The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal dismissed the department's...

The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal dismissed the department's appeal against the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) order cancelling the penalty u/s 271AA imposed on the assessee for non-maintenance of documents relating to international transactions. The Tribunal observed that the assessee did not have any international transaction during the relevant year, but only had domestic transactions with an associated enterprise. The Tax Audit Report and purchase ledger extracts confirmed the assessee's purchases were from a domestic company, not a foreign enterprise as alleged. The Tribunal also noted that the provisions related to specified domestic transactions u/s 92BA were not applicable to the assessee for the relevant assessment year after the omission of Section 40A(2)(b) by the Finance Act, 2017. Consequently, the penalty imposed u/s 271AA was not sustainable.