Successful appeal against penalties for undisclosed accounts and non-maintenance of books.

The appeals by the assessee against penalty orders under sections 271(1)(c) and 271B for A.Y. 2008-09 were successful. The tribunal deleted the penalties citing similarities with previous cases where penalties were overturned due to comparable circumstances involving undisclosed bank accounts and non-maintenance of books of account as required by law. The tribunal found the facts in the present case to align with the previous decisions, leading to the deletion of both penalties.

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Issues involved: Appeals against penalty orders u/s 271 (1) (c) and u/s 271B for the same A.Y. 2008-09.

Penalty u/s 271 (1) (c): The appeal was made by the assessee challenging the penalty order. The assessee's representative cited a previous tribunal decision where penalty was deleted under similar circumstances. The tribunal noted that in the cited case, penalty was deleted as the facts were similar, involving an undisclosed bank account and additions made by the assessing officer. The tribunal found the facts in the present case to be similar and deleted the penalty accordingly.

Penalty u/s 271B: The appeal was filed against the penalty order u/s 271B. The assessee's representative referred to a judgment by the Hon'ble Allahabad High Court where penalty was deleted for non-maintenance of books of account as required by law. The tribunal observed that in the cited case, the penalty was deleted based on the reasoning that the offence of not maintaining books of account as per the law was complete, and thus no further penalty u/s 44AB could be imposed. Since the facts in the present case were identical, the tribunal followed the judgment and deleted the penalty u/s 271B.

In conclusion, both appeals by the assessee were allowed, and the penalties u/s 271 (1) (c) and u/s 271B were deleted based on the similarity of facts with previous judicial decisions.

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