Gujarat High Court Issues Notice To Centre On Plea Seeking Physical Filing Of ITR, Audit Reports On Account Of IT Portal Glitches

The Gujarat High Court today issued notice to the Central Government on a plea seeking waiver of interest u/s 234A of IT Act (levied for delay in filing the return of incomes) and also permission to allow the physical filing of returns and audit reports. 

The Bench of Justice J. B. Pardiwala and Justice Nisha M. Thakore was hearing the plea filed by Vikash Jain and Southern Gujarat Income Tax Bar association who sought the abovementioned relief citing technical glitches on the IT Portal.

It was also prayed by them that the last date to file ITR and Audit reports be extended, however, since the same was done by the CBDT while issuing a circular yesterday extending the last date till Feb 15, this prayer was not pressed before the Court.

On consideration of difficulties reported by taxpayers/stakeholders due to Covid & in e-filing of Audit reports for AY 2021-22 under the IT Act, 1961, CBDT further extends due dates for filing of Audit reports & ITRs for AY 21-22. Circular No. 01/2022 dated 11.01.2022 issued. pic.twitter.com/2Ggata8Bq3

— Income Tax India (@IncomeTaxIndia) January 11, 2022

Therefore, the plea focussed mainly on the following three prayers:

• Direction to authorities for accepting the TAR and/or ITR in physical form till the New Income Tax Portal stabilizes and becomes glitch-free;
• Direction to authorities to not invoke Section 271B for late filing of the audit report and the physical filing be sufficient compliance of the Section;
• Pending admission, hearing, and final disposal of this Petition, direct respondents to allow the filing of TAR/ITR in physical form to jurisdictional authorities;

On the plea, the notices have been issued and the matter has now been posted for further hearing on January 17, 2022. The matter was represented by Senior Advocate Tushar Hemani with Dr.Avinash Poddar assisted by Nipun Singhvi and Vishal J Dave.

Union was represented by the Additional Solicitor General of India Devang Vyas.

It may be noted that yesterday, the Gujarat High Court sought the reply of the Central Government on a plea moved by seeking waiver of interest, late fees, and penalty in case of Late filing of Income Tax Returns and various reports of audit for the A.Y. 2021-22.

Read more about the case here: Late ITR Filing- "Solve Technical Glitch On IT Portal": Gujarat HC Asks Centre On Plea Seeking Waiver Of Late Fee, Interest & Penalty