No S.271G penalty for benign reasons in the nature of procedural issues provided taxpayer maintained substantial documentation in support of its ALP

The Chennai bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal recently pronounced its ruling in the case of SSL – TTK Ltd. (Appeal no. ITA No. 544/Mds/2011), wherein the Tribunal ruled that a notice issued by the Transfer Pricing Officer  under section 92CA (3) of the Act cannot be considered as a notice issued under Section 92D (3) and hence non-compliance of the taxpayer would not attract levy of penalty under Section 271 G1 of the Act. Further, the taxpayer had made substantial compliance of filing the information as required by the letter issued by the TPO and the arm’s length price was accepted by the TPO.