ST JOSEPHS EDUCATIONAL AND CHARITABLE TRUST,KOTTAYAM V. INCOMETAX OFFICER(EXEMPTION WARD) KOTTAYAM, KOTTAYAM

ITA 642/COCH/2025

AI Insights

The case involves St. Josephs Educational and Charitable Trust, a charitable trust registered under section 12A of the Income Tax Act, 1961, which did not file a return of income for the Assessment Year 2018-19. The Assessing Officer (AO) issued a notice under section 148, suspecting income had escaped assessment, leading to the filing of a return disclosing nil income. The AO subsequently assessed the trust's income at Rs. 3,35,59,044, categorizing substantial bank deposits and other income as unexplained. The trust's appeal to the CIT(A) was unsuccessful, prompting the appeal to the ITAT. The ITAT's decision to remand the case back to the NFAC was based on the NFAC's failure to properly consider the appellant's submissions.

• Counselvise Citation: [2025] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 785142 (ITAT-COCHIN)
• Duration Of Justice: 1 month(s) 15 day(s)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 31-10-2025
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Partly Allowed
• Bench Allotted: DB
• Assessment Year: 2018-2019
• Appeal Filed On: 15-09-2025
• Laws Referred To: Income Tax Act, 1961
• Result in Favour of: Partly Allowed
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Department Lawyers: SANJIT KUMAR DAS
• Assessee Lawyers: ROMID C.J.
• Keywords: Unexplained investment; Charitable institution
• Section: 147; 148; 12A

Judgement Text

"IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL COCHIN BENCH BEFORE SHRI INTURI RAMA RAO, AM AND SHRI ANIKESH BANERJEE, JM ITA No. 642 /Coch/2025 Assessment Year: 2018-19 St. Josephs Eucational and Charitable Trust .......... Appellant St. Gosephs Generalate, Kottayam 686006 [PAN: AAHTS8310C] vs. ITO (Exemptions), Kottayam ......... Respondent Assessee by: Shri Romid C.J., CA Revenue by: Shri Sanjit Kumar Das, CIT-DR Date of Hearing: 29.10.2025 Date of Pronouncement: 31.10.2025 O R D E R Per: Inturi Rama Rao, AM This appeal filed by the assessee is directed against the order of the National Faceless Appeal Centre, Delhi (NFAC) dated 17.07.2025 for Assessment Years (AY) 2018-19. 2. Brief facts of the case are that the appellant is a charitable trust registered u/s. 12A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (the Act). No return of income u/s. 139(1) was filed for AY 2018-19 by the appellant. Subsequently, the AO issued a notice u/s. 148 calling upon the appellant to file return of income as he formed an opinion that income escaped assessment to tax. In response to the notice u/s. 148, Printed from counselvise.com 2 ITA No. 642/Coch/2025 St. Josephs Eucational and Charitable Trust the appellant trust filed return of income disclosing Nil income. Against the said return of income, the assessment was completed by the Assessment Unit, Income Tax Department (hereinafter called \"the AO\") vide order dated 23.03.2023 passed u/s. 147 r.w.s. 144B of the Act at a total income of Rs. 3,35,59,044/-. While doing so, the AO treated the cash deposits made in the bank accounts of Rs. 2,99,85,604/- as unexplained money of the Trust. The AO also made addition on account of receipt of interest income of Rs. 20,73,440/-. He also made addition on account of term deposit of Rs. 15,00,000/- as unexplained investment of the assessee for failure of the assessee to offer explanation in support of the source of the above investment. 3. Being aggrieved, an appeal was filed before the CIT(A), who vide the impugned order confirmed the action of the AO. 4. Being aggrieved, the appellant is in appeal before this Tribunal in the present appeal. 5. We have heard the rival contentions and perused the material available on record. At the outset, we find that the NFAC had failed to adjudicate the grounds of appeal raised by the appellant and the written submission filed by the appellant seeking deletion of addition made by the AO. Thus, the order passed by the NFAC is unreasonable and, therefore, the matter is restored back to the file of the NFAC for fresh adjudication. Printed from counselvise.com 3 ITA No. 642/Coch/2025 St. Josephs Eucational and Charitable Trust 6. In the result, the appeal filed by the assessee stands partly allowed for statistical purposes. Order pronounced in the open court on 31st October, 2025. Sd/- Sd/- (ANIKESH BANERJEE) JUDICIAL MEMBER (INTURI RAMA RAO) ACCOUNTANT MEMBER Cochin, Dated: 31st October, 2025 n.p. Copy to: 1. The Appellant 2. The Respondent 3. The Pr. CIT concerned 4. The Sr. DR, ITAT, Cochin 5. Guard File Assistant Registrar ITAT, Cochin Printed from counselvise.com "