Govt. High School , Ludhiana V. ITO (TDS)-1, Chandigarh

ITA 591/CHANDI/2022

AI Insights

The appeals were filed by the Govt. High School, Kheri Thaheri against the orders of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) pertaining to the assessment years 2013-14 and 2014-15. The main issue was the levy of penalty under section 234E of the Income Tax Act due to alleged delays in filing TDS returns. The assessee argued that the delays were unintentional and caused by administrative errors, including the reassignment of a TAN number that was previously allocated to another school. The tribunal considered the submissions and the affidavit of the Head Master, and decided to condone the delay and delete the penalty.

• Counselvise Citation: [2023] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 127861 (ITAT-CHANDIGARH)
• Duration Of Justice: 1 year(s) 9 day(s)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 20-08-2023
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Allowed
• Bench Allotted: A
• Next Hearing Date: 15-08-2023
• Assessment Year: 2013-2014
• Appeal Filed On: 11-08-2022
• Laws Referred To: Income Tax Act, 1961
• Result in Favour of: Assessee
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Keywords: TDS
• Section: 10; 15

Judgement Text

आयकर अपील य अ धकरण,च डीगढ़ यायपीठ, च डीगढ़ IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL DIVISION BENCH, “A” CHANDIGARH BEFORE SHRI SANJAY GARG, JUDICIAL MEMBER AND SHRI VIKRAM SINGH YADAV, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER आयकर अपील सं./ ITA Nos.591 & 592/CHD/2022 नधा रण वष / Assessment Year : 2013-14 & 2014-15 Govt. High School, Kheri Thaheri, Pakhowal Road, Ludhiana. बनाम The ITO (TDS)-1, Chandigarh. थायी लेखा सं./PAN/TAN NO: PTLG17012C अपीलाथ /Appellant यथ /Respondent नधा रती क! ओर से/Assessee by : Shri Sudhir Sehgal, Advocate राज व क! ओर से/ Revenue by : Smt. Amanpreet Kaur, Sr. DR स ु नवाई क! तार&ख/Date of Hearing : 16.08.2023 उदघोषणा क! तार&ख/Date of Pronouncement : 21.08.2023 आदेश/ORDER Per Sanjay Garg, Judicial Member: T h e c a p t i o n e d a p p e a l s h a v e b e e n p r e f e r r e d b y t h e a s s e s s e e a g a i n s t t h e s e p a r a t e o r d e r s d a t e d 1 0 . 0 3 . 2 02 2 o f t h e C o m m i s s i o n e r o f I n c o m e T a x ( A p p e a l s ) N F A C , D e l h i [ i n s h o r t ‘ t h e C I T( A ) ’ ] p e r t a i n i n g t o 2 0 1 3 - 1 4 a n d 2 0 1 4 - 1 5 a s se s s m e n t y e a r . 2 . S i n c e t h e f a c t s a n d i s s u e s i n b o t h t h e a p p e a l s ar e i d e n t i c a l , t h e r e f o r e , b o t h t h e a p p e a l s w e r e h e a r d to g e t h e r a n d ITA Nos.591 & 592/CHD/2022 A.Y. 2013-14 & 2014-15 2 a r e b e i n g d i s p o s e d o f b y t h i s c o m m o n o r d e r f o r t h e s a k e o f c o n v e n i e n c e . 3 . T h e a s s e s s e e i n b o t h t h e a p p e a l s h a s a g i t a t e d t he l e v y o f f e e s u / s 2 3 4 E o f t h e I n c o m e T a x A c t , 1 9 6 1 ( i n s h o r t ‘ t h e A c t ’ ) . 4 . B o t h t h e a p p e a l s a r e t i m e b a r r e d b y 9 5 d a y s . S e pa r a t e a p p l i c a t i o n f o r c o n d o n a t i o n o f d e l a y h a s b e e n f i l e d, w h i c h i s s u p p o r t e d b y t h e a f f i d a v i t o f t h e H e a d M a s t e r o f t he S c h o o l , S h r i V i v e k M o n g a . I t h a s b e e n p l e a d e d i n t h e a p p l ic a t i o n t h a t t h e d e l a y i n f i l i n g t h e p r e s e n t a p p e a l s h a s o c c u r r ed d u e t o n o n a v a i l a b i l i t y o f c o p y o f F o r m 3 5 i . e . A p p e a l F o r m b ef o r e t h e C I T ( A ) . T h a t t h e a s s e s s e e t r i e d t o d o w n l o a d t h e A pp e a l F o r m b u t c o u l d n o t d o s o d u e t o s o m e t e c h n i c a l r e a s o n s . G r i e v a n c e P e t i t i o n w a s a l s o f i l e d i n t h i s r e s p e c t w i t h t h e I nc o m e T a x D e p a r t m e n t . I n v i e w o f t h e s u b m i s s i o n s m a d e i n t h e a p p l i c a t i o n w h i c h a r e s u p p o r t e d b y t h e a f f i d a v i t o f t h e H e a d M a s t e r , t h e d e l a y i n f i l i n g t h e p r e s e n t a p p e a l s i s h e r e b y c o n d o n e d . 