Harish VitthalraO Kale Vs ITO (ITAT Pune Bench)
Consultant May Prepare the Return, but Taxpayer Owns the Claim: Blaming Tax Adviser Cannot Save Penalty Where Bogus Deductions Were Withdrawn Only After Survey – ITAT Pune
Summary: The assessee, a salaried employee of Bosch Limited, filed his original return of income on 03.08.2016 declaring total income of ₹7,06,040. The income and deductions disclosed in this return were found to be substantially correct.
However, on 22.07.2017, the assessee filed a revised return reducing his total income to ₹3,82,850. The reduction was achieved by claiming additional deductions under Chapter VI-A, which were subsequently found to be bogus.
The revised return also resulted in a refund becoming payable to the assessee.
The controversy surfaced following a survey conducted on 23.08.2019 at the premises of Shri Kishore Patil, a tax consultant. During the survey, the Department allegedly discovered that the consultant had filed returns for various taxpayers by claiming bogus Chapter VI-A deductions.
Based upon the information gathered during the survey, the AO issued notice u/s 148 to the assessee on 26.02.2020.
In response to the reassessment notice, the assessee filed a return on 23.03.2020 declaring total income of ₹7,06,750. This was broadly consistent with the income disclosed in the original return and substantially higher than the income shown in the revised return.
