2011 (4) TMI 1541 - AT - Income Tax

Summary

Issues involved: Appeal against penalty u/s 271FA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 for failure to furnish Annual Information Report (AIR) within prescribed time.

Summary:
1. The appellant, a Sub-Registrar's office, failed to furnish the AIR for the financial year 2008-09 within the prescribed time. Penalty u/s 271FA was levied by the Director of Income-tax (CIB) for non-compliance for the years 2006-07 and 2007-08 as well.

2. Appellant's Grounds:
- The appellant believed that filing the AIR on the date of hearing was sufficient compliance and that no further explanation was required.
- Ignorance of electronic filing procedures and in-house facilities led to the delay in filing AIR.
- Claimed reasonable cause under section 273B of the Act for non-compliance.

3. Rival Submissions:
- Revenue contended that the authority failed to comply with the Act by not filing AIR in time and did not provide a reasonable cause for the delay.
- Argued that the appeal directly to the Tribunal was not maintainable as per previous decisions.

4. The Tribunal found that the appeal directly before them was not maintainable as the first appeal should have been made to the CIT(A) as per precedent. Advised the appellant to file a proper appeal before the CIT(A) if desired.

5. Decision:
- The appeal filed by the assessee was dismissed by the Tribunal for being directly filed before them and not following the proper appeal process.

6. The order was pronounced on 12.4.2011.