ITR delay Allowed if due to Technical Snag on Income Tax Website : High Court

ITR delay due to Technical Snag on Income Tax Website

Facts of the case

Assessee had uploaded its return sometime immediately past midnight of i.e., last date of filing return .

Assessee's claim of carry forward loss was not granted by department .

Assessee approached CBDT and sought for condonation of delay in filing of return and explained that due to last hour rush on last day of filing of return, there were technical snags in website of department and, thus, return could not be uploaded

The Central Board of Direct Taxes rejected the said application seeking condonation of delay on the ground that there were no floods and, hence, the assessee could have easily filed its return in the normal period.

Decision of High Court

It is one of the important factors to be considered while dealing with an application seeking condonation of delay as to whether grave and irreparable injury or hardship will be caused to the person concerned and as to whether or not the interests of justice would be served better, in condoning the delay.

In the instant case, there is no dispute or denial of the fact that the Return of Income filed by the assessee for the relevant assessment year, has been uploaded sometime past 00.00 hours Last date of filing ITR. One should take judicial notice of the fact that uploading of Return requires not only an effort but also consumes sometime.

If the assessee has encountered certain hardship or difficulty in uploading his return, due to a technical snags in the website of the Income-tax Department due to the last hour rush of filing of returns, the delay deserves to be condoned.