2019 (3) TMI 2076
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....ing total income of Rs. 9,61,75,370/- which includes the income of Rs. 9,08,67,826/- admitted during search and already declared in the return filed u/s 139(1). The assessment was completed under section 143(3) read with section 153B of the IT Act on 07.12.2017 at the total income of Rs. 9,61,75,370/- in which no addition was made. The AO then initiated the proceedings for levy of penalty under section 271AAB of the IT Act by issuing a show cause notice dated 07.12.2017. The AO while passing the penalty order dated 21st June, 2018 has levied the penalty under section 271AAB(1) of the IT Act @ 30% of the undisclosed income of Rs. 9,08,67,826/- which was admitted during the search. For the assessment year 2016-17, he assessee filed her return of income under section 139(1) of the IT Act on 22.07.2016 declaring total income at Rs. 4,50,56,420/- which includes surrendered income of Rs. 3,85,39,399/- on account of Long Term Capital Gain. The assessment was completed under section 143(3) read with section 153B of the IT Act on 27.12.2017 at the total income of Rs. 4,52,42,549/- which includes addition of Rs. 43,639/- on account of short declaration of LTCG turnover and addition of Rs. 1,....
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....hat the assessee was having undisclosed income. c) Documents and evidences were filed to prove the genuineness of exempted LTCG which were remained uncontroverted. 4. On the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law the ld. CIT (A) erred in holding that the penalty u/s 271AAB of the Act is mandatory. 5. On the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law the ld. CIT (A) erred in not giving the finding on the allegation of AO that the appellant find in the position of mens rea and intention was of wrong doing that constitutes part of a crime. 6. The appellant prays for leave to add, to amend, to delete or modify the all or any grounds of appeal on or before the hearing of appeal." ITA No.1372/JP/2018 (Departmental Appeal) : 1. Whether on the facts and circumstances of the case and in law, the CIT(A) was right in reducing the penalty of Rs. 2,72,60,347/- levied by the AO @ 30% of the undisclosed income under clause 1(c) of section 271AAB of the Income Tax Act to Rs. 90,86,782/- under clause 1(a) of that section despite the fact that manner of earning of undisclosed income was not disclosed by the assessee. ....
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....sideration and the documents produced by the assessee were not either detected or controverted by the AO in the course of assessment proceedings. Further, during the course of search and seizure operation, no incriminating material, evidence or document whatsoever was found but only the calculation of LTCG recorded in the separate slips cannot be said to be incriminating material when all these transactions are duly recorded in the books of account. The ld. A/R has further submitted that the levy of penalty under section 271AAB(1) of the Act is not automatic but the AO has to take a decision by considering all the conditions to be satisfied as provided under the said section. Since the disclosure and surrender of the amount does not fall in the definition of undisclosed income, therefore, the penalty under section 271AAB is not leviable in the case of the assessee merely because the assessee has declared and surrendered some income to tax. In support of his contention, he has relied upon the decision of the Coordinate Bench of this Tribunal dated 24th July, 2018 in case of Shri Dinesh Kumar Agarwal vs. ACIT in ITA No. 855 & 856/JP/2017 as well as decision dated 13.06.2018 in case o....
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....he shares held by the assessee were reflected in the Balance Sheet as on 31st March, 2014. Thus the ld. A/R has submitted that the mere statement recorded under section 132(4) does not by itself constitute incriminating material as held by the Hon'ble Delhi High Court in case of CIT vs. Harjeev Aggarwal, 290 CTR 263 (Delhi) as well as in case of Pr. CIT vs. Best Infrastructure (India) Pvt. Ltd., 397 ITR 82 (Delhi). The ld. A/R has also referred to a series of decisions on the point that the penalty under section 271AAB cannot be imposed merely on the surrender made under section 132(4) in the absence of any incriminating material found during the search. He has referred to the various documents produced by the assessee before the AO and submitted that the AO has not pointed out any defect or given the finding that the documents produced by the assessee are not genuine, then treating the surrender made by the assessee on account of LTCG as undisclosed income and levying the penalty under section 271AAB is not sustainable in law. 3. On the other hand, the ld. D/R has submitted that it was a case of bogus claim of LTCG exempt under section 10(38) of the IT Act. However, during the ....
