IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL DELHI BENCH ‘E’: NEW DELHI BEFORE SHRI YOGESH KUMAR U.S., JUDICIAL MEMBER AND SHRI AVDHESH KUMAR MISHRA, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER ITA No.1456/Del/2025, A.Y. 2019-20 Madhyam, Income Tax Officer, 142 Maitri Apartments, Ward Exemption-1(4), Plot No. 28, Patpargnj, Vs. E-2, Civic Centre, New Delhi-92 Minto Road, New Delhi PAN: AAATM1238Q (Appellant) (Respondent)

Appellant by Sh. Mirza Muhivddin Baig, CA Respondent by Sh. Gouranga Chandra, Sr. DR Date of Hearing 28/08/2025 Date of Pronouncement 14/11/2025 ORDER PER AVDHESH KUMAR MISHRA, AM This appeal for Assessment Year (‘AY’) 2019-20 filed by the Assessee is directed against the order dated 13.01.2025 of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), NFAC, New Delhi [‘CIT(A)’].

2. Vide 7 grounds of appeal, the appellant assessee has raised the issue that whether the requirement of submission of Form-10B on or before filing the Income Tax Return (‘ITR’) is mandatory for claiming benefit under section

11 and 12 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (‘the Act’)

3. The relevant facts giving rise to this appeal are that the assessee, a registered trust under section 12A of the Act, filed its ITR on 27.09.2019 declaring NIL income after claiming exemption under section 11 and 12 of the Act. The said ITR was not annexed with the audit report in Form No.-10B. The assessee filed its audit report in Form No.-10B on 30.09.2019; i.e. 3 days after filing the ITR. Thus, there is a delay in filing of the audit report. However, the said date for filing the ITR was extended upto 31.10.2019. While processing the said ITR under section 143(1) of the Act, the Ld. Assessing Officer-CPC (‘AO’) denied the claim of exemption under section 11 and 12 of the Act on the reasoning that the audit report in form No. 10B was not filed within the stipulated time. Aggrieved, the assessee filed rectification application under section 154 of the Act, which was also rejected on the similar reasoning. Aggrieved, the assessee filed appeal against the order passed under section 154 of the Act, but the Ld. CIT(A) dismissed the same. Hence, this appeal is before us.

4. At the outset, the Ld. Authorized Representative (‘AR’) of the assessee, drawing our attention to the CBDT Circular No. 10/2019 dated 22.05.2019, submitted that the filing of the audit report in Form No. 10B was directory in nature and not mandatary; hence, the same was condonable in view of the provisions of section 12A of the Act and that was why the CBDT condoned the delay in filing the audit report in Form No. 10B for AYs 2016-17 and 2017-18 even without filing the condonation petition. However, in cases for the AY

2018-19 onward, the Circular was silent. The Ld. AR submitted that the said audit report in Form No. 10B was filed before the last day of filing the ITR, which was extended from 30.09.2019 to 31.10.2019. The Ld. AR submitted that the filing of the audit report in Form 10B online on or before filing the ITR under section 139(1) of the Act was one of the requirements to avail the benefit under section 11 and 12 of the Act. The requirement of filing of Form No. 10B online on or before filing the ITR under section 139(1) of the Act was directory in nature and thus, was curable defect. The Ld. AO-CPC should have accepted the uploaded audit report in Form No. 10B at the time of processing the ITR under section 143(1) of the Act as the said audit report was available on the Income Tax Portal. It was contended that the Ld. AO-CPC, at most, had treated the said ITR as a defective ITR under section 139(9) of the Act if the audit report was not available online along with the ITR on the Income Tax Portal and the assessee should have been provided an opportunity to rectify the said defect/deficiency in the ITR. However, the AO-CPC did not do the needful. The Ld. Counsel, in view of above-mentioned Circular and following judicial decisions, submitted that the Ld. AO was not justified in rejecting the claim of exemption under section 11 of the A