The assessee, a foreign-based company, initially failed to...

The assessee, a foreign-based company, initially failed to comply with the notice u/s 92D(3) within the statutory period of 60 days, responding on 25.03.2019 after a delay of 38 days. However, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) considered the delay as minuscule and the reasons for non-compliance as bona fide and unintentional, given the peculiar circumstances of the assessee being a foreign entity and in the process of appointing a new authorized representative. The ITAT held that the penalty u/s 271G for non-compliance should be deleted, accepting the assessee's reasons for the inadvertent delay as reasonable. Consequently, the assessee's appeal against the penalty was allowed.

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