Section 43 penalty under the Black Money Act was held...

Section 43 penalty under the Black Money Act was held unsustainable where the foreign investment was disclosed in the audited balance sheet and in Part A-BS of the return, even though Schedule FA was left blank. The Tribunal held that the statutory trigger is failure to furnish information in the return of income, and that this requirement was met because the return was not silent on the foreign asset. A CBDT circular or FAQ could not widen the penalty provision. In the absence of any allegation that the investment was unexplained, unaccounted, or sourced from undisclosed foreign income, the omission was treated as a technical reporting lapse. The CIT(A)'s deletion of penalty was affirmed.

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