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.... to be levied only when the income surrendered by the assessee falls in the ambit of undisclosed income as defined under this section. The mere disclosure of income in the statement recorded under section 132(4) would not ipso facto be regarded as undisclosed income unless and until it is tested as per the definition provided in the Explanation to section 271AAB of the Act. In the case in hand, there is no dispute that the assessee has duly recorded the transaction of purchase and sale of equity shares of the listed companies in the books of account which has yielded the capital gain in question of Rs. 9,08,67,826/-. The assessee has also shown these shares in the Balance Sheet as on 31st March, 2014 and the AO has not doubted or disturbed the holding of shares by the assessee on the date of Balance Sheet ended on 31st March, 2014. Once the transactions are duly recorded in the books of account, then the documents in the shape of slips containing the details of LTCG found during the search would not amount to incriminating material disclosing any undisclosed income. The definition of undisclosed income as per clause (c) of Explanation to section 271AAB reads as under :- " ....
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....ot been recorded in the books of account on or before the date of search. In the case in hand, it is undisputed fact that all the transactions of purchase and sale and LTCG arising from the sale of equity shares of the listed companies are duly recorded in the books of account. Therefore, it is not the case of any income of the specified year representing the entry in the other documents which has not been recorded in the books of account on the date of search. Therefore, the primary condition of undisclosed income that the income represented by the entry in the other record is not recorded in the books of account on the date of search is not satisfied. The definition of "undisclosed income" is subjected to two conditions that the said income has not been recorded on or before the date of search in the books of account or other documents maintained in the normal course relating to such previous year. The second condition is not relevant for our purpose since these entries are undisputedly duly recorded in the books of account of the assessee. We further note that the seized material does not reveal the nature of transaction being genuine or bogus but the entry in the seized materia....
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....ties Private Limited * Hem Securities Limited * Arihant Capital Markets Limited Thus, the purchase bill for the purchase of shares along with ledger account in the books of the share broker clearly reveal the date of purchase and also payment of purchase consideration through banking channel as reflected in the bank account statement of the assessee. All the above mentioned documents are independently verifiable evidence without having any control or influence of the assessee except the books of account of the assessee which were not disputed by the AO. Further, the revenue has not disputed the correctness of the documentary evidence filed by the assessee but the AO has proceeded on the assumption that the income disclosed by the assessee under section 132(4) is undisclosed income for the purpose of section 271AAB of the Act. The AO while passing the assessment order under section 153A for the assessment year 2014-15 has not disturbed the holding of the shares shown in the Balance Sheet as on 31st March, 2014. These transactions were also carried out from the capital account of the assessee which was also part of the record of the assessment year 2014-15. But the AO has ac....
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....t be considered as undisclosed income in terms of section 271AAB of the Act. This Tribunal in the case of Ravi Mathur vs. DCIT (supra) while considering an issue of levy of penalty under section 271AAB has held in para 4 to 9 as under :- " 4. We have considered the rival submissions as well as relevant material on record. A search was conducted under section 132 of the IT Act on 30th October, 2014 at the premises of the assessee. The assessee in his statement recorded under section 132(4) has disclosed an income of Rs. 10,02,00,000/- in pursuant to the entries of advances given for purchase of land recorded in the pocket diary which was found and seized during the course of search and seizure action. This is year of search and the financial year would end on 31st March, 2015. However, the assessee disclosed this amount of Rs. 10,02,00,000/- based on the entries in the diary regarding investment in real estate. The due date of filing of return of income under section 139(1) was 30th September, 2015. It is undisputed fact that the assessee is an Individual and was not maintaining regular books of account. Therefore, the transactions recorded in the pocket diary found during ....
