SANTHI FOUNDRIES PVT LTD,COIMBATORE V. ITO,CORPORATE WARD 2, COIMBATORE, COIMBATORE

ITA 80/CHNY/2025

AI Insights

The case involves Santhi Foundries Pvt. Ltd., the appellant, contesting a disallowance of Rs. 3,02,740 towards employees' contributions to PF & ESI under section 36(1)(va) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, for the Assessment Year 2018-19. The disallowance was initially made by the Central Processing Centre (CPC) based on an audit report that indicated the payments were made beyond the due date. The appellant argued that the payments were made within the due dates as per the provisions of the Act, and the audit report contained incorrect dates. The Additional Commissioner of Income Tax (Addl. CIT(A)) upheld the disallowance without verifying the actual payment dates. The Tribunal found merit in the appellant's submission and remitted the matter back to the A.O for factual verification.

• Counselvise Citation: [2025] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 103729 (ITAT-CHENNAI)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 17-04-2025
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Allowed
• Bench Allotted: C
• Assessment Year: 2018-2019
• Laws Referred To: Income-tax Act, 1961
• Result in Favour of: Assessee
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Department Lawyers: R. ANITHA
• Assessee Lawyers: G.TARUN
• Section: 22; 13; 20

Judgement Text

" आयकर अपीलीय अिधकरण, ’सी’ \u0010ा यपीठ, चे\u0015ई। IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL ‘C’ BENCH: CHENNAI \u0018ी एबी टी. वक , \u0010ा ियक सद एवं \u0018ी जगदीश, लेखा सद क े सम' BEFORE SHRI ABY T. VARKEY, JUDICIAL MEMBER AND SHRI JAGADISH, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER आयकर अपील सं./ITA No.80/Chny/2025 िनधा7रण वष7 /Assessment Year: 2018-19 Santhi Foundries Pvt. Ltd., A36 Sreevatsa Garden, Mettupalayam Road, Thudiyalur, Coimbatore – 641 034. Vs. The Income Tax Officer, Corporate Ward-2, Coimbatore. [PAN: AADCS 3679R] (अपीलाथ\u0007/Appellant) (\b यथ\u0007/Respondent) अपीलाथ की ओर से/ Appellant by : Shri G. Tarun, Advocate FGथ की ओर से /Respondent by : Ms. R. Anitha, Addl. CIT सुनवाई की तारीख/Date of Hearing : 27.03.2025 घोषणा की तारीख /Date of Pronouncement : 17.04.2025 आदेश / O R D E R PER JAGADISH, A.M : Aforesaid appeal filed by the assessee for Assessment Year (AY) 2018-19 arises out of the order of Learned Commissioner of Income Tax, Appeal, Addl/JCIT(A), Panchkula [hereinafter “Addl. CIT(A)”] dated 20.11.2024. ITA No.80/Chny/2025 :- 2 -: 2. The effective ground of appeal in this appeal of assessee against the confirmation of disallowance of Rs. 3,02,740/- towards employees contribution of PF & ESI u/s. 36(1)(va) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter “the Act”) as quantified in the audit report, without verifying that PF contribution to the extent of Rs. 2,97,628/- was actually paid within the due date, but was wrongly reiterated by the Auditor as delayed. 3. The CPC has made the disallowance of Rs.3,02,740/- u/s. 36(1)(va) of the Act in respect of employees contribution to PF & ESI, based on the audit report, which indicated that the payment was made beyond the due date. The assessee before Ld. Addl. CIT(A) has submitted that the Auditor has erroneously mentioned the date of payment. However, the Ld. Addl. CIT(A) did not accept the assessee’s contention and confirmed the disallowance. 4. The Ld. Authorized Representative (A.R) of the assessee has submitted that payment of the employees’ contribution, in fact, been made within the due date as per the provisions of the Act, and that the disallowance was made solely on the basis of the audit report, which contained incorrect dates. ITA No.80/Chny/2025 :- 3 -: 5. On the other hand, the Ld. Departmental Representative (DR), has relied on the orders of lower authorities. 6. We have heard the rival submissions, and perused the materials available on record. We find that the assessee has submitted the details of payment of employees’ contribution as under: 13 Provident Fund 6052 15/05/2017 6052 13/05/2017 14 Provident Fund 7165 15/06/2017 7165 15/06/2014 15 Provident Fund 58323 15/07/2017 58323 14/07/2017 16 Provident Fund 50203 15/08/2017 50203 08/12/2017 17 Provident Fund 55516 15/09/2017 55516 13/09/2017 18 Provident Fund 57819 15/10/2017 57819 10/12/2017 19 Provident Fund 57487 15/11/2017 57487 15/11/2017 20 Provident Fund 61571 15/12/2017 61571 15/12/2018 21 Provident Fund 63101 15/01/2018 63101 01/12/2018 22 Provident Fund 57826 15/02/2018 57826 15/02/2018 23 Provident Fund 56692 15/03/2018 56692 14/03/2018 24 Provident Fund 64934 15/04/2018 64934 04/12/2018 7. The Ld. AR has submitted that the disallowance was made on the basis of the dates recorded in the audit report, without actual verification of the payment challans. The Ld. AR has further submitted that the Ld. Addl. CIT(A) also did not verify these payment details. We find merit in the submission of the Ld. AR. Since, it is a matter of factual verification, we deem it fit to remit the matter back to the file of A.O to verify the actual dates of payments of employees’ contribution based on the challans and then decide the issue afresh in accordance ITA No.80/Chny/2025 :- 4 -: with law. In view of the above, the appeal filed by the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes only. 8. In the result, the appeal filed by the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes. Order pronounced on 17th April, 2025. Sd/- Sd/- (एबी टी. वक ) (ABY. T. Varkey) \u0010ाियक सद / Judicial Member (जगदीश) (Jagadish) लेखा सद /Accountant Member चे\u0010नई/Chennai, \u0013दनांक/Dated: 17th April, 2025. EDN/- आदेश क\u0016 \bितिल\u0019प अ\u001aे\u0019षत/Copy to: 1. अपीलाथ\b/Appellant 2. थ\b/Respondent 3. आयकर आयु\u0010/CIT, Coimbatore 4. िवभागीय ितिनिध/DR 5. गाड\u0019 फाईल/GF "