Case Law Details
Hi Techno Control System Pvt. Ltd. Vs CIT (ITAT Mumbai)
Section 272A(2)(k) of Income Tax Act provides a penalty for failure to deliver or cause to deliver a copy of the statement within the time specified in section 200(3) or the proviso to sub-section 3 of s. 206(c). Sec. 273B of the Act provides that no penalty shall be imposed on the person or the assessee as the case may be for any failure referred to in the said provision if the assessee proves that there was a reasonable cause for the said failure. It is an admitted fact that the assessee deducted tax on time and deposited with the Revenue Department on time. There was only a technical breach of the provisions contained above, requiring the assessee to submit the quarterly return statements of tax deducted at source within the time provided under the Law.
It is not a case of the Revenue that the assessee did not file the required statements with the Revenue Department. The requisite statement/returns have been filed belatedly, for which, a penalty have been imposed.
In the present case, the assessee explained that the delay in filing the TDS return is due to negligence on the part of the assessee and non-awareness of the importance of filing the TDS return. From the record, it is also evident that there was a slight delay in filing the appeal before the learned CIT(A). In this regard, the assessee submitted as follows “Due to the lack of knowledge and at the same time non availability of Professional person in the Rural Area i.e. at Sonar Pada village Dombivli East, Thane Rural”. Thus it is evident that the assessee had no assistance from any professional person to guide them regarding the compliance of statutory provisions.
These facts clearly show that the assessee had a reasonable cause for failure to comply with the provisions of law. On filing the belated returns/statements, Revenue has not suffered any loss because the tax deducted was already deposited on time with the Revenue Department. It was, therefore, a technical breach of the provisions contained in the Act for submitting the return statement of tax deducted at source. The above reasons are sufficient to hold that the penalty need not be levied in the facts and circumstances of the case. Accordingly, the ground raised in the present appeal is allowed and the Assessing Officer is directed to delete the penalty, as affirmed by the learned CIT(A).
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