Deliberately false advance-tax estimate attracts penalty when an ascertained income item is knowingly omitted.

An advance-tax estimate is treated as deliberately false, attracting penalty under section 18A(9) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, where the assessee already had the sale proceeds and therefore knew the exact income figure at the time of filing. On those facts, omission of the ascertained amount was not an accidental error or the result of uncertainty in estimation. The High Court held that the assessee knowingly filed an untrue estimate to avoid proper advance tax, so deletion of the penalty was unjustified and the penalty was sustained.

---

---

Issues: Whether the assessee was rightly visited with penalty under section 18A(9) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 for furnishing a wrong estimate of advance tax payable.

Analysis: The estimate for advance tax was filed after the assessee had already received the relevant sale proceeds and was in possession of the exact figure. The earlier setting aside of penalty under section 28(1)(c) did not survive, and the facts showed that the omission of the amount from the estimate was not accidental or attributable to uncertainty in estimation. The Court held that the assessee deliberately filed an untrue estimate with a view to avoiding proper advance tax.

Conclusion: The deletion of penalty under section 18A(9) was not justified and the question was answered against the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The penalty under section 18A(9) stood sustained on the facts found, and the assessee was not entitled to relief.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an assessee knowingly omits an ascertained income item from an advance tax estimate, the estimate is deliberately false and penalty under the relevant advance-tax provision is attracted.

---