Income Tax Act; Mere Uploading Of Notice On Assessee’s E-Portal Is Not Proper Service: ITAT

The Chandigarh Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has held that mere uploading of notice on the assessee’s e-Portal of the Income Tax Department is not proper service as per the Income Tax Act.

The bench of Sanjay Garg (Judicial Member) and Vikram Singh Yadav (Accountant Member) has observed that service of notice on the portal alone without compliance with Section 282 of the Income Tax Act is bad, and the matter was therefore remanded for consideration afresh.

The assessee/appellant has contested the action of the CIT (E) in rejecting the assessee's application for registration under Section 12AB of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

The CIT (E) has summarily rejected the application of the assessee without giving the assessee an opportunity for a hearing. No notice of the date of the hearing was served by the CIT (E), either through physical mode or through email, etc. The notice of the date of hearing was allegedly uploaded on the Income Tax Portal, and the assessee was not aware of the uploading of any such notice regarding the date of hearing. That no service of notice was ever affected by the assessee.

The tribunal set aside the order passed by the CIT (E) and issued a direction to the CIT (E) to decide the appeal of the assessee afresh after giving proper and adequate opportunity to the assessee.

Case Title: Sant Kabir Mahasabha Versus The CIT (Exemption)

Case No.: ITA No 84/CHD/2023

Date: 23.08.2023

Counsel For Appellant: Rana Gurtej Singh

Counsel For Respondent: Mahesh Thakurm

Click Here To Read The Order