TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (2) TMI 1721
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....e by this common order. 3. First, we shall take up the appeal of the assessee in ITA No.935/PUN/2024 for A.Y. 2017-18. ITA No.935/PUN/2024, A.Y. 2017-18 : 4. The appellant has raised the following grounds of appeal :- "1. The learned Commissioner of Income Tax is not justified in levying penalty u/s 270A of Rs. 1,71,616/- on the ground that the assessee had under reported and mis reported his income. In consequence of misreporting without appreciating that the said levy of penalty was not justified in law. 2. The learned Commissioner of Income Tax failed to appreciate that before the Commissioner of Income Tax, the assessee had duly explained that under reporting of income in his case was attributable to wrong act....
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....f Rs. 8,64,740/- after claiming deduction of Rs. 1,55,300/- under Chapter VI-A. The assessment was completed u/s 147 of the IT Act on 26.02.2021 by accepting the income returned in response to notice u/s 148 of the IT Act. Subsequently, vide order dated 01.03.2022 the Assessing Officer imposed penalty of Rs. 1,71,616/- u/s 270A of the IT Act for misreported income by observing as under :- "7. The submissions made by the assessee have been perused and considered. However, they are not tenable and are unsatisfactory. Hence, this case is considered to be a fit case for levying penalty u/s 270A of the I.T. Act, 1961. As per the provisions of section 270A of the Act, the assessee is liable for penalty @ 200% of the tax payable on the mi....
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....o legally calculate lower tax, resulting in refund of TDS deducted by employer. The assessee was unaware about the contents of the Income Tax Return filed by Kishor Patil & truly believed that the returns are filed legally as per the provisions of the Income Tax Act. The assessee being from technical background does not understand ABCD of Income Tax & therefore completely relied on the above named tax consultant, who without informing him & others, claimed excess deduction under chapter VI-A of the IT Act & claimed refund. It was Kishor Patil who cheated all the employees & claimed excess deduction in their returns without informing them for his own benefit. When the fact that this kind of fraud was made in the name of number of persons all....
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....rs that the Assessing Officer himself is not sure about the particular limb under which the penalty is imposed. In such kind of situation, we find support from the decision of Co-ordinate Bench of this Tribunal in the case of Shashikant Sukdeo Ambekar in ITA No.365 & 366/PUN/2023 dated 20-07-2023 wherein under identical facts and similar circumstances the Tribunal has deleted the penalty u/s 270A by observing as under : - "8. In the case under consideration, the AO has failed to identify the specific Clauses from Clause (a-f) of section 270A(9) of the Act. Therefore, respectfully following ITAT Pune and ITAT Mumbai decisions the AO is directed to delete the penalty under section 270A of the Act. Accordingly, grounds of appeal raise....