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....been derived; (ii) substantiates the manner in which the undisclosed income was derived; and (iii) on or before the specified date- (A) pays the tax, together with interest, if any, in respect of the undisclosed income; and (B) furnishes the return of income for the specified previous year declaring such undisclosed income therein; (b) a sum computed at the rate of twenty per cent of the undisclosed income of the specified previous year, if such assessee- (i) in the course of the search, in a statement under sub-section (4) of section 132, does not admit the undisclosed income; and (ii) on or before the specified date- (A) declares such income in the return of income furnished for the specified previous year; and (B) pays the tax, together with interest, if any, in respect of the undisclosed income; (c) a sum ^51[computed at the rate of sixty per cent] of the undisclosed income of the specified previous year, if it is not covered by the provisions of clauses (a) and (b).^52[(1A) The Assessing Officer may, notwithstanding anything contained in any other provisions of this Act, direct that, in a....
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....other valuable article or thing or any entry in the books of account or other documents or transactions found in the course of a search under section 132, which has- (A) not been recorded on or before the date of search in the books of account or other documents maintained in the normal course relating to such previous year; or (B) otherwise not been disclosed to the ^54[Principal Chief Commissioner or] Chief Commissioner or ^54[Principal Commissioner or] Commissioner before the date of search; or (ii) any income of the specified previous year represented, either wholly or partly, by any entry in respect of an expense recorded in the books of account or other documents maintained in the normal course relating to the specified previous year which is found to be false and would not have been found to be so had the search not been conducted.]" The section begins with the stipulation that the AO "may" direct the assessee shall pay by way of penalty if the conditions as prescribed under clauses (a) to (c) are satisfied. As per sub-section (3) of section 271AAB the provisions of section 274 and 275 as far as may be applied in relation to the penalty re....
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....n is the quantum of penalty as specified under clauses (a) to (c) of Sec. 271AAB(1) of the Act as 10% to 30% or more as against the discretion given to the AO as per the provisions of section 271(1)(c) of the Act where the AO has the discretion to levy the penalty from 100% to 300% of the tax sought to be evaded. Thus the AO is duty bound to come to the conclusion that the case of the assessee is fit for levy of penalty under section 271AAB and then only the quantum of penalty being 10% or 20% or 30% has to be determined subject to the explanation of the assessee for the defaults. 5. Before we proceed further, the decisions relied upon by the ld. D/R are to be considered. In the case of Principal CIT vs. Sandeep Chandak & Others (supra) the issue before the Hon'ble High Court was the defect in the notice issued under section 271AAB on account of mentioning wrong provision of the Act being 271(1)(c) of the Act. The Hon'ble High Court after considering the fact that the show cause notice issued by the AO though mentions section 271(1) in the caption of the said notice, however, the body of the show cause notice clearly mentions section 271AAB, which was fully comprehended by....
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....5. We have heard both the parties, perused the materials available on record and gone through the orders of the authorities below. During the appeal hearing, the Ld. A.R. vehemently argued that the A.O. has levied the penalty under the impression that the levy of penalty in the case of admission of income u/s 132(4) is mandatory. The Ld. A.R. further stated that penalty u/s 271AAB of the Act is not mandatory but discretionary. The provisions of section 271AAB of the Act is parimateria with that of section 158BFA of the Act relating to block assessment and accordingly argued that the levy of penalty under section 271AAB is not mandatory but discretionary. When there is reasonable cause, the penalty is not exigible. The Ld. A.R. taken us to the section 271AAB of the Act and also section 158BFA(2) of the Act and argued that the words used in section 271AAB of the Act and the words used in section 158BFA(2) of the Act are identical. Hence, argued that the penalty section 271AAB of the Act penalty is not automatic and it is on the merits of each case. For ready reference, we reproduce hereunder section 158BFA (2) of the Act and section 271AAB of the Act which reads as under; 27....
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....of section 158BC: Provided that no order imposing penalty shall be made in respect of a person if- (i) such person has furnished a return under clause (a) of section 158BC; (ii) the tax payable on the basis of such return has been paid or, if the assets seized consist of money, the assessee offers the money so seized to be adjusted against the tax payable. (iii) Evidence of tax paid is furnished along with the return; and (iv) An appeal is not filed against the assessment of that part of income which is shown in the return: Provided further that the provisions of the preceding proviso shall not apply where the undisclosed income determined by the Assessing Officer is in excess of the income shown in the return and in such cases the penalty shall be imposed on that portion of undisclosed income determined which is in excess of the amount of undisclosed income shown in the return. 6. Careful reading of section 271AAB of the Act, the words used are 'AO may direct' and 'the assessee shall pay by way of penalty'. Similar words are used section 158BFA(2) of the Act. The word may direct indicates the discretion to the AO. Furt....
