2011 (5) TMI 1010 - AT - Income Tax

Summary

Issues involved: Appeal against sustaining penalty u/s 271(1)(b) of the Income-tax Act for Assessment Year 2006-07.

Issue 1: Sustaining penalty u/s 271(1)(b) of the Act

The assessee failed to comply with notices issued u/s 143(2) and 142(1) of the Act, leading to a penalty of Rs. 10,000 imposed by the Assessing Officer (AO) u/s 271(1)(b) of the Act. The CIT(A) upheld the penalty citing lack of reasonable cause for non-compliance. The assessee contended that the failure to respond was due to genuine reasons, including the AR's termination and the assessee's hospitalization. The Tribunal noted that the onus is on the assessee to show reasonable cause for non-compliance. Relying on precedents, the Tribunal found that since all relevant details were submitted during assessment proceedings and the assessment was completed u/s 143(3) without attributing any default to the assessee, the penalty was unjustified. Therefore, the penalty u/s 271(1)(b) was cancelled, allowing ground no.1 in the appeal.

Issue 2: General ground in the appeal

Ground no.2, being general in nature, did not require separate adjudication. No additional grounds were raised, leading to the dismissal of ground no. 3 in the appeal.

In conclusion, the Tribunal allowed the appeal, cancelling the penalty imposed u/s 271(1)(b) of the Act. The order was pronounced on 31-05-2011.