TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2023 (7) TMI 556
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....71(1)(b) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 [hereinafter referred to as "the Act" for short] for the Assessment Year (AY) 2014-15. 2. The grounds raised by the assessee are as under:- "1. Ld. CIT(A) erred in law as well as on facts in confirming the penalty u/s 271(1)(b) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 of Rs. 50,000/-. 2. Ld. CIT(A) erred in law as well as on facts in passing the appellate order u/s 250 of the Act without considering submission made by the appellant during the physical hearing before local jurisdictional CIT(A). 3. Ld. CIT(A) erred in law as well as on facts in contending that the appellant had not made any submission. 4. Ld. CIT(A) erred in law as well as on facts in passing the appellate order ....
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....irmed the penalty levied by the Assessing Officer of Rs. 50,000/-. 5. Before us, the ld. Counsel for the assessee filed submissions in writing and, referring to the same, he pointed out that the ld. CIT(A) had wrongly noted that the assessee had not co-operated in the appellate proceedings. His contention was that, earlier, the hearing before the ld. CIT(A) was being done in physical manner and was thereafter transferred to the faceless regime with the National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC) finally passing the order under Section 250 of the Act. His contention was that during the course of physical hearing before the ld. CIT(A), the assessee had complied to the notices and had filed submissions also before him; but they were not consider....
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....able reasons for non-compliance to statutory notices issued u/s. 142(1)of the act are submitted hereunder: 1.3.1 The appellant-company has started to experience critical liquidity crunch since F. Y. 2014-15. 1.3.2 The appellant-company, therefore, closed down the business in F.Y. 2014-15 1.3.3 Since, the salary was also not possible to pay, all the staff have left the appellant-company. 1.3.4 The accounting data was also erased by the accounting staff of the appellant-company while leaving the job, as the salary was unpaid for long time. 1.3.5 The cheques issued by the appellant-company were also returned by the banker for want of sufficient fund. 1.3.6 The creditors were also .remained ....
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....ered by Police Department, Jetpur on 01/09/2016. 1.3.14.6 Anticipatory bails rejected by Session Court on 18/11/2016 1.3.14.7 Bail Application moved to Hon'ble High Court, Gujarat on 08/12/2016 1.3.14.8 Bail granted on 23/12/2016. 1.4 It may kindly be appreciated from the above that right from 03/08/2015 the appellant has been facing lot of pressure of criminal proceedings. The ultimate bail was granted on 23/12/2016. It may please be appreciated that the dates of default also fall in the said tenure only. 1.5 During the course of the assessment proceedings the AR of the appellant has furnished details on more than one occasion viz. vide letter dated 22/07/2015, 11/01/2016 and again on 04/03/2016....
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....s unable to controvert the contention of the learned Counsel for the assessee that the assessee had participated in appellate proceedings and had explained the reasons for non-compliance of notices issued by the Assessing Officer. Considering the explanation of the assessee as stated before us for non-compliance with the notices issued by the Assessing Officer for which the penalty was levied amounting to Rs. 50,000/- and taking note of the evidences also filed by the assessee, we find that there were sufficient reasons with the assessee for non-compliance with the notices. The notices, which were listed by the Assessing Officer as remaining uncomplied with by the assessee, pertained to the period June 2016 to November 2016. The assessee ha....