AdvertisementGajanan Maharaj Shegaon Mandir Vishwasth Mandal Vs Exemption Ward (ITAT Pune)Pune ITAT: Section 11 Exemption Cannot Be Denied Merely for Belated Filing of Form 10B-Audit Report Filed During Appellate Proceedings Is Sufficient ComplianceThe Pune ITAT granted Section 11 exemption to a charitable trust despite belated electronic filing of Form 10B, holding that where the audit report was available and was filed during the pendency of appellate proceedings, the exemption could not be denied merely on account of the procedural delay. The Addl./JCIT(A) treated timely filing of Form 10B as a mandatory statutory condition and upheld denial of Section 11 exemption, relying upon the Supreme Court judgment in PCIT v. Wipro Ltd. Applying these principles, the Pune ITAT held that the Addl./JCIT(A) erred in denying Section 11 exemption merely because Form 10B had been filed belatedly. Key principle: Belated uploading of Form 10B is not necessarily fatal to Section 11 exemption where the audit has been completed and the audit report is furnished during the pendency of appellate proceedings. Applying the same ratio, the assessee’s failure to file Form 10B within the prescribed time is fatal to its claim.