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ITA.Nos.1156, 1157 & 1183/Hyd./2024 company has submitted Form 10DA dated 29.03.2018 and thereafter, filed revised return and claimed deduction. The Assessing Officer after considering relevant submissions of the assessee-company and also taking note of the fact that, the assessee-company has not made any claim towards deduction u/sec.80JJAA of the Act in the original return of income filed and also not furnished relevant Form 10DA along with original return of income on or before the due date provided under section 139(1) of the Act, disallowed the claim of deduction u/sec.80JJAA of Rs.30,09,085/- and added back to the total income. On appeal, the learned CIT(A), confirmed the addition made by the Assessing Officer.

6. CA, K C Devdas, Learned Counsel for the Assessee, submitted that, the learned CIT(A) was erred in confirming the addition towards disallowance of deduction u/sec.80JJAA of the Income Tax Act, 1961, even though, the assessee-company has satisfied the conditions provided for such claim, only on the ground that, the assessee- company has not made any claim in the original return of ITA.Nos.1156, 1157 & 1183/Hyd./2024 income and also not furnished relevant Form 10DA along with the said return. Learned Counsel for the Assessee referring to the decision of Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Goetze (India) Ltd., vs., CIT [2006] 284 ITR 323 (SC) submitted that, if an assessee makes a fresh claim of deduction by filing revised return of income, then, the Assessing Officer is bound to consider the said claim in accordance with law. Although, the assessee filed relevant details to prove the claim of deduction u/sec.80JJAA of the Act, but, the Assessing Officer and the learned CIT(A) disallowed the said claim on the ground that, Form 10DA was filed beyond the due date provided under section 139(1) of the Act. Therefore, he submitted that the addition made by Assessing Officer should be deleted.

7. Shri Narender Kumar Naik, learned CIT-DR, on the other hand, supporting the order of the learned CIT(A) submitted that, for claiming deduction u/sec.80JJAA of the Act, the assessee-company should file return of income on or before the due date provided under section 139(1) of the Act and also to furnish relevant audit report in Form 10DA ITA.Nos.1156, 1157 & 1183/Hyd./2024 along with the said return. Since, the assessee-company has made a claim in the revised return of income filed on 30.03.2018, which is beyond the due date provided under section 139(1) of the Act and further, the claim of deduction was not supported by audit report in Form 10DA on or before the said date, the Assessing Officer and the learned CIT(A) has rightly denied the claim of the assessee-company and thus, the order of the CIT should be upheld.

8. We have heard both the parties, perused the material on record and gone through the orders of the authorities below. There is no dispute with regard to the fact that, the assessee-company has not made any claim of deduction u/sec.80JJAA the Act in the original return of income filed under section 139(1) of the Act on 30.10.2017. It is also an admitted fact that, the assessee-company has not filed relevant audit report in Form 10DA on or before the due date for filing the return of income under section 139(1) of the Act. The assessee-company has made a claim of deduction by filing a revised return of income on 30.03.2018 and the said claim was supported by audit ITA.Nos.1156, 1157 & 1183/Hyd./2024 report in Form 10DA, which was filed on 29.03.2018. The Assessing Officer denied the deduction only on the ground that, the assessee-company has not made a claim in the original return of income and also made a claim for the first time in the revised return, which is beyond the due date provided under section 139 of the Act and further, the said claim was not supported by relevant audit report in Form 10DA which has been filed beyond the due date provided under section 139(1) of the Act. In other words, the Assessing Officer has denied the claim for belated filing of return of income and audit report, but, has not verified the claim of the assessee-company in light of relevant provisions of section 80JJAA of the Act and also the evidences filed by the assessee-company to justify the said claim. In our considered view, if assessee is eligible for deduction u/sec.80JJAA of the Act, upon satisfaction of relevant conditions provided therein, then, merely for the reason of making a claim in the revised return of income, deduction cannot be denied because, deduction provided u/sec. 80JJAA of the Act is a beneficial provision provided to the ITA.Nos.1156, 1157 & 1183/Hyd./2024 assessees' for encouragement of new employment. Further, it is not a case of the Assessing Officer that, the assessee- company has not made a claim at all. In fact, the assessee- company has made a claim by filing the revised return of income which is on or before the due date for filing belated return under section 139(4) of the Act and further, the said return was filed on or before the Assessing Officer passes Order under section 143(3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 on 31.12.2019. Therefore, in our considered view, once the assessee-company filed original it's return of income on or before the due date provided under section 139(1) of the Act and further, the said return was revised to rectify the errors committed in the original return of income and the same was filed before the Assessing Officer passes his order under section 143(3) of the Act, then, the Assessing Officer ought to have consider the claim of the assessee-company in accordance with law and this fact is further strengthened by the decision Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Goetze (India) Ltd., vs., CIT (supra), where the Hon'ble Supreme Court clearly held that, any fresh claim of deduction ITA.Nos.1156, 1157 & 1183/Hyd./2024 towards expenses for allowances can be made only by filing revised return of income. Since the assessee-company has filed revised return of income and made claim for deduction u/sec.80JJAA of the Act, in our considered view, the Assessing Officer is required to verify the claim of the assessee-company in light of relevant provisions of section 80JJAA of the Act and also any other evidences that may be filed by the assessee-company to justify it's case. Since the Assessing Officer has not considered the issue on merits on the allowability of deduction, in our considered view, the matter needs to be set-aside to the file of the Assessing Officer. Thus, we set-aside the Order of the learned CIT(A) and restore the issue back to the file of Assessing Officer. The Assessing Officer is directed to consider the issue of deduction claimed u/sec.80JJAA of the Act, in light of relevant provisions and also any other evidence that may be filled by the assessee-company and decide the issue in accordance with law. Accordingly, grounds of appeal no.2 of the assessee-company is allowed for statistical purposes.