Partyaksh Sharma Vs ITO (ITAT Delhi)
An inadvertent omission to fill a column in Form 3CD due to a software error, without any mala fide intention, constitutes “reasonable cause” under section 273B and cannot justify penalty for non-compliance with section 44AB.
The Legal Case concerns an appeal before the ITAT Delhi that was filed with a delay of 173 days. The Tribunal condoned the delay after considering the assessee’s affidavit stating that the delay resulted from a change of tax consultant and subsequent discovery of the appellate order on the Income Tax Portal. The appeal arose from an order passed under section 250 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, relating to a penalty levied on the ground that column 40 of Form 3CD was left unfilled, leading the authorities to treat the audit report as incomplete and hold that section 44AB was not complied with. The assessee submitted that the omission was inadvertent, supported by an affidavit from the Chartered Accountant stating that the details remained unfilled due to a software error, and contended that the case was covered by the “reasonable cause” provisions of section 273B. After considering the rival submissions, the Tribunal held that the assessee’s case fell within the definition of “reasonable cause” under section 273B, found the penalty unsustainable, and allowed the appeal.
