Jagdish Prashad Gupta Vs JCIT (ITAT Delhi)
No Addition, No Penalty – Section 271D Quashed
The ITAT Delhi held that penalty of ₹9.80 lakh under Section 271D was unsustainable where cash received on sale of immovable property was duly deposited in the bank and offered to tax. The Assessing Officer, while completing assessment under Section 143(3), did not doubt the genuineness or source of the transaction and made no addition under Section 68, thereby accepting the transaction as genuine. The Tribunal held that once the primary transaction itself is accepted, penalty for violation of Section 269SS cannot be mechanically imposed. Reliance was placed on PCIT v. Shree Madhi Surali Vibhag Nagarik Sahakari Dhiran Mandali Ltd. (2024) 167 taxmann.com 471 (SC) and Smt. Vijapurapu Sudha Rao v. ITO (2023) 157 taxmann.com 669 (ITAT Visakhapatnam). Accordingly, the penalty order and the confirmation by the CIT(A) were set aside.
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF ITAT DELHI
The appeal filed by the assessee is against the order dated 29.06.2024 of the ld. Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals), NFAC [hereinafter referred to as the Ld. CIT(A)] u/s 250 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’) arising out of the penalty order dated 09.09.2021 of the ld. AO/National Faceless Assessment Centre, Delhi (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Id. AO’) u/s 271D of the Act in pursuance of assessment order dated 26.11.2019 for Assessment Year 2017-18.
