No Income Tax Penalty Leviable u/s 271D as Assessee did not Violate Section 296SS: ITAT Dismisses Appeal by Revenue [Read Order]
Content of appeal found not maintainable, ITAT upholds CIT (A), Pune order
In a new development, the Pune bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) dismissed an appeal filed by DCIT, Aurangabad against an order of CIT (A), Pune pertaining to Assessment Year 2019-20. The bench remarked that there are no grounds for penalty to be levied under Section 271D of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
The order of CIT (A), Pune held that the assessee, Tapadiya Construction Ltd., had not violated the provisions of Section 296SS of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and deleted the impugned penalty under Section 271D of the same. Aggrieved, the Revenue approached the Tribunal for appeal.
Represented by Ganesh B. Budruk, Addl.CIT, the Revenue contended that CIT (A), Pune has erred in law and in facts by deleting penalty of Rs. 1,37,73,000/- levied under Section 271D on assessee. It also maintained that the latter did not take credible evidence into account, indicating that the provisions of Section 269SS are clearly attracted.
The Bench, comprising of Vinay Bhamore (Judicial Member) and Manish Borad (Accountant Member) laid out that the Assessing Officer (AO) could not corroborate the diary found during the course of search under Section 132 of the Act by bringing any material or record which could prove beyond reasonable doubt that the amount mentioned in it was received during that year. This ruled out probability of levying penalty under Section 271D of the Act.
It was further added that the alleged sum of Rs. 1,37,73,000/- accepted by the assessee was on the pretext of providing additional amenities with regard to the row of houses constructed by the assessee under the project named ‘Flora Phase-I’, and this has been substantiated by Vipul Joshi, representing assessee, with details of the transaction of sale of of row of houses to 12 customers from whom the alleged sum has been received.
The Tribunal, owing to its inability in finding any fault in the order of CIT(A) to delete the impugned penalty, dismissed the grounds of appeal raised by the Revenue.
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