TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2016 (5) TMI 1376
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....n of income. It was further held by the AO that the assessee has concealed his income and penalty proceeding under section 271(1)(c)of the Act was initiated. Such findings of the AO were upheld by the Ld. CIT(A) and the order of the CIT(A) have been further upheld by the ITAT Chandigarh Bench. 3. The AO vide separate orders levied the penalty under section 271(1)(c) in a sum of Rs. 7,09,390/-, which was challenged before the Ld. CIT(A). The Ld. CIT(A) considered the submissions of the assessee, however dismissed the appeal of the assessee. The findings of Ld. CIT(A) in impugned order in para 6.2 to 7 are reproduced as under: 6.2 I have considered the facts of the case. As per the provisions of section 271(1)(c), penalty can be levied, if the assessee has concealed particulars of his income or furnished inaccurate particulars of such income. For the sake of ready reference, Explanation-1 below section 271(1) is reproduced below: "Explanation 1.- Where in respect of any facts material to the computation of the total income of any person under this Act,- (A) such person fails to offer an explanation or offers an explanation which is found by the Assessing....
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....ppellant to give his profile, status, his relationship with the donors and how a particular donor is related to the appellant who gifted amounts in US dollar ranging between 2100USD to 5100USD. The appellant was further asked to produce the copies of their bank accounts for verifying credit worthiness, etc. Since no information was provided by the appellant to the CIT(A), the addition made by the Assessing Officer was confirmed. But in deciding against the appellant, CIT(A) had certainly tried to go further to ascertain the intention of the appellant and to examine whether the appellant has concealed income and furnished inaccurate particulars of income. The Hon'ble ITAT was also not satisfied fully and, therefore, observed in its order that routing transaction through banking channels represents merely movement of funds and genuineness of transactions. 6.4 In view of the above discussion, the appellant's contention that he was under a bonafide belief that gifts received at the time of marriage were exempt and did not know that the gifts received at the time of marriage of daughter are not exempt, appears only an excuse. The appellant in his submission dated 03/09/2015 say....
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....nder section 56(2)(vi) of the Income Tax Act, considering the gift received on the occasion of marriage of his daughter. Ld. Counsel for the assessee relied upon the following orders of the Tribunal: 1. Order of ITAT, Hyderabad Bench in the case of Smt. B Rajyasree, Banjara Hills, ITA No. 1741/Hyd/2013. 2. Order of ITAT, Chandigarh Bench in the case of Smt. Gurdeep Kaur, ITA No. 459/Chd/2015. 3. Order of ITAT, Chandigarh Bench in the case of M/s RKM Housing Limited, ITA No. 1351/Chd/2012. Ld. Counsel for the assessee submitted that penalty in the matter may be cancelled. 5. On the other hand Ld. DR relied upon the order of authorities below. He has referred to order of ITAT, Chandigar Bench in the case of the assessee on quantum in ITA No. 578/Chd/2011 dt. 04/01/2012 in which the Tribunal has referred to the finding of the AO and CIT(A) on quantum and confirmed the addition because the Ld. CIT(A) despite giving further opportunity to the assessee, has failed to produce any evidence before the authorities below. He therefore submitted that explanation 1 to Section 271(1)(c) of the Act is clearly attracted in the case of the assessee so as to levy the....
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.... under section 56(2)(vi) of the Income Tax Act would be taxable. Meaning thereby the assessee pleaded wrong facts before the authorities below and in that event made wrong and bogus claim of exemption of income on account of bogus gifts. It may also noted here that the moment assessee has received the sum of money more than Rs. 50,000/-, it is chargeable to tax under section 56(2)(vi) of the Act. In case amount shall be less than Rs. 50,000/- in other case, the assessee shall have to prove the ingredients of Section 68 of the Income Tax Act. 7. We may note here that when the assessee preferred an appeal against the quantum addition before the ITAT, Chandigarh bench, the appeal of assessee on this issue was decided by the ITAT, Chandigarh bench in ITA No. 578/Chd/2011 vide order dt. 04/01/2012 confirming the addition on merits. The findings of the Tribunal in para 6 to 9 are reproduced as under: 6. We have carefully perused the facts of the case, rival submissions and found that the AO made an addition of Rs. 21,07,513/- on account of gifts received from NRI relatives and friends on the occasion of the marriage of assessee's daughter. The AO afforded opportunity to t....