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....fortify our view by the above decisions of Tribunal in case of ACIT vs. Marvel Associates. 7. As regards the validity of notice under section 274 for want of specifying the ground and default, we find that when the basic condition of the undisclosed income not recorded in the books of accounts does not exists, then the same has to be specified by the AO in the show cause notice and further the AO is required to give a finding while imposing the penalty under section 271AAB. Even if the AO is satisfied and come to the conclusion that the assessee has not recorded the undisclosed income in the books of accounts or in the other documents / record maintained in normal course relating to specified previous year, the show cause notice shall also specify the default committed by the assessee to attract the penalty @ 10% or 20% or 30% of the undisclosed income. There is no dispute that the AO has not specified the default and charge against the assessee which necessitated the levy of penalty under section 271AAB of the Act. Consequently, the assessee was not given an opportunity to explain his case for specific default attracting the levy of penalty in terms of clauses (a) to (c) ....
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.... read with Section 271(1)(c) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short 'the Act') to be bad in law as it did not specify which limb of Section 271(1)(c) of the Act, the penalty proceedings had been initiated i.e., whether for concealment of particulars of income or furnishing of inaccurate particulars of income. The Tribunal, while allowing the appeal of the assessee, has relied on the decision of the Division Bench of this Court rendered in the case of CIT vs. Manjunatha Cotton and Ginning Factory (2013) 359 ITR 565. 4. In our view, since the matter is covered by judgment of the Division Bench of this Court, we are of the opinion, no substantial question of law arises in this appeal for determination by this Court. The appeal is accordingly dismissed''. In the earlier case of Manjunatha Cotton and Ginning Factory (supra) their lordship had observed as under:- ''Notice under section 274 of the Act should specifically state the grounds mentioned in section 271(1)(c), i.e., whether it is for concealment of income or for furnishing of incorrect particulars of income. Sending printed form where all the grounds mentioned in section 271 are mentioned would not sat....
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....inding of the AO in the assessment order except for the limitation provided as per section 275 of the Act. We have already held that the penalty is not automatic but the AO has to take a decision to impose the penalty after giving an opportunity of hearing to the assessee in terms of section 274 of the Act. Thus the AO in the proceedings under section 271AAB of the Act has to first decide that the conditions prescribed under the said section are satisfied for levy of penalty and then to further take a decision after considering the explanation of the assessee for non compliance of any of the conditions under clauses (a) to (c) of sub-section (1) regarding the quantum of penalty. The primary condition for levy of penalty is the existence of undisclosed income as per the disclosure made by the assessee under section 132(4). The term 'undisclosed income' has been defined in Explanations to section 271AAB. Therefore, as per the definition provided in the Explanation, the undisclosed income may have various forms and the same is not recorded in the books of accounts or other documents maintained in normal course relating to the specified previous year. As per sub-clause (i) of clause (c....
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....under section 271AAB is not based on the addition and enquiry conducted by the AO in the assessment proceedings, therefore, it is incumbent on the AO to conduct a proper examination of facts, circumstances and explanation furnished by the assessee before arriving to the conclusion that penalty under section 271AAB is leviable and further whether it is 10% or 20% or 30% of such undisclosed income. Therefore, the AO is under statutory obligation to examine all the issues during the proceedings under section 271AAB after giving the assessee an opportunity to explain the charges/grounds on which the penalty is proposed to be levied. Hence it is a pre-requisite condition that the AO first specify the charges against the assessee and to make known the assessee of his default so as to afford an opportunity to explain the default/charges so brought against the assessee. Without considering the explanation of the assessee on the specific default, the order passed by the AO under section 271AAB suffers from serious illegality and therefore not sustainable in law. When a stringent action is provided in the Statute against the default committed by the assessee, then it also cast an equally str....
