TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2014 (7) TMI 263
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....sses for the assessment years 1980-81 and 1981-82 on the relevant dates, the ITAT was legally correct in upholding the applicability of the provisions of Section 273 (2) (c) ?" The brief facts, giving rise to the present appeal, are that the appellant is a Public Limited Company, engaged in the manufacture and sale of synthetics yarn, cement, etc. The previous year of the appellant is the calendar year i.e. starting from January and ending in December. For the assessment year 1982-83, the appellant had closed its accounts on 31.12.1981. The assessee, who followed the calendar year as the accounting period, and whose accounting period ended in December, 1981 was supposed to submit the estimate under Section 209A of the Act for the purposes of payment of advance tax on 15.6.1981, 15.9.1981 and 15.12.1981. The appellant had filed an estimate on 9.6.1981 showing the advance tax liability at nil. According to the appellant, since the business condition of the calendar year did not improve, it was not considered necessary to revise the estimate under sub-section (4) of Section 209A of the Act, at the time when the subsequent installments become due for payment, by 15th September and 15t....
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....r under consideration on the basis of computation made in the earlier years. In the earlier years, for the assessment year 1980-81, the return loss of Rs. 205.74 lakhs was filed on 30.7.1980 and for the assessment year 1981-82, the return of loss of Rs. 436.45 lakhs was filed on 30.6.1981 thus, the appellant was under the bonafide belief that he would be entitled for set up carried forward loss and accordingly there was no liability of tax. None of the authorities, having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, has made out a case that there was no reasonable cause and, therefore, the penalty is not sustainable. He submitted that the burden lies upon the revenue to prove that there was no case of reasonable cause, but it failed to do so. Reliance is placed on the decision of the Bombay High Court in the case of Commissioner of Income Tax vs. Sulphur Refinery Pvt. Ltd., reported in 234 ITR-453 and the decision of the Calcutta High Court in the case of Commissioner of Income Tax vs. Birla Cotton Spinning & Weaving Mills Ltd., reported in 157 ITR- 157. Sri R.K. Upahdya, learned Standing Counsel for the respondent submitted that in the assessment years 1980-81 and 1981-82 a....
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....er section 211 as have not expired, by installments which may be revised according to sub-section. The finding of the Tribunal reads as follows: "We have considered the rival submissions and have also considered the case laws relied upon by Shri Srivastava holding that the situation at the time of filing of the estimate has to be taken into account in view of the judgments reported in 179 ITR-109, 125 ITR-548 and 97 ITR-721 and the past history is not relevant, for which reliance is placed in 96 ITR-355 and 77 ITR-711 on behalf of the Revenue by Shri Singh, because the provisions of section 209A (4) comes to play only when the assessee's income exists and in the case of the assessee the assessment of the past years were not completed, therefore, the returns of income, which were filed on losses for the assessment years 80-81 & 81-82 were relevant for the purposes of advance tax. We also find no force in the contention of Shri Singh that the explanation given now in respect of the returned income and assessed income could have been given before the A.O. as well as the CIT (A) being within the special knowledge of the assessee, because the entire information regarding the retur....
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....nces, we are of the view that there was a reasonable cause in not revising the estimate under sub-section (4) of Section 209A of the Act. The return for the assessment year 1980-81 was filed on 30.7.1980 disclosing loss of Rs. 205.74 lakhs. The return for the assessment year 1981-82 was filed on 30.6.1981, showing loss of Rs. 436.45 lakhs. The details of both the returns were available in the months of June, September and December, 1981. The assessment orders for the aforesaid two assessment years have been passed on 24.8.1983 and 27.9.1984, respectively, after June, 1981, September, 1981 and December, 1981. It is the case of the appellant that on the same method of calculation of loss and income, there was loss in the year, under consideration, also, and there was no improvement in the position in the months of September and December, 1981 and, therefore, the estimate could not be revised. We are of the view that there is no reason to disbelieve such explanation. In the case of Commissioner of Income Tax vs. Sulphur Refinery Pvt. Ltd. (supra), the Bombay High Court has held that on the day when the assessee was liable to furnish the estimate there was accumulated loss available ....