Income Tax Act is a Welfare Legislation, Practical Difficulties of Assessee shall be Considered: ITAT condones Delay in filing Audit Report due to Illness of Accountant [Read Order]
Income Tax Act – Legislation – Assessee – ITAT – Audit Report – Accountant – taxscan
Income Tax Act – Legislation – Assessee – ITAT – Audit Report – Accountant – taxscan
While delivering another assessee-friendly ruling, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Pune bench has condoned a delay in filing audit report since the Accountant of the assessee was undergoing medical treatment.
While allowing relief to the assessee, a bench of Shri R.S. Syal, Vice President and Shri ParthaSarathi Chaudhury, Judicial Member has observed that the Income Tax Act is a welfare legislation and the practical difficulties of the assessee shall be considered before concluding the proceedings.
The assessee is engaged in the wholesale trading of food grains as a proprietary concern under the name and style “SwaminathNilkanth Patil” at Akkalkot. The assessee was aggrieved by the imposition of penalty u/s 271B of the IncometaxAct,1961 for not filing audit report within the prescribed time.
The assessee has explained before the CIT(A) that the reasons why there was delay in filing the tax audit report and non-compliance as per the provisions of sec. 44AB of the Act.
Considering the above argument, the ITAT held that “the reasons are definitely such that they were beyond the control of the assessee and since the Income-tax Act is a welfare legislation the practical difficulties of the tax payersassessee and the bonafide nature has to be considered. In this case, the assessee had even submitted the Doctor‟s Certificate under whose treatment the accountant was admitted in the hospital. The ld. CIT(A) should have considered all these facts in its proper perspective. Section 273B of the Act provides that the penalty u/s 271B need not beimposed if there is a reasonable cause for the said failure. In our considered view, the assessee in this case through documentary evidence has explained the reasonable cause and accordingly we set aside the order of the CIT(A) and direct the A.O to delete the penalty from the hands of the assessee.”
To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE
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