Filing itr for a thrift and credit cooperative society

YOUR QURY IS WHETHER a thrift and credit cooperative society, whichis a small society whose profit is Rs.40,000/- after paying dividend on shares, should file ITR, or not.

Reply: The fifth (the last) proviso to Section 139(1) of the Income Tax Act 1961, provides as under:

"Provided also that every person, being an ........... or an association of persons or a body of individuals, whether incorporated or not, or an artificial juridical person, if his total income or the total income of any other person in respect of which he is assessable under this Act during the previous year, without giving effect to the provisions of section 10A or section 10B or section 10BA or Chapter VI-A exceeded the maximum amount which is not chargeable to income-tax, shall, on or before the due date, furnish a return of his income or the income of such other person during the previous year, in the prescribed form and verified in the prescribed manner and setting forth such other particulars as may be prescribed.] This means that a ny co-operative society, which has taxable Total Income before the exemption under Section 80P, has to file return. Therfore your Coopertaive society has to file the ITR. There is no basic exemtion for the Cooperative Societies.

The Cooperative Society will be entitled to exemption from income tax under Section 80P, for its income  from the activity of providing credit facilities to its members, if it is not hit by S. 80P (4) which provides as under:

 "(4) The provisions of this section shall not apply in relation to any co-operative bank other than a primary agricultural credit society or a primary co-operative agricultural and rural development bank.

Explanation.—For the purposes of this sub-section,—

 (a) "co-operative bank" and "primary agricultural credit society" shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in Part V of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (10 of 1949);

 (b) "primary co-operative agricultural and rural development bank" means a society having its area of operation confined to a taluk and the principal object of which is to provide for long-term credit for agricultural and rural development activities."