2019 (2) TMI 900 - AT - Income Tax

Penalty u/s 271AA - assessee failed to maintain adequate documentation in respect of international transaction entered into during year under consideration - Held that - Assessee failed to file Form 3 CEB within prescribed period, for which Ld.AO has separately imposed penalty under section 271BA. As observed that at time of assessment, AO was in possession of these documents, based upon which, assessment order has been passed by holding international transaction to be at arm s length. As perused Section 271AA of the Act, wherein penalty is leviable for failure to keep and maintain information and documents etc., in respect of international transaction or specified domestic transaction. In facts of present case, it is observed that assessee has maintained documents/information required as per section 92D of the Act, regarding international transaction, more particularly described under Rule 10 D of Income tax Rules 1962, which has been filed before the Ld.AO in Form 3CEB, vide letter dated 13/03/2014. Admittedly, AO accepted and took on record prescribed documents, that are submitted by assessee which forms part of paper book filed before us, more particularly placed at page 2- 152. Further, having regard to these documents AO, accepted international transaction entered into by assessee with its AE to be at arm s length price, and no adjustment whatsoever has been made. Ld.AO has not expressed any difficulty in examining correctness of price adopted by assessee in respect of international transaction with AE. Thus in our considered opinion there is no justification for imposition of penalty under section 271AA - Decided against revenue.

Summary

Issues:
Penalty under section 271AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 for failure to maintain adequate documentation in respect of international transactions.

Detailed Analysis:

Issue 1: Penalty under section 271AA
The case involved an appeal by the revenue against the deletion of a penalty under section 271AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The appellant argued that the penalty was justified as the assessee failed to maintain adequate documentation for international transactions. The Ld.CIT(A) had deleted the penalty, leading to the revenue's appeal.

Analysis:
The Ld.Sr.DR contended that the assessee did not file Form 3 CEB within the prescribed time, which led to the penalty imposition by the Ld.AO. However, the Ld.Counsel argued that the documentation provided by the assessee during the assessment proceedings was found to be sufficient, leading to the acceptance of the returned income under section 143(3) of the Act. The Ld.CIT(A) observed that the documents submitted by the assessee were adequate for completing the assessment proceedings. The penalty under section 271AA was deleted based on the sufficiency of the documentation and the acceptance of the returned income.

Issue 2: Compliance with Section 271AA
The tribunal analyzed whether the assessee complied with the requirements of section 271AA regarding the maintenance of information and documents for international transactions.

Analysis:
The tribunal noted that the assessee had maintained the necessary documents and information as per section 92D of the Act, regarding international transactions. These documents were submitted to the Ld.AO, who accepted them and considered the international transaction to be at an arm's length price. No adjustments were made, and the correctness of the price adopted was not questioned by the Ld.AO. As a result, the tribunal found no justification for imposing a penalty under section 271AA, upholding the decision of the Ld.CIT(A) to delete the penalty.

In conclusion, the tribunal dismissed the revenue's appeal, upholding the deletion of the penalty under section 271AA based on the adequacy of documentation and compliance with the statutory requirements for international transactions.