ITAT Chandigarh Grants Tax Exemption for PPWMS Under Environment Preservation

The Chandigarh Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) permitted the income tax exemption for the Punjab Plastic Waste Management Society and witnessed that plastic waste management comes beneath the preservation of the environment.

The bench of A.D. Jain (Vice President) And Vikram Singh Yadav (Accountant Member) dismissed the order of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions) against the Punjab Plastic Waste Management Society, through which the Society’s application under Section 12A for allot a registration as a Charitable organization was denied.

The taxpayer/petitioner, Punjab Plastic Waste Management Society, would have been involved in the Plastic Waste Management counted beneath the limb of ‘Preservation of Environment’ defined in Section 2(15). The taxpayer society was made with the objective of setting the process for the collection, transportation, treatment, and disposal of plastic material, especially multilayered plastic pouches, thermacol packing, and utility items (polystyrene products), in environmentally sound and secure methods.

The Assessee had appealed the CIT’s decision to deny the Society’s application for registration under Section 12A of the Income Tax Act of 1961, submitted in an electronic way dated 29th March 2019 in Form No. 10A, and requested an exemption from furnishing the income taxes.

The CIT(E) determined that, on the surface, none of the activities appears to fit within any of the criteria of “charitable purpose” given out in Section 2(15) of the Income Tax Act of 1961. Because these operations would be confined to a specific number of enterprises, the public cannot be assured to profit from them. In the lack of activities intended for the general public, the genuineness of the society’s operations cannot be substantiated with the declared purposes and objectives as indicated in the documents supplied by the applicant. The application for registration under Section 12A was denied by CIT (Exemptions).

Read Also: Brief Summary of e-Filing Form 10 by Charitable Trusts

The ITAT determined that Section 2(15) of the Income Tax Act allows for the philanthropic preservation of our environment. The legislature has interpreted and held philanthropic activity aimed toward the preservation, saving, and conservation of our environment.

The ITAT determined that all of the assessee Society’s purposes are immediately covered by the leg of “preservation of the environment as a charitable Purpose” under the terms of Section 2(15) of the Income Tax Act.