The ITAT held that penalty under section 271D could not stand...

The ITAT held that penalty under section 271D could not stand because the AO proceeded on an incorrect premise that receipt of cash on transfer of immovable property through a subsisting GPA made section 269SS applicable. A sale deed could validly be executed through a GPA until cancelled, and there was no material that the GPA had been cancelled before execution of the sale deed. On that basis, the invocation of the penal provision was erroneous, and the Tribunal followed co-ordinate Bench decisions on the same issue. The appeal was allowed and the penalty deleted.

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