The Ahmedabad Bench of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) set aside the rejection of the 80G application under the Income Tax Act, 1961 by the Commissioner of Income Tax(Exemption) [CIT(E)] due to an incorrect assumption that the trust lacked valid 12A registration.
Dr. C J Desai And Jaswantiben,appellant-assessee, had their application for approval under Section 80G(5)(iii) rejected by CIT(E) as their registration under Section 12A/12AB was denied on 25.08.2024. Referring to CIT(E) vs. Shree Tapeshwar Hanumanji Bajrang Charity Trust, CIT(E) held that Section 12A registration is a prerequisite for approval under Section 80G.
The assessee’s counsel argued that CIT(E) erroneously rejected the Section 80G application, as the trust was already registered under Section 12A for A.Y. 2022-23 to 2026-27 via an order dated 21.07.2023. The counsel explained that the application for registration under Section 12A, filed mistakenly, was withdrawn on 20.02.2024, but CIT(E) still rejected it on 25.08.2024. Form 10AC was submitted to confirm the existing Section 12A registration.
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The two member bench comprising Siddhartha Nautiyal (Judicial Member) and Narendra P.Sinha(Accountant Member) observed that CIT(E) had rejected the appellant’s application for registration under Section 80G(5)(iii) based on the incorrect assumption that the trust did not hold valid registration under Section 12A. It noted that the trust had valid Section 12A registration for A.Y. 2022-23 to 2026-27 as per the order dated 21.07.2023.
In view of these facts, the tribunal set aside the matter to CIT(E) for fresh consideration, directing that the trust should not be denied registration under Section 80G on the grounds of not having Section 12A registration.
In short, the appeal filed by the assessee was allowed for statistical purposes.
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