemption under Sections 11 and 12 of the Income Tax Act due to the late filing of Form 10B. 

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The appeals before the CIT(A) for two years were dismissed due to long delays, like 782 days for AY 2015-16 and 698 days for AY 2016-17. For AY 2017-18, the CIT(A) also dismissed the appeal, saying that the delay in filing Form 10B cannot be condoned by the appellate authorities and that the assessee can approach higher authorities like CIT, CCIT, and PCIT. The assessee appealed before the ITAT. The assessee explained that the delay in filing Form 10B happened because the person managing the accounting and tax work passed away due to COVID-19, and after that, the compliance work was delayed. It was also explained that once the mistake was noticed, Form 10B was filed. The assessee also contended that in AY 2016-17 and 2017-18, the CIT(E) had already condoned similar delays, and even the Assessing Officer had passed orders under Section 154 granting exemption after condonation. The Tribunal noted that in AY 2016-17 and 2017-18, the assessee had already received relief through Section 154 orders after the delay in Form 10B was condoned. Therefore, those two appeals filed by the assessee were held infructuous.

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For AY 2015-16, the Tribunal found that the reasons for the delay in filing Form 10B and the delay in filing the appeal were genuine and similar delays were already condoned by the Revenue authority. Therefore, it condoned the delay of 782 days in filing the appeal before CIT(A) and restored the matter back to the Assessing Officer for fresh examination after considering the outcome of the pending condonation application filed before the CBDT.