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....e was derived. ii) Furnished the return of income therein and iii) Paid the tax along with interest. Based on the said finding, according to AO, the assessee satisfies the conditions enumerated in sec. 271AAB(i)(a) of the Act and thereafter levied ten percent of Rs.3 cr., which have been deleted by the impugned order of Ld. CIT(A). 4. The Ld. DR brought to our notice that in the very same group case of Manoj Beswal & Ors. the Tribunal had confirmed the levy of penalty and contended before us that penalty u/s. 271AAB of the Act is mandatory and therefore, according to Ld. DR, the Ld. CIT(A) erred in deleting the penalty by stating that the assessee did not had any 'mens rea' not to disclose the amount in question. According to him, penalty has to be mandatorily levied u/s. 271AAB of the Act on the undisclosed income found during search. On the other hand, Ld. AR Shri Miraz D. Shah, supporting the decision of Ld. CIT(A) made contentions though taken up before the Ld. CIT(A) but has not been adjudicated on those averments, which the Ld. AR urges before us to consider while adjudicating the appeal of the Revenue. The Ld. AR also pointed out that the ....
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....first preliminary objection raised by the Ld. AR was that the notice of hearing was not served on the assessee for the hearing scheduled on 06.11.2017 and hence, the assessee could not be present on the said date by way of personal appearance. The second objection raised by the Ld. AR was that the Tribunal had stated in para 9 of its order that the assessee himself had accepted that he is engaged in commodities trading business and therefore mandated to maintain books of accounts in terms of section 44AA of the Act and thereby inferring that the assessee had reported the profit from commodities trading business under the head "income from business or profession". Based on this crucial finding, the Tribunal had concluded that since the transaction of commodities trading had not been entered by the assessee in his books of accounts as on the date of search on 01.08.2012 and thereby it takes the character of undisclosed income for which penalty u/s 271AAB of the Act is exigible. In this regard, we find that the Ld. AR drew our attention to the computation of the total income wherein the assessee had offered income from commodity trading only under the head income from other sources. W....
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....ight of the aforesaid facts discerned from assessment order, the assessee's case is that for the first time in this AY he was doing unsystematic speculative activity which earned income and, it was brought under the head "Income from Other Sources", and so, accordingly, he is not required to maintain books of account as stipulated in Sec. 44AA or Sec. 44AA(2)(ii) of the Act because, these provisions are only for assesses who are earning income under the head "Business or profession". We note that Sec. 44AA or Sec. 44AA(2)(ii) of the Act casts a duty upon the assessee who are into "Business or Profession" and such assessee's are bound to maintain books of account as stipulated therein. For appreciating this submission let us go through the provisions of law. "44AA. (1) Every person carrying on legal, medical, engineering or architectural profession or the profession of accountancy or technical consultancy or interior decoration or any other profession as is notified by the Board in the Official Gazette shall keep and maintain such books of account and other documents as may enable the [Assessing] Officer to compute his total income in accordance with the provisions of this ....
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.... So from a reading of the above provisions which clearly stipulates that assessee who are carrying on business or profession shall keep and maintain such books of account and other documents which may enable the AO to compute the total income. We note that assessee in the statement of total income filed before the AO has shown income only under two heads (i) salary income (ii) income from other sources. We would like to reproduce the summary of total income of the assessee filed along with the return: Income from Salary Rs. 45,57,600 Income from Other sources Rs.3,00,24,047 Rs.3,45,81,647 6. We note that the AO has accepted the aforesaid statement of total income filed before him without contesting th....
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....wn that for the purpose of computation, income of an assessee has to be classified under five heads. It is possible for an assessee/individual/company to have five different sources of income, each one of it will be chargeable to Income Tax Act. Profits and gains of business or profession is only one of the heads under which an assessee's income is liable to be assessed to tax. If an assessee has not commenced business there cannot be any question of assessment of its profits and gains of business. That does not mean that until and unless the assessee commences its business, its income from any other source will not be taxed as held by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Tuticorin Alkali & Chemicals Ltd. Vs. CIT (1997) 227 ITR 172 (SC). It has been further held that when the question is whether a receipt of money is taxable or not or whether certain deduction from that receipt is principles of law and not in accordance with accountancy practice. Further, the Hon'ble Apex Court held that the question as to whether a principal receipt is of the nature of income and falls within the charge of sec. 4 of the Act is a question of law which has to be decided by the Court on the basis....
