ITAT Delhi Grants Section 11 Relief: Form 10B Filed Before Due Date, Reporting Error Allowed to Be Corrected

The case had been filed by a taxpayer named Utkarsh before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) Delhi, challenging an order passed by the CIT(A)/NFAC Delhi on August 29, 2025. The case was decided on December 02, 2025.

The taxpayer had filed his income tax return (ITR) for the assessment year 2018-19 on July 25, 2018; however, the tax department claimed that the statutory due date was September 30, 2018. Form 10B was also uploaded on the ITBA portal on July 31, 2018. At the time of processing the return of the taxpayer, the tax department denied his application for income tax exemption under section 11 of the Act, saying Form 10B was furnished after filing the return, which is not acceptable under the provisions of income tax.

The taxpayer also filed an application under section 154; however, the same was also rejected on the grounds that Form 10B is required to be filed with the return of income. The dissatisfied taxpayer approached CIT(A), citing several earlier high court and tribunal judgements, which all ruled, “When Form 10B was available during assessment, the benefit of section 11 be allowed to the assessee.” In the end, CIT(A) endorsed the decision of the tax department.

The taxpayer further claimed that the mistake made while filing Column 5 of Part E in Schedule J was not intentional. He accidentally notified an amount as chargeable under Section 11(3); however, it was actually just a normal receipt received from members/donations, which can be verified from the books. The taxpayer also requested the tax department to give him a chance to correct his mistake and additionally cited several earlier judgements (such as Jhaiji Shikshan Samiti vs. DCIT(E), Bombay St. Xavier’s College Society vs. CPC in ITA No. 3584/Mum/2025 dated 25/07/2025, and the Church of Our Lady of Immaculate Vs ITO (E) in ITA No. 4998/Mum/2025) supported such corrections; however, the department denied his request, saying that the taxpayer had itself shown Rs. 5,55,150 as income, so there was no mistake.

When the taxpayer approached ITAT Delhi, the tribunal noted that Form 10B was uploaded before the due date of filing of the return of income, i.e., September 30, 2018. Despite the fact that the return was filed before furnishing Form 10B, as a result, the tax department received Form 10B after processing the return. The tribunal also noted that in several earlier cases based on similar issues, authorities had allowed the assessee to enjoy relief under Section 11 of the Income Tax Act. Hence, in conclusion, the tribunal allowed ground 1.

In the second ground, the tribunal endorsed the claim of the taxpayer that there was an unintentional mistake by the assessee in reporting receipts in the wrong column. This issue was also raised before the CIT(A) by the taxpayer; however, the CIT(A) wrongly rejected it, saying Section 154 only covers “apparent mistakes.” The Tribunal held that when the assessee clearly points out a reporting mistake, it should be allowed to correct it. Therefore, the Tribunal directed the Assessing Officer to verify the facts and grant appropriate relief.

In the final conclusion, the tribunal allowed the appeal. Meaning ruled in favour of the taxpayer.