Case Details: Arun Gopilal Samnani vs. Income-tax Officer - [2025] 174 taxmann.com 33 (Ahmedabad-Trib.)
Judiciary and Counsel Details
- Sanjay Garg, Judicial Member & Smt. Annapurna Gupta, Accountant Member
- Biren Shah, AR for the Applicant.
- Ashok Kumar Suthar, Sr. DR for the Respondent.
Facts of the Case
The issue before the Tribunal was as follows:
“Form No. 10-IE was not filed by the assessee in the relevant previous year. However, the same was filed by the assessee in the preceding year along with his return of income, but since the form was not been filed within the prescribed time, the assessee had not been granted the benefit of paying taxes in the new regime in the preceding year.
Against this backdrop, the issue to be decided is whether the assessee was also required to file Form 10-IE in the relevant previous year to opt for the new tax regime under section 115BAC?”
ITAT Held
The Tribunal held that the assessee’s option is treated as invalid only if it does not fulfil the conditions prescribed under sub-section (2) of section 115BAC of the Act, which is of computing its income without claiming any exemption, deduction, loss or depreciation specified in sub-section (2). The failure to file Form No. 10-IE within the prescribed due date as per sub-section (5) does not invalidate the assessee’s claim of the option.
The mandate of filing the Form No. 10-IE is only directory. What invalidates the exercise of option has been clearly mentioned in the first proviso to section 115BAC of the Act.
In the instant case, the assessee had filed Form No. 10-IE in the preceding year while exercising its option of paying taxes as per the new regime. The option was not invalidated as per section 115BAC of the Act. Therefore, when the assessee again opted for paying taxes under the new regime in the relevant previous year, there was no requirement for the assessee to file a fresh Form No. 10-IE at all.
The denial of the exercise of this option in the relevant previous year for failure to file Form No. 10-IE was not in accordance with the law. Thus, the AO was directed to allow the assessee’s option of paying taxes as per the new regime under section 115BAC.
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