The Bangalore Bench of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal ( ITAT ) condoned a delay of 19 days in filing an appeal due to notices being sent to an outdated email address.The delay occurred because the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)[CIT(A)] sent notices to an old email ID, while the updated contact information was provided in Form 35.
Geetha Gopalan, the appellant-assessee, had filed an appeal for the assessment year(AY) 2018-19 against the order dated 18/03/2024 passed by the National Faceless Assessment Centre ( NFAC ).
Before the CIT(A), there was no appearance by the assessee despite multiple notices sent to the old email ID of the tax consultant. The CIT-A confirmed the Assessing Officer (AO)’s order due to the lack of cooperation from the assessee. However, the Authoritative Representative(AR) for the assessee argued that the notices were sent to the old email ID (kskrishnanandco@yahoo.co) instead of the new one (hiremagalur.gopalan@gmail.com) provided in Form 35.”
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Form 35 is used to file an appeal with the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) against a tax order. It allows taxpayers to challenge decisions made by the Assessing Officer. The form must be submitted within 30 days of receiving the order. It includes details about the taxpayer, the order being appealed, and the grounds for appeal.
The AR had argued that the assessee could not appear before the CIT-A or file the appeal on time and requested that the 19-day delay in filing the appeal before the tribunal be excused due to valid reasons.
The appellate bench, after hearing both sides and reviewing the record, noted that there was no fault on the part of the assessee for not appearing before the CIT-A or for the delay in filing the appeal before the tribunal. The delay of 19 days was condoned due to sufficient cause. The matter was remanded back to bench CIT-A for fresh adjudication according to the law.
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The two member bench comprising Prakash Chand Yadav (Judicial Member) and Waseem Ahmed ( Accountant Member ) allowed the appeal filed by the assessee.
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