ITAT held that, in set-aside proceedings under the Act, the AO...

ITAT held that, in set-aside proceedings under the Act, the AO issued five notices u/s 142(1); the assessee failed to comply with the initial three and complied with the subsequent two. The assessee's plea of unfamiliarity with the e-filing portal was rejected as unconvincing and unsupported by non-receipt evidence. However, ITAT found that multiple successive notices seeking the same information constitute a single default, not multiple defaults. Consequently, the penalty u/s 271(1)(b) was restricted to one default: the penalty is confirmed to the extent of Rs.10,000 and the balance of the penalty imposed by the AO is deleted.

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