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2015 (5) TMI 1208 - AT - Income TaxDeduction u/s 80IC - AO denied deduction on the ground that assessee had not filed the return within specified time u/s 139(1) because as per records the return was filed on 1-10-2009 and not on 30-9-2009 - assessee’s contention that the return was actually uploaded and filed on the site of the Income-tax department at 12.46AM on 1-102009 and thus there was only a technical delay of 46 minutes in filing of return which, in any case, was filed before the commencement of the next working day - HELD THAT:- Section 80AC provides that deduction u/s 80IC shall be allowed to assessee if the return is filed on or before the due date specified under sub-section (1) of section 139. The provisions of section 80AC are directory and even the Board may, under the provision of section 119, condone the delay in order to avoid undue hardship. In the present case it cannot be said that the delay was, in any manner, mala fide. On the contrary, the assessee was vigilant enough to file the return at the midnight. We, therefore, condone the delay in filing the return. As far as ld. CIT(A)’s direction to the AO is concerned, we find that the assessee itself has clearly stated in its reply reproduced by AO in the assessment order, that the return was uploaded at 12.46 AM on 1-10-2009. Therefore, there was no necessity for restoring the matter to the file of AO for any verification. Cross-objection filed by the assessee is allowed and, therefore, the department’s appeal has become infructuous. However, since the AO has not examined the assessee’s claim u/s 80IC in detail and has rejected the same only on the ground of delay in filing of the return, we restore the matter to the file of AO for examining the assessee’s claim u/s 80IC. - Decided in favour of assessee for statistical purposes.
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