I-T tribunal rejects Congress’ plea for tax break on Rs 199 crore income

The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal on Monday dismissed an appeal by the Congress seeking tax exemption on an income of Rs 199 crore for the assessment year 2018-’19, Live Law reported.

The tribunal rejected the party’s claim under Section 13A of the 1961 Income Tax Act, observing that the Congress had filed its tax returns late and violated rules related to cash donation limits.

A bench of Judicial Member Satbeer Singh Godara and Accountant Member M Balaganesh ruled: “The assessee’s return filed on [February 2, 2019] is not within the ‘due’ date to make it eligible for the impugned exemption.”

The deadline for filing the income tax return for 2018-’19 was December 31, 2018.

Its tax tiling for the year also did not provide details about contributions worth Rs 14.4 lakh out of the total donations worth Rs 142.8 crore it had received that year.

Due to its non-compliance with the provisions to claim exemption, the Income Tax Department had issued notices to the Congress in September 2019, January 2020 and March 2020, demanding a tax of Rs 94.4 crore on an assessed income of Rs 199.1 crores for 2018-’19.

The assessment order dated July 6, 2021, had denied the entire exemption claim, making the full receipt amount taxable.

The Congress challenged the assessment order in August 2021 and...

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