Rejection order of 12AB application set aside by granting fresh opportunity to assessee trust

The appellant is a registered trust which after obtaining provisional registration u/s 12A later applied for final approval of registration u/s 12AB on the income tax portal. It failed to respond to notices of the department failing which application for final approval u/s 12AB was rejected ex-parte. The ld. Lower authority had neither issued a SCN contemplating rejection on primary email given in the contact details available on the portal nor issued a physical notice was issued. The appellant pleaded that such a serious notice should be at least issued once in hard copy too.

The ld. AR of the assessee further submitted that ld. CIT (E) has erred in not considering the documents submitted along with the application of provisional registration, on the basis of which department can verify the genuineness of the activities carried out by the trust. Hence, the assessee remained deprived off in seeking registration u/s 12 AB of the Act.

Verdict of the Tribunal:

The Bench does not want to go into the merit of the case but it is imperative that the applicant trust must be provided adequate opportunity of being heard by the ld. CIT (E). In this view of the matter, the Bench feels that the assessee trust should be given one more chance to contest the case before the ld. CIT (E) and the assessee trust is directed to produce all the relevant papers concerning the application so filed before the ld. CIT (E) to settle the dispute raised hereinabove.

Disclaimer: 

The above article is based upon the ruling of the Hon'ble ITAT and is meant for educational purposes only. Readers are requested to act diligently and under consultation with a professional before applying the information contained in this article. For any support, mail at: support@taxwink.com