Ujjain Dugdh Sangh (Sah) Maryadit Vs DCIT/ACIT-1 (ITAT Indore)
The appeal before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Indore Bench concerned the validity of a penalty of ₹30,000 imposed under Section 272A(1)(d) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 for alleged non-compliance with statutory notices during assessment proceedings for Assessment Year 2020–21.
The penalty had been levied by the Assessing Officer (AO) for non-compliance with three notices issued under Section 142(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 dated 30.10.2021, 22.02.022, and 26.07.2022. A penalty of ₹10,000 was imposed for each notice, totaling ₹30,000. The penalty order dated 21.09.2022 was subsequently upheld by the appellate authority, the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals), National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), by order dated 27.12.2024.
The assessee challenged this confirmation before the Tribunal. One of the key arguments raised was that the assessment itself had ultimately been completed under Section 143(3) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 after considering the assessee’s submissions, which indicated that the subsequent compliances had been accepted by the AO. Therefore, according to the assessee, the earlier delays in responding to notices could not justify the imposition of penalty.
The assessee demonstrated that responses had been filed for each of the notices, though there were delays. In response to the notice dated 30.10.2021, the assessee filed an e-reply on 26.11.2021 requesting adjournment to allow additional time to prepare submissions. For the notice dated 22.02.2022, the assessee submitted various details and documents through an e-filed reply dated 26.03.2022. Further replies along with supporting documents were submitted on 29.08.2022 and 05.09.2022 in response to a later notice dated 08.07.2022. These submissions were acknowledged through e-filing records.