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....uring the search, the search party found the records of the assessee's transactions in speculative commodity from the drawer of assessee's accountant from which the AO could compute the income of the assessee from the said transaction which amount assessee declared during search and which was duly returned and which figure was accepted by the AO. According to Ld. AR, the fact that search happened on 01.08.2012 need to be taken note of since undisputedly there was enough and more time for the assessee to submit the accounts during assessment proceedings which fact has been taken note of and concurred by the Ld. CIT(A). Thereafter, the Ld. AR drew our attention to the definition of undisclosed income given under section 271AAB which reads as under: "Penalty where search has been initiated. '271AAB. (1) The Assessing Officer may, notwithstanding anything contained in any other provisions of this Act, direct that, in a case where search has been initiated under section 132 on or after the 1st day of July, 2012, the assessee shall pay by way of penalty, in addition to tax, if any, payable by him,- (a) a sum computed at the rate of ten per cent of the undis....
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..... 3 cr. offered by the assessee does not fall in the ken of "undisclosed income" defined in Sec. 271AAB of the Act. So, Rs. 3 cr. which was commodity profit recorded in the other document maintained by the assessee which was retrieved during search cannot be termed as "undisclosed Income" in the definition given u/s. 271AAB of the Act. Since Rs. 3 cr. cannot be termed as "Undisclosed Income" as per sec. 271AAB of the Act, no penalty can be levied against the assessee. Therefore, we uphold the order of the Ld. CIT(A) on the aforesaid reasoning rendered by us. 8. In the result, the appeal of the revenue is dismissed." 4. We find that the facts in the aforesaid case and the decision rendered thereon are squarely applicable to the facts of the instant cases before us and respectfully following the same, we dismiss the appeals of the revenue." Therefore, when the assessee is not required to maintain the books of account as per section 44AA, then the matter is required to be examined whether the alleged undisclosed income is recorded in the other documents maintained in the normal course as per clause (c) to Explanation to section 271AAB. Undisputedly the alleg....
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....ying the penalty, the Assessing officer has to issue a show-cause granting an opportunity to the assessee. Thus, the levy of penalty is not automatic but the Assessing officer has to decide based on facts and circumstances of the case. Similar view has been taken by the various Co-ordinate Benches and useful reference can be drawn to the decision of the Co-ordinate Bench in case of ACIT vs Marvel Associates 92 Taxmann.com 109 wherein it was held as under: "5. We have heard both the parties, perused the materials available on record and gone through the orders of the authorities below. During the appeal hearing, the Ld. A.R. vehemently argued that the A.O. has levied the penalty under the impression that the levy of penalty in the case of admission of income u/s 132(4) is mandatory. The Ld. A.R. further stated that penalty u/s 271AAB of the Act is not mandatory but discretionary. The provisions of section 271AAB of the Act is parimateria with that of section 158BFA of the Act relating to block assessment and accordingly argued that the levy of penalty under section 271AAB is not mandatory but discretionary. When there is reasonable cause, the penalty is not exigible. The Ld....
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....disclosed income referred to in sub-section (1). Section 158BFA(2): (2) The Assessing Officer or the Commissioner (Appeals) in the course of any proceedings under this Chapter, may direct that a person shall pay by way of penalty a sum which shall not be less than the amount of tax leviable but which shall not exceed three times the amount of tax so leviable in respect of the undisclosed income determined by the Assessing Officer under clause (c) of section 158BC: Provided that no order imposing penalty shall be made in respect of a person if- (i) such person has furnished a return under clause (a) of section 158BC; (ii) the tax payable on the basis of such return has been paid or, if the assets seized consist of money, the assessee offers the money so seized to be adjusted against the tax payable. (iii) Evidence of tax paid is furnished along with the return; and (iv) An appeal is not filed against the assessment of that part of income which is shown in the return: Provided further that the provisions of the preceding proviso shall not apply where the undisclosed income determined by the Assessing Officer is i....
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