Addition made by AO u/s. 115BBE of Income Tax Act on ground of Late filing of ROI: ITAT Directs Re-adjudication [Read Order]

The Mumbai bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) directed the Assessing Officer (AO) to re-adjudicatethe addition made under section 115BBE of the Income Tax Act, 1961 on the ground of late filing of Return of Income (ROI). 

Apcer Life Sciences India Limited, the appellant assessee was a private limited company engaged in the business of pharma co-vigilance services and monitoring the effect of drugs, medical review of lab and ECG data, global medical writing, etc. The assessee filed an appeal against the order passed by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) for confirming the addition made by the AO under section 115BBE of the Income Tax Act. 

M. Subramanian, the counsel for the assessee contended that the return of income filed by the assessee was accepted by the AO in the assessment order. 

It was also submitted that the assessee had claimed certain refunds and had declared total income in its return of income and the A.O. had determined the total income with a difference of amount and not made any disallowance to this extent in the assessment order and since there was no explanation in the assessment order to that extent, the computation sheet had to be declared as ‘invalid’ and ‘bad in law’. 

The revenue's counsel, Manoj Kumar Sinha, firmly backed the decisions taken by the lower authorities. Additionally, it was contended that the addition made by the AO in accordance with section 115BBE of the Income Tax Act was legal and legitimate. 

The two-member bench comprising Prashant Maharishi (Accountant) and Kavitha Rajagopal (Judicial) held that section 115BBE of the Income Tax Act applies only when sections 68, 69, 69A, 69B, 69C, and 69D of the Income Tax Act are invoked and here it does not come under the mandate of section 115BBE of the Income Tax Act.

Furthermore, the assessee's appeal was allowed since the AO's addition was erroneous, and the AO was ordered to re-adjudicate. 

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

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