No delay when the assessee had deposited his share of the provident fund within extended date: ITAT

The assessee is a public limited company carrying on the business of manufacturing and trading diagnostic reagents and machines. It filed its return of income at a total income of Rs. 143,964,197. This return was revised at Rs. 142,563,326.

The return of income was processed u/s 143 (1) of the Act according to which employees contribute to the provident fund was remitted beyond the due date specified in the respective statute but before the due date u/s 139 (1) of the Act amounting to Rs. 898,343 was disallowed.

Aggrieved with the intimation, the assessee preferred to appeal before the National faceless appeal Centre [NFAC] where the appeal of the assessee was disposed of and AO’s order was upheld. Therefore, the assessee is in appeal before the tribunal.

The tribunal observed that the facts in the case show that the employee’s share of provident fund contribution for the month of May 2017 amounting to Rs. 898,343 was remitted to the provident fund authority on 16/6/2017. The last date for remittance for the due month of May 2017 was payable by 15/6/2017 but was extended by one day i.e. extended up to 16/06/2017. Thereby it is apparent that when the assessee has deposited the above sum within that extended due date there is no need to go into the controversy about whether the amendment made by the Finance Act, 2021 was applicable retrospective or not, as there is no delay in deposit of the employee’s contribution. In nutshell, the employee’s contribution has been deposited by the assessee within the due date prescribed under the respective provident fund laws. Therefore, the tribunal found that no disallowance can be made in the hands of the assessee. Hence, the appeal filed by the assessee was allowed.