Furnishing of return is complete for the purposes of Section 234A and Section 139 of the Act, the moment it is put in the course of transmission by way of uploading – ITAT
ABCAUS Case Law Citation:
ABCAUS 3660 (2023) (02) ITAT
In the instant case, the assessee had requested recalling of order passed by the ITAT on the issue of levy of interest u/s 234A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (the Act).
In the instant case, the Assessing Officer (AO) observed that there was a delay of one day in filing of the return. The return was filed on 1st December whereas the due date to file the return was 30th December. Therefore, the AO also levied interest under section 234A of the Act.
In respect of the levy of interest under section 234A of the Act, the case of the assessee was that the income tax return was uploaded within due date for filing of return of income but may be due to the technical reasons, the acknowledgment was generated on the next day and, therefore, the assessee was not responsible for the delay occurred at the end of the server and no interest under section 234A of the Act was leviable.
The matter travelled to the Tribunal which observed that the interest under section 234A of the Act is consequential in nature and directed the Assessing Officer to levy the same accordingly.
However, at the request of the assessee the said order on the issue of interest u/s 234A was recalled by the ITAT for adjudication.
The assessee submitted that the act of submission of return of income by way of uploading the same to the server of the department was complete the moment the assessee presses the submit button and subsequent server side steps are not in the control of the assessee and, therefore, for all practical purposes, the date of furnishing the return shall be the date of uploading the return of income but not the date of generation of the acknowledgement which was not in the control of the assessee.
The Tribunal observed that the acknowledgement generated by the server clearly showed the date of acknowledgement as 1st December but, at the same time, it also established that the return was digitally signed by the assessee on 30th November itself.
The Tribunal observed that the assessee is expected to upload the return of income to the server of the department and no physical furnishing is permissible. In these circumstances, what best the assessee can do in the process of furnishing the return of income is to upload it to the server and nothing more.
The Tribunal further observed that the hands of the assessee do not reach any further more to have any control in the process of receiving such return by the server or the generation of the acknowledgement. The moment the assessee completes the process of uploading of the return to the departmental server, the assessee can do nothing further and insofar as the assessee is concerned, the act of furnishing is complete. It is so for the simple reason that the subsequent processes are not in the control of the assessee and no alternative is also available to the assessee.
The Tribunal opined that if the assessee uploads the return of income before the due date but due to the technical reasons, if the acknowledgement is generated ten days subsequently, the assessee cannot be fastened with the liability to pay interest under section 234A of the Act. Otherwise, it would amount to penalizing a person for no fault of him. Law does not permit such a course.
The Tribunal held that the act of furnishing the return is complete for the purposes of Section 234A and Section 139 of the Act, the moment it is put in the course of transmission by way of uploading it to the website of the department so as to be out of the power of the assessee, and any subsequent delay in generation of the acknowledgement at the server end of the department cannot be attributed to the assessee.
The Tribunal directed the Assessing Officer to obtain the electronic trail of filing of the return from DIT(Systems) to verify the date of return uploading and set into transmission on 30th November and if it so to delete the levy of interest u/s 234A.
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