Case Law Details
Sushil Kumar Paul Vs ACIT (ITAT Kolkata)
ITAT Kolkata held the levy of penalty under section 271AAB of the Income Tax Act without specifying the charge on which the same is imposable is unsustainable in law.
Facts- A search and seizure operation was conducted on the premises of assessee on 28.03.2016 and consequence to that the assessee had disclosed a sum of Rs. 79,00,000/-. Subsequently, the assessee was filed his return of income by showing income of Rs. 83,02,410/- including the said undisclosed income of Rs. 79,00,000/- on 31.01.2017. The ld. AO had accepted the return of income filed by the assessee without making any further addition. During the intervening period, the assessee had requested the ld. AO to adjust his tax liability of Rs. 28,34,610/- as per his return with the seized cash of Rs. 36,00,000/- vide his letter dated 26.09.2017. The ld. AO although accepted the return filed by the assessee and assessed the total income at Rs. 83,02,410/- initiated a penalty proceeding u/s 271AAB of the Act and subsequently passed an order dated 27.06.2018 u/s 271AAB of the Act.
Conclusion- From going through the notice issued to the assessee on 28.12.2017, we find that there is no mention about various conditions provided u/s 271AAB of the Act. The ld. AO has very casually used the proforma used for issuing notice before levying penalty u/s 271(1)(c) of the Act for the concealment of income or furnishing of inaccurate particulars of income. Except mentioning the section 271AAB of the Act in the notice, it does not talk anything about the provisions of section 271AAB. Therefore, certainly such notice has a fatal error and technically is not a correct notice in the eyes of law because it intends to penalize an assessee without spelling about the charge against the assessee.
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF ITAT KOLKATA
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