The Kolkata Bench of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT ) rejected the plea to condone a 388-day delay in filing an appeal against disallowance of deduction under Section 80P of Income Tax Act,1961, holding that the death of the Chartered Accountant (CA) was not a valid reason since the society had continued to pursue the matter even after the CA’s demise.

Indian Overseas Bank Employees Cooperative, appellant-assessee,was a registered non-profit credit society formed by staff of Indian Overseas Bank. It filed its return on 21.10.2017, declaring income of ₹1,09,990.

The Assessing Officer (AO) denied deduction under section 80P, treated interest on savings and fixed deposits as income from other sources, and disallowed expenses under section 40(a)(ia) for non-compliance with TDS provisions, assessing taxable income at ₹21,45,285. The Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)[CIT(A)] upheld the assessment and dismissed the appeal.

The assessee, aggrieved by the order, filed an appeal before the ITAT with a delay of 388 days. It was stated that their CA, who handled tax matters, had passed away on December 30, 2022, and no replacement was appointed, causing the delay. A death certificate was submitted, and a request was made to condone the delay.

The departmental counsel argued that there was a delay of 388 days in filing the appeal and no valid reason was provided to justify it and requested that the appeal be dismissed in limine.

A single member bench comprising Duvvuru RL Reddy (Vice President) considered submissions from both sides and reviewed the condonation petition, the CA’s death certificate issued by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, and the order passed by the CIT(A).

It was noted that the CA had passed away on 30 December 2022, while the CIT(A) had scheduled the hearing for 20 February 2023 and passed the order on 21 February 2023. Despite the CA’s demise, someone appeared on behalf of the assessee and filed a reply on the scheduled hearing date, as recorded in the appellate order.

Based on this, the appellate tribunal found that the assessee-society continued to pursue the matter even after the CA’s death. It concluded that the reason cited for the delay was not convincing and held that the society failed to provide sufficient cause to justify the delay of 388 days. Accordingly, the request for condonation was rejected.

Accordingly the appeal was dismissed.

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