The Ahmedabad Bench of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal ( ITAT ) dismissed the appeal filed by the assessee, as infructuous, after the trust had filed a fresh application for registration within the extended deadline.
Shree Gopal Ashram,appellant-assessee, appealed against the order dated 19.02.2024, passed by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemption), which rejected its application for registration under Section 12A(1)(ac)(ii) of the Act. The application, filed electronically on 30.09.2023, was rejected by the CIT(E) on the grounds that it was incorrectly made under Section 12A(1)(ac)(ii) instead of the correct Section 12A(1)(ac)(iii) of the Act.
The assessee had been granted provisional registration under Section 12A(1)(ac)(vi) for the assessment years 2022-23 to 2024-25 and was required to submit the re-application under Section 12A(1)(ac)(iii) within six months before the expiry of the provisional registration or within six months of the commencement of activities, whichever occurred earlier.
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The assessee argued that the error in citing Section 12A(1)(ac)(ii) was purely inadvertent and should not have led to the rejection of the application. Additionally, the assessee referred to Central Board of Direct Taxes(CBDT) Circular No. 7/2024, issued on 25.04.2024, which extended the deadline for filing applications for registration under Section 12A until 30.06.2024. The assessee filed a new application on 26.06.2024, within the extended timeline, as shown by the acknowledgment submitted before the Tribunal.
The Tribunal considered the submissions and acknowledged that the CBDT’s circular had provided the assessee with an opportunity to reapply within the extended deadline. Since the assessee had already filed a fresh application within this period, the tribunal concluded that the earlier appeal, related to the rejection of the original application, was no longer relevant.
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The two member bench comprising Suchitra Kamble (Judicial Member) and Narendra Prasad Sinha(Accountant Member) dismissed the appeal as infructuous and directed the CIT(E) to process the new application in accordance with the law.
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