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....ndings of the ld. CIT(A) are reproduced hereunder : "7. I have considered the rival contentions and material on record and I am inclined to agree with the ld. AO since none of the cheques are in the name of the daughter of the appellant Smt.Radhika Uppal. The counsel argued that the shoguns are never given to the bride but to her parents to which I agree to some extent but that is normally when one attends a wedding, the shoguns are given to the parents who receive the guests. But if someone sends a cheque for the bride, logically it should be in her name. 8. Secondly, I asked the counsel to produce some such evidence which could clinch the issue in his favour, for instance bank entries/transfer whereby the money credited to appellant's bank account was transferred to daughter/spent on her wedding-basicaly I needed the utilization of these amounts received and secondly I had asked him to give a profile of the appellant, his level and status and his relationship with the donors. For example, how is Nandini Chopra related to the appellant who gifted 5100 USD. The appellant was asked to prove the same in case of the following persons: Oru Bose 3100 USD ....
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....ext of provisions of Section 2(31) & 164 of the Act. The word 'individual' used by the legislature under clause (b) of the second proviso to Section 56(1) of the Act is in the specific context of marriage of the individual. Therefore, the word 'individual' in the context of marriage can only be the bride or the bridegroom and cannot include group of individuals. The legislative intent can be clearly discernible from the context in which the word 'individual' is used in such clause 'b'. Thus, the legislative intent is clear and word 'individual' includes only the individuals, whose marriage is solemnized. The legislature consciously employed definite Article 'the' and not indefinite Article "a" before the word 'individual' in clause 'b' of the said proviso, which means the specific 'individual'. Thus, the legislative intent is clear in meaning, content and text of the word "individual". It is settled law of interpretation of statute that primacy is to be given to the text in which the intention of the law-giver has been expressed. In view of this, the case law relied upon by the ld. 'AR' does not support his contention. The assessee has failed to demonstrate non-applicabilit....
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....t assessee has not concealed particulars of income. 8.1 Hon'ble Punjab & Haryana High Court in the case of CIT Vs. Deep Chand [2011] 336 ITR 292 held as under: "Held, that the gift amounting to Rs. 1,75,000/- said to have been received by the assessee was held to be bogus. Once that was so, the only conclusion was that the assessee had furnished inaccurate particulars of his income. The assessee had concealed the particulars of income and, thus, penalty was liable to be levied against him under section 271(1) (c) of the Income-tax Act, 1961." 8.2 Hon'ble Dehi High Court in the case of CIT Vs. Zoom Communication P. Ltd. [2010] 327 ITR 510 held as under: Held, that admittedly, in view of the provisions contained in section 40(a)(ii) of the Act, the amount of income-tax could not have been claimed as a deduction while computing income of the assessee. As regards the amount claimed on account of unusable and discarded assets, the Tribunal, was entirely incorrect in taking the view that the deduction claimed by the assessee was admissible to it under section 32(1)(iii). Clause (i) of sub-section(1) of section 32 relates to assets of an undertaking engaged in gene....
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....sment proceedings are relevant and have probative value. Where the assessee produces no fresh evidence or presents any additional or fresh circumstances in penalty proceedings, he would be deemed to have failed to discharge the onus placed on him and the levy of penalty could be justified. Even if there is no concealment of income or furnishing of inaccurate particulars, but on the basis thereof the claim which is made is ex facie bogus, it may still attract penalty provision. The Explanations appendd to section 271(1)(c) of the Act entirely indicate the element of strict liability on the assessee for concealment or for giving inaccurate particulars while filing return. The object behind enactment of section 271(1)(c) read with the Explanation indicate that the section has been enacted to provide for a remedy for loss of revenue. The penalty under that provision is a civil liability. Wilful concealment is not an essential ingredient for attracting civil liability as is the case in the matter of prosecution under section 276C of the Act. 8.4 Hon'ble Punjab & Haryana High Court in the case of CIT Vs. Udham Singh & Sons [2014] 365 ITR 137 held as under: "....