Mehul Champakbhai Patel Vs NAFC (ITAT Surat)
Appeal Dismissal for Non-Payment of Tax Unjustified Where Returned Income Below Taxable Limit
The Surat Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal held that the CIT(A), NFAC erred in summarily dismissing the assessee’s appeal on the ground of non-payment of taxes for AY 2016-17.
The Tribunal noted that the assessee was a non-filer who filed a return in response to notice under section 148 declaring total income of ₹39,267, which was below the basic exemption limit. Since no tax was payable on such income, there was neither advance tax nor self-assessment tax liability. In these circumstances, dismissal of the appeal for alleged non-payment of tax was held to be legally unsustainable.
Accordingly, the ITAT set aside the impugned order and remanded the matter to the CIT(A) with a direction to admit the appeal and adjudicate the issues on merits. The appeal was allowed for statistical purposes.
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF ITAT SURAT
This appeal has been filed by the Assessee against the order dated 28.12.2024 passed by the Ld. Commissioner of Income-Tax (Appeals), National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi (“the CIT(A) in short), under Section 250 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (“the Act”), relating to the Assessment Year 2016-17.
