Uday Uttamrao Nevase Vs Assessing Officer/Assessment Unit (ITAT Pune)
ITAT Pune Upholds 200% Sec 270A Penalty – Wrong Chapter-VI-A Claims Treated as Misreporting; No Immunity u/s 270AA
In Uday Uttamrao Nevase vs AO (AY 2022-23), the ITAT Pune dismissed the assessee’s appeal and confirmed penalty levied u/s 270A for misreporting of income. The assessee, a salaried individual, had claimed multiple deductions under Chapter-VI-A — including u/s 80DD, 80CCD(2), 80DDB, 80E, 80EEA, 80EEB and 80GGC — aggregating to ₹10.65 lakh without supporting evidence, which were later admitted to be incorrect during scrutiny proceedings
The Tribunal rejected the claim of immunity u/s 270AA because no application was filed within the prescribed time after assessment. It further held that the incorrect claims were not mere clerical errors but conscious misreporting — particularly where deductions like political donation u/s 80GGC and medical expenditure u/s 80DDB were claimed despite no such payments.
Relying on earlier Pune Bench decisions, ITAT concluded that inflated deductions leading to excess refund constitute misrepresentation attracting higher penalty @200%. Since the assessee had accepted additions and failed to revise the return despite opportunity, the penalty order was upheld and the appeal was dismissed.
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF ITAT PUNE
This is an appeal filed by the Assessee against the order of ld.Commissioner of Income Tax(Appeal)[NFAC], passed under section 250 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 for the A.Y.2022-23 dated 04.09.2025 emanating from the Penalty Order passed under section 270A, dated 17.09.2024. The Assessee has raised the following grounds of appeal :
“Ground 1 Section 270AA Immunity CIT A erred in law by confirming the penalty of Rs 629382 under section 270A without considering and applying section 270AA of the Income Tax Act 1961 The appellant has satisfied all mandatory conditions under section 270AA The entire tax demand was paid within 30 days of the assessment order dated 20 March 2024 and no appeal was filed against that assessment order Section 270AA provides an absolute right to penalty immunity The penalty imposed is therefore illegal and should be deleted in full.
Ground 2 Bonafide Error and Absence of Willfulness Without prejudice to the above CIT A failed to note that the appellants claim of deductions was a bonafide error and not a deliberate attempt to evade tax OR willful misreporting Immediately upon being prompted by the Income Tax portal on 20 August 2022 the appellant opted to revise the return of income to correct the amount of refund claimed as recorded in the Income Tax portal Unfortunately due to unavoidable reasons the revised return could not be filed which was later explained during proceedings This sequence shows the absence of concealment OR willful misreporting and the intent to correct errors was documented on the portal and the entire tax demand was paid promptly before penalty proceedings commenced A screenshot from the portal is available and can be provided if required.”
Submission of ld.AR :
