Wrong Address in Appeal Documents Leads to Dismissal: Calcutta High Court orders Rehearing of Income Tax Appeals [Read Order]

In the recent case, the Calcutta High Court, set aside the Tribunal and Commissioner of Income Tax ( Appeals )[ CIT(A) ] orders against the petitioner due to incorrect addresses on appeal documents, which led to the dismissal of the case. The court granted a new opportunity to the petitioner to present its case and directed that proof of the correct address be filed with the CIT(A) for all future purposes.

Bright Vyapaar Private Limited, the petitioner-assessee, was aggrieved by the order of the tribunal which had proceeded ex parte due to the non-appearance of the assessee. The assessee was partly to blame for this situation, as the address provided in the appeal form was outdated.

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The assessee filed the appeal after the company had changed its address to 4/2B, Leonard Road, Hastings in 2011. However, the address provided in the appeal form was 7A, Bentinck Street. The company’s registered office had initially been at 15, Ganesh Chandra Avenue and was moved to 7A, Bentinck Street in 2008. The address was changed again in 2011 to No. 7, Ganesh Chandra Avenue, and finally, on 1st April, 2017, it was updated to Hastings.

The Tribunal observed that the assessee did not take part in the proceedings before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) [ CIT(A) ]. However, records certified by the Assessing Officer ( AO ) revealed that the assessee had filed a comprehensive written submission with the CIT(A). Regrettably, the CIT(A)’s office had dispatched the notice to an incorrect address. Consequently, the assessee’s consultant did not attend, resulting in the dismissal of the appeal.

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The court noted that the same outcome befell the appeal before the tribunal, as the assessee had provided an incorrect address in the appeal memo. Additionally, it was found from the certified copy of the records obtained from the AO's files that the jurisdictional AO had been changed three times.

The court  concluded that the assessee should be granted an additional opportunity to present all relevant details to the Appellate Authority ( AA ), allowing for a decision based on the merits of the case.

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A coram of Chief Justice T.S Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya set aside the orders issued by both the tribunal and the CIT(A).

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

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