Swastik Co-op Credit Society Ltd vs Income-tax officer
[R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 9600 OF 2024]
The assessee was a cooperative society involved in offering credit services to its members. The assessee had been assigned PAN AAVFS6160N since 1992 and had submitted an income tax return seeking deduction under section 80P of the Act.
The assessee’s argument was that they were unable to claim a deduction under section 80P in the ITR-5 utility due to the fourth character in the PAN being ‘F’, indicating ‘Firm’ instead of ‘AOP’. This discrepancy made it challenging to e-file the income tax return while claiming the deduction under section 80P with the same PAN.
The assessee underwent a tax audit which mandated the electronic filing of the return. The assessee then sought assistance from the Central Processing Centre in Bangalore, only to be instructed to contact the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer. The Officer recommended the assessee to apply for a new PAN, and upon receiving it, surrender the old PAN.
The assessee accordingly vide letter addressed to the Income Tax Officer, requested to take note of the new PAN being AAPAS3755G and continue the usage of old PAN AAVFS6160N till the pending proceedings under the Act were completed.
Considering the facts, it was true that the assessee failed to submit an income tax return under the new “PAN AAPAS3755G” that was issued to them in 2020. Subsequently, the Assessing Officer, noting the absence of a return under the said PAN, issued a notice under section 148A(b) based on data from RMS – Non-Filing of Return – PAN Cases for AY 2017-18, as per the Risk Management Strategy devised by the Central Board of Direct Taxes.
The assessee provided details about filing of the return for AY 2017-18 under the old “PAN AAVFS6160N” along with intimation under section 143(1) issued by the Department for the AY 2017-18, wherein also deduction under section 80P was granted.
Upon reviewing the response provided by the assessee, the Assessing Officer issued the contested order under section 148A(d), deeming it appropriate to reopen the assessment as the assessee was unable to demonstrate that the information held by the Department had been disclosed in the income tax return submitted with the new PAN.
The Hon’ble High Court of Gujarat observed, it was clear that the Assessing Officer was made aware that the petitioner filed return for A.Y. 2017-18 under the old PAN. Thus, the Assessing Officer had misdirected himself by ignoring the fact that petitioner had filed the return for the A.Y. 2017-18 under old PAN AAVFS6160N and only on the ground that the petitioner did not file return in new PAN AAPAS3755G which was not in existence during the A.Y. 2017- 18, had passed the impugned order and the aforesaid impugned order being contrary to the facts the same was quashed and set aside.
Swastik Co-op Credit Society Ltd vs Income-tax officer
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