Law:

Section:

Section 271(1)(a) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Penalty - For late filing of return - Assessee filed return as well as application for extension of time after due date for filing return - ITO neither verified from record whether application for extension was filed nor asked assessee to produce relevant evidence and levied penalty under section 271(1)(a) - Tribunal found that application was filed but it still upheld penalty order holding that ITO was not obliged to consider application filed after said due date - Whether tribunal was right - Held, on facts, no FACTS For the assessment year 1970-71, the assessee filed its return of income late by about four months, and had claimed before the ITO that it had applied in Form No. 6 an application for extension of time for filing the return. The ITO, without verifying from his record whether the application in Form No. 6 had been filed and without asking the assessee to produce evidence in that respect, held that the assessee had not explained this delay and levied penalty for the delay in filing return under section 271(1)(a). The AAC upheld the ITO's order. The Tribunal found that the impugned application had been filed after the last date for filing the return and held that the ITO was not under any obligation to consider the belated application. The Tribunal recorded its own finding that the assessee had no valid reason for the delay, and upheld the AAC's order. On reference : HELD 1. The non-consideration of the application in Form No. 6 by the ITO was unjustified since neither section 139 nor rule 13 provides that no application can be filed after the due date for filing the return. On the contrary. Form No. 6 itself postulates that such an application could be filed after the expiry of the time to file the return. Further, the ITO's conclusion that the assessee had produced no evidence in that respect was improper. He should have tried to find out from his record if the application was there, and should have taken into consideration the application which in fact had been filed. 2. It is well settled that before the imposition of penalty, the taxing authorities must be satisfied that the delay was without…

Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in /home/digixyei/sldsystempk.com/view/master-layout/view_case.php on line 492