Delayed wealth-tax return cannot defeat voluntary disclosure relief where no prior notice was served.

A delayed wealth-tax return filed after the statutory due date did not count as a return furnished under section 14 for the purpose of excluding a declarant from the voluntary disclosure scheme. The Ordinance applied where the taxpayer had failed to furnish a timely return and no notice under section 14 or section 17 had been served before the declaration. Construing the scheme liberally to advance disclosure of undisclosed wealth, the declaration under section 15 was valid and the later assessment orders and penalty notice could not stand.

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Issues: Whether returns filed after the statutory due date under the Wealth-tax Act could be treated as returns under section 14 so as to defeat a declaration made under section 15 of the Voluntary Disclosure of Income and Wealth Ordinance, 1975, and whether the petitioner was entitled to the benefit of the voluntary disclosure scheme.

Analysis: Section 14 required a return to be furnished by the stipulated due date, while section 15 of the Ordinance extended the benefit of voluntary disclosure to persons who had failed to furnish a return under section 14 and against whom no notice under section 14 or section 17 had been served before the commencement of the Ordinance. The returns filed on 23 June 1975 were not returns furnished within the time allowed by section 14, nor were they filed in response to any notice under section 14. No notice under section 16 or section 17 had been served before the declaration. The statutory scheme and the explanatory circular showed that the Ordinance was meant to encourage disclosure of undisclosed wealth and that its provisions were to be construed liberally to advance that purpose.

Conclusion: The petitioner's declaration under section 15 was valid and entitled to the benefit of the scheme; the later assessment orders and penalty notice could not stand.

Ratio Decidendi: A delayed return not furnished within the time prescribed by section 14 of the Wealth-tax Act does not become a return under that section for the purpose of excluding a declarant from the voluntary disclosure scheme, and the scheme must be construed liberally in favour of disclosure.

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