Section 80P Denied? Your Co-op Tax Break Fights Back

A tax tribunal ruled that the income tax department cannot automatically reject a cooperative society's Section 80P deduction just because the ITR was filed late. If you or your society lost this deduction, there's a legal path to reclaim it.

Here's what happened: ITAT Rajkot ruled that CPC cannot disallow a cooperative society's Section 80P deduction purely because the income tax return was filed after the due date.. The case involved assessment year 2019-20, where the deduction was denied automatically during centralised processing without proper adjudication on merits.. The tribunal remanded the matter for fresh examination, establishing that belated filing is not a valid ground to strip an otherwise eligible 80P deduction..

What you should do: Check if your cooperative housing, credit, or farming society received any CPC intimation under Section 143(1) denying Section 80P — if yes, file a rectification request citing this ruling.. Consult a chartered accountant to verify your society's eligibility under Section 80P before the next ITR deadline — prevention avoids the appeal process entirely.. If your society already received a demand notice after an 80P denial, file an appeal before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) within the prescribed 30-day window..

Section 80P deductions are not self-granted — your cooperative society must correctly compute and declare them in the ITR; an omission cannot be corrected after CPC processing without a formal rectification filing.