IT Act | 'Charitable Trust's Bona Fide Mistake Due To Misprint In Taxmann Bare Act': Bombay High Court Condones Delay In Filing Form 9A

The Bombay High Court allowed a writ petition filed by the Charitable Trust “Savitribai Phule Shikshan Prasarak” seeking quashing and setting aside of the Order passed by the Directorate General of Income Tax Investigation (Investigation) Pune whereby the Trust/Petitioner's application for condonation of delay 509 days in filing its Form 9A for the Assessment Year 2022-23 was rejected.Per Explanation below Section 11(7) of the Income Tax Act, 196, the Charitable Trusts were required to claim Application of Income on an “Actual Payment Basis”, incorporated after the Finance Act, 2022 from A.Y. 2022-2023 whereby the application of income was to be claimed on the basis of “Actual Payment Basis” and not “Accrual Basis”. In the case in hand, due to a misprint in the 67th Edition of Taxmann's Income Tax Bare Act, the Trust believed that this change applied from A.Y. 2023–24, not A.Y. 2022–23. Accordingly, the Trust did not file Form 9A for A.Y. 2022–23. Only after the assessment proceedings under Section 143(3) of the income Tax Act started, it came to the knowledge of the trust that “Actual Payment Basis” was actually applicable from A.Y. 2022-23 itself and not A.Y. 2023-24 and thereby, filed Form 9A late, along with an application under Section 119(2)(b) seeking condonation of the delay of 509 days. The Directorate General of Income Tax Investigation (Investigation) Pune refused to condone the delay on the ground that placing reliance on publication such as “Taxmann”, cannot be sufficient ground for the delay. Assailing the said Order, the Trust preferred the Review Application on the grounds of non-consideration of judicial precedents, binding nature of High Court decisions, Exercise of discretion in favour of Charitable Institutions, however, the Review Application was rejected on the ground that no new facts were brought on record to show any mistake apparent from the record. Thereafter, the writ before the High Court was preferred by the Trust/Petitioner, whereby the High Court considering that the Trust did not gain any benefit from delayed Form 9A filing and denying condonation of delay for delayed Form 9A filing would cause grave hardship for the Trust, accordingly the High Court quashed and set aside the Order passed by the Directorate General of Income Tax Investigation (Investigation) Pune. WRIT PETITION NO. 11261 OF 2025 CASE TITLED: SAVITRIBAI PHULE SHIKSHAN PRASARAK MANDAL, KAMLAPUR VS. DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF INCOME TAX INVESTIGATION (INVESTIGATION) PUNE & ORS. ADVOCATES FOR THE PETITIONER: MR. SAURABH S. SOPARKAR (SENIOR COUNSEL) A/W MR. SANKET S. BORA A/W MS. VIDHI K. PUNMIYA A/W MR. AMIYA R. DAS I/B. SPCM LEGAL ADVOCATES FOR THE RESPONDENTS/REVENUE: MR. ASHOK KOTANGLE A/W MR. VISHNU CHAUDHARI, MR. NIKITESH KOTANGLE, MS. NEHA PENDE, Click Here To Read/Download The Order

IT Act | 'Charitable Trust's Bona Fide Mistake Due To Misprint In Taxmann Bare Act': Bombay High Court Condones Delay In Filing Form 9A

Rajnandini Dutta

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