Sekhon Jagtar Singh Vs ITO (ITAT Bangalore)
ITAT Bangalore held that imposition of penalty under section 270A of the Income Tax Act on account of underreporting of income not justified as failing to furnish income tax return was bona fide.
Facts- The assessee in the present case is an individual who has not filed return of income u/s 139 of the Act for the year under consideration. As such, the assessee disclosed the income under the head ‘salary’ in response to the notices issued u/s 148 of the Act by furnishing form 16. Likewise, the AO during the assessment proceedings found that the assessee has claimed excessive deduction in Form – 16 u/s 24 of the Act for 74,951/- representing the interest on housing loan, which was added to the total income of the assessee. As such, the income was determined in the assessment framed u/s 147 of the Act at Rs. 58,70,680/- only. As the assessee did not file original return of income, the AO initiated penalty proceedings for underreporting of income, which came to be confirmed at Rs. 8,16,895/- being 50% of the amount of tax sought to be evaded by the assessee.
CIT(A) confirmed the order of AO. Being aggrieved, the present appeal is filed.
