Registration cannot be denied to a Charitable Society for Non-submission of Form 10B: ITAT [Read Order]

In the case of B.C. Sharma Memorial Society vs Commissioner of Income Tax (CIT), Lucknow bench of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) ruled that registration under section 12AA of the Income Tax Act 1961 cannot be denied to a charitable society on the ground of non-submission of form 10B.

The assessee in the present case is running a school named as B.C.Sharma Memorial Society for Education and Social Welfare has duly filed its return of income for the relevant assessment year and claimed exemption under section 10(23C)(iii) of the Act. Thereafter the assessee has applied for registration under section 12AA but the CIT (A) denied assessee’s application for registration.

The authority stated that they need to check the object of the assessee and genuineness of the activities of the assessee for achieving registration under section 12AA of the Act. Before the CIT (A), the assessee submitted that objects of the society are charitable in nature and a copy of the objects was also placed in paper book as evidence.

However, the authority refused to grant permission of registration by holding that mere recital of objects or activities without cogent or corroborative evidence is not sufficient by them to enable a registering authority to grant registration and further stated that Form 10B has to be submitted at the time of filing of return and at the time of claiming the exemption under section 11 & 12 of the Act and it is not required to be filed at the time of registration and the assessee has failed to submit the same.

After considering the facts and circumstances of the case, the tribunal bench consists of Judicial Member Partha Sarathi Chaudhury and Accountant Member T.S.Kapoor jointly rejected revenue’s decision to deny the application of registration and observed that the objects of the assessee are charitable in nature and the assessee is running a school for achievement of its objects as given in the bye-laws. Therefore, the registration cannot be denied by holding that the activities of the assessee were not genuine, moreover, the assessee in the present case is eligible to get registration under section 12AA of the act as a charitable trust in nature.

The division bench further we find that there is no requirement under the law to file Form-10B at the time of registration. It needs to be filed along with the return of income and therefore, this objection of CIT (A) is not relevant in the present case.