Yogesh Shivaji Shinde Vs ITO (ITAT Pune)
Assessee , a salaried employee filed return of income for the assessment year 2016-17 declaring taxable income of Rs.5,39,190/- after claiming various deductions of Rs.1,78,378/- under Chapter VI-A. AO, on the basis of information received from the ITO (Inv), Nashik, that the assessee has claimed excess deductions, initiated proceeding u/s 147 after obtaining approval from the authorities & accordingly, a notice u/s 148 was issued. Assessee furnished return of income in response to notice u/s 148 , declaring taxable income of Rs.6,53,600/- after claiming deductions under Chapter VI-A. The assessment was completed u/s 147 r.w.s. 144B by accepting the income returned in response to notice u/s 148 . Subsequently, AO imposed penalty of Rs.56,350/- u/s 271(1)(c) for concealing the particulars of income. On appeal CIT(A) confirmed the penalty after considering the reply of the assessee.
Before the Tribunal, assessee submitted that the order passed by CIT(A) is unjustified. As soon as the fact of claiming excess refund by the tax consultant came in the knowledge of the assessee he immediately paid the due tax along with interest whereas the notice u/s 148 was issued to him subsequently. However the revised return could not be filed voluntarily since the date was over. Per contra, Dept argued that appellant has not filed correct return of income voluntarily & therefore the appellant is liable for penalty.
