In the recent ruling, the High Court of Karnataka, condoned a 2-hour, 38-minute 26 seconds delay in filing the Income Tax Return ( ITR ) due to genuine hardship and quashed the order issued under Section 119(2)(b) of the Income Tax Act,1961.
Century Joint Developments Pvt.Ltd., the petitioner-assessee, filed a writ petition under Articles 226 & 227 of the Constitution of India challenging an order dated 05.03.2024 issued under Section 119(2)(b) of the act.
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This order had refused to condone a 2-hour, 38-minute, and 28-second delay in filing the ITR for the Assessment Year (AY) 2019-20. The petitioner also sought to quash the intimation dated 19.08.2020, which denied the carry-forward of losses.
The petitioner argued that the delay was due to genuine hardship and that the refusal to condone this minimal delay was based on an overly technical interpretation of the rules.
It was submitted that the impugned order failed to consider the genuine difficulties faced by the petitioner, as outlined in the Circular dated 09.06.2015 (No.9/2015) and Section 119(2)(b) of the Act. The petitioner highlighted that the delay was very small and that the refusal to condone it was a serious mistake.
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Section 119(2)(b) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, allows the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to relax the conditions or rules for filing returns or compliance if it finds that a taxpayer faced genuine hardship. This section permits the CBDT to condone delays in filing returns or documents when the delay is due to reasons beyond the taxpayer’s control.
In response, the learned Additional Government Advocate (AGA) argued that the petition lacked merit and should be dismissed.
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A single bench of Justice S.R. Krishna Kumar quashed both the order and the intimation, directed the respondents to condone the delay, and ordered the processing of the petitioner’s income tax return in accordance with the law, including the carry-forward of losses.
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