5 . N o w c o m i n g t o t h e m e r i t s i n b o t h t h e a p p e a l s . T he c o m m o n p l e a t a k e n b y t h e a s s e s s e e i n t h i s r e s p e c t is t h a t t h e a s s e s s e e w a s e a r l i e r a l l o t t e d T A N N o . J L D G 0 0 0 4 4 C . Th e a s s e s s e e f i l e d t h e TD S r e t u r n s i n t i m e f o r t h e q u a rt e r s i n q u e s t i o n u n d e r t h e s a i d T A N N o . J L D G 0 0 0 4 4 C . H o w e v e r l a t e r ITA Nos.591 & 592/CHD/2022 A.Y. 2013-14 & 2014-15 3 o n , i t w a s f o u n d t h a t s a m e T A N n u m b e r w a s a l l o t t e d t o a n o t h e r s c h o o l a l s o i . e . t o G o v t . H i g h S c h o o l , V i l la g e S a l a r , M a l e r k o t l a , S a n g r u r a l s o . D u e t o t h e a f o r e s a i d a l lo t m e n t o f s a m e T A N n u m b e r t o t w o s c h o o l s , a c o n f u s i o n a r o s e . T h e r e a f t e r , t h e I n c o m e T a x D e p a r t m e n t c a n c e l l e d t h e p r e v i o u s T A N n u m b e r o f t h e a s s e s s e e a n d a l l o t t e d n e w TA N n u mb e r o n 2 0 t h A u g u s t , 2 0 1 3 . T h e a s s e s s e e w a s a l s o r e q u i r e d t o fi l e r e v i s e d TD S R e t u r n s f o r t h e a f o r e s a i d p e r i o d u n d e r t h e n e w T A N N o . P T L G 1 7 0 1 2 C . H o w e v e r , d u e t o j o i n i n g o f t h e n e w H e a d M a s t e r o f t h e S c h o o l , t h e a f o r e s a i d f a c t o r o f f i l i ng t h e r e v i s e d T D S r e t u r n s e s c a p e d t h e a t t e n t i o n o f t h e n e w H e a d Ma s t e r , r e s u l t i n g i n t o d e l a y i n f i l i n g t h e q u a r t e r l y T D S R et u r n s a n d f u r t h e r r e s u l t i n g i n t o t h e l e v y o f i m p u g n e d p e n a l t y. 6 . T h e l d . c o u n s e l h a s s u b m i t t e d t h a t t h e r e w a s n o i n t e n t i o n o f t h e a s s e s s e e t o c o m m i t a n y d e l a y i n f il i n g TD S R e t u r n s . T h a t t h e T D S r e t u r n s i n q u e s t i o n w e r e f i le d i n t i m e , h o w e v e r , i t w a s d u e t o t h e m i s t a k e o f t h e I n c o m e T ax D e p a r t m e n t t h a t t h e s a m e T A N n u m b e r w a s a l l o t t e d t o t w o s c h o o l s , b e c a u s e o f w h i c h t h e TA N n u m b e r o f t h e a s se s s e e w a s c a n c e l l e d . T h a t t h e d e l a y i n f i l i n g r e v i s e d T D S r et u r n s w a s d u e t o t h e c i r c u m s t a n c e s b e y o n d t h e c o n t r o l o f t h e a s s e s s e e a s t h e r e w a s c h a n g e i n o f f i c e o f t h e H e a d M a s t e r , h o w ev e r , t h e ITA Nos.591 & 592/CHD/2022 A.Y. 2013-14 & 2014-15 4 a s s e s s e e h a d f i l e d t h e T D S r e t u r n s i n t i m e u n d e r t he e a r l i e r a l l o t t e d T A N n u m b e r . 7 . C o n s i d e r i n g t h e a b o v e s u b m i s s i o n s o f t h e l d . C o un s e l f o r t h e a s s e s s e e , w e d o n o t f i n d j u s t i f i c a t i o n o n t h e pa r t o f t h e A s s e s s i n g O f f i c e r i n l e v y i n g t h e i m p u g n e d p e n a l t y u/ s 2 3 4 E o f t h e I n c o m e T a x A c t a n d t h e s a m e i s , a c c o r d i n g l y , o rd e r e d t o b e d e l e t e d . 8 . I n t h e r e s u l t , b o t h t h e a p p e a l s o f t h e a s s e s s e e a r e a l l o w e d . O r d e r p r o n o u n c e d i n t h e O p e n C o u r t o n 2 1 s t A u g u s t , 2 0 2 3 . S d / - S d / - (VIKRAM SINGH YADAV) (SANJAY GARG) ACCOUNTANT MEMBER JUDICIAL MEMBER “Poonam” आदेशक! त,ल-पअ.े-षत/ Copy of the order forwarded to : 1. अपीलाथ / The Appellant 2. यथ / The Respondent 3. आयकरआय ु /त/ CIT 4. -वभागीय त न2ध, आयकर अपील&य आ2धकरण, च4डीगढ़/ DR, ITAT, CHANDIGARH 5. गाड फाईल/ Guard File आदेशान ु सार/ By order, सहायकपंजीकार/ Assistant Registrar