The assessees, being cooperative societies, had no control over...

The assessees, being cooperative societies, had no control over the timely completion of audits by statutory auditors as mandated u/s 44AB of the Income Tax Act. The delay in submitting audit reports was not attributable to the assessees' conduct. The audit reports were made available before the Assessing Authority during assessment proceedings, causing no prejudice to the Department. The assessees demonstrated reasonable cause for the belated filing of audit reports before the Assessing Authority. As per Section 273B, when reasonable cause is established, no penalty u/s 271B can be imposed. Therefore, the High Court set aside the Tribunal's orders confirming the penalty u/s 271B on the assessees, allowing their appeals.

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