Gujarat High Court refused to give interim relief for tax audit report date submission in a case filed by CAAS: To consider the technical glitches issue in Next Hearing
The bold and dynamic Chartered Accountants Association, Surat (CAAS) has very timely filed the petition praying for non-levy of interest, penalty, etc because of technical glitches of the portal.
Since the counsel for CBDT was seeking more time to reply and denying the requirement for an urgent hearing of the matter on the portal issues, counsel immediately pointed out the TAR upload issue with respect to UDIN which was an urgent requirement and was necessary in view of the deadline of 15th Jan 2022 ahead. Counsel appealed for an interim relief for TAR upload date to be extended to 15.02.2022 as it is either way not going to affect the revenue of the Government.
Gujarat High Court refused to give interim relief for tax audit report submission. Why only Surat CA Association filing the case? CA’s from other parts are not facing this issue? – Gujarat High Court Remarked
The court further says that for levy of penalty, there is an opportunity which is given to the assessee to explain the reason for delay. Since the penalty is not automatic, there is no point in extending the date for this reason. Gujarat High Court refused to give interim relief for tax audit report submission. There are lessons to learn for future courses of action. CA’s of the country need to draw the right conclusion from the judgment.
On the issue of Technical glitches as reason for late fees & interest waive, it asked the Government to look into the technical glitches. The income tax department can only look into the technical glitches, it remarked. Court also refused to interfere with the date of extension of TAR for this reason. The matter is adjourned for two weeks to make the submission by the department.
In short, the Court option is over with this for 15th Jan 2022 deadline extension and it’s again the finance ministry which can do for the date extension. But now the chances are meager.
There were various issues which were pointed out for date extension by the counsel appearing for the CA Association which includes:
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Technical glitches
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Issue in UDIN Generation and uploading
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Applicability of interest u/s 23A & 234B
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Delay in return filing if the audit is not completed