Hari Mohan And Sons Vs ITO (ITAT Delhi)
The assessee appealed before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Delhi, against the order of the National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi, dated 31.05.2024 for Assessment Year 2013-14, concerning a penalty imposed under Section 271F of the Income-tax Act, 1961. The Assessing Officer (AO) had levied a penalty of ₹5,000 on the ground that the assessee failed to file its income tax return (ITR) within the prescribed time under Section 139(1) and had not provided any reasonable cause for the delay. The CIT(A) upheld the penalty, treating the assessee as a non-filer for the relevant assessment year.
Before the ITAT, the assessee’s counsel argued that the penalty was unjustified and without jurisdiction, as the return of income had been duly filed on 21.02.2014, declaring an income of ₹1,91,230 and agricultural income of ₹50,000. The assessee, a Hindu Undivided Family, earned income from a partnership firm, trading business, savings bank interest, sale of rural agricultural land, and agriculture. It was submitted that the CIT(A) wrongly assumed the assessee was a non-filer despite the filed return being part of the record.
The counsel further highlighted that the AO had issued a notice under Section 148 on 31.03.2021, reassessing the income at ₹13,81,230, and then initiated penalty proceedings under Section 271F, claiming that the return was not filed before the end of the assessment year. The assessee contended that this conclusion was arbitrary and contrary to the provisions of the Act, as the return had been validly filed under Section 139(5).
