Whether the Order Passed Under Section 139(9) Invalidating the Return Is Appealable?

ISSUE FOR CONSIDERATION

Quite often the income tax returns filed by the taxpayers are considered to be defective and the defect notices are being sent by the Centralised Processing Centre. If the defects pointed out have not been resolved, then such a defective return filed is considered to be an invalid return, by virtue of the provisions of section 139(9). Under such circumstances, it is considered that the assessee has not filed his return of income at all for the relevant year. As a result, the assessee does not get the benefits like getting the refund of excess tax paid or carry forward of unabsorbed losses etc. which he was entitled to get otherwise had the return been considered to be a valid return.

Section 246A provides for the dispute resolution mechanism whereby, if the assessee is aggrieved by the order passed by the income-tax authorities, then he can challenge that order by filing an appeal against it before the Commissioner (Appeals). However, the list of orders against which the appeal can be so filed are listed in sub- section (1) of section 246A. Therefore, the appeal can be filed before the Commissioner (Appeals) against a particular order, only if that order is included in the list of orders which are appealable under section 246A.

The order passed under section 139(9), considering the return of inc