The Orissa High Court directed the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to issue a circular since the assessee failed to file an Income tax return due to technical glitches.
Mr J. Sahoo, Senior Counsel for All Odisha Tax Advocates Association, the Petitioner places before the Court copy of the judgment dated 13th January 2021 of the Gujarat High Court in the All-Gujarat Federation of Tax Consultants v. Union of India whereby a similar issue concerning non-filing of returns and tax audit reports within time was being dealt with.
There the Gujarat High Court took note that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had kept extending the time limit for submission of the returns of the Tax Audit Reports. In response to the prayer for a direction to the CBDT to further extend the due dates by invoking its power under Section 119 of the Income Tax Act 1961 (‘Act’), the Gujarat High Court declined to do so on the ground that in “matters relating to the revenue” interference at that stage would have “far-reaching consequences”.
It was evident that a circular dated 11th January 2022 has been issued by the CBDT extending the time for filing returns and audit reports for the Assessment Year 2021-22. The only apprehension remaining is that the Department should not charge interest under Sections 234A and 234-B of the Act, late fees under Section 234F and penalty under Section 271B for filing of late returns.
Since the Department has itself acknowledged that there have been technical glitches which have prevented many Assesses from filing their returns and tax audit reports within time, Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice G Satapathy held that CBDT should consider issuing an appropriate circular clarifying that by granting an extension of the deadline for filing returns/tax audit reports.
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