ITAT held that penalty for failure to obtain tax audit was not...

ITAT held that penalty for failure to obtain tax audit was not automatic where the assessee showed reasonable cause under section 271B. The society's initial year of operations, lack of professional guidance and infrastructure, rural background, and bona fide belief that audit under the Co-operative Societies Act was sufficient were accepted, especially as the explanation was neither false nor mala fide. The nil-income assessment and absence of adverse inference of suppression supported the genuineness of the explanation. On these facts, the Tribunal found the penalty unsustainable and deleted it.

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