Hi,
Iam the Proprietor of a small company (5~7 people) and have been filing returns from FY05~06 onwards.
In FY08~09 my turnover touched 48Lacs and had to undergo a tax audit.
My IT returns have been filed upto FY09~10. <<<all well so far>>>
Due to reasons of being busy with product developments, project work and travelling, I could not pay much attention to filing my ITR (FY10~11 and 11~12), neither could my CA for want of complete data.
Since July this year, I have been continuously following up with my CA, furnished all balance data, cleared all suspense accounts to prepare for filing my ITR with interest and a "nominal" penalty for delayed filing
After preparing my balance sheet, we realised this is again a tax audit case (turnover approx. 65lacs) and my CA explains that this attracts a penalty of atleast 1 lac or more depending on the officer... which came as a rude shock to me.
At this juncture, I have the following thoughts...
1. In the first place, I am an engineer and not a Tax specialist/accountant/lawyer, in which case I would've known the Indian legal/tax laws fairly well (and not got into trouble so easily)
2. Genuinely, I was never aware that the penalty could be so high (I felt it like a "punishment for crime" committed) and no one told me about this so far...
3. This is my first time that I have offended the IT dept. (by delaying the ITR)... isn't there a provision, legal /or otherwise for pardoning/or reducing the penalty to a lesser amount?
4. I agree that if I repeat the "offence" in the future, I can be categorized as a repeat offender, and then they can hold me 100% responsible.
5. Is it worth talking to an IT officer about my case and asking for a pardon?
Pls advise...
Thank you for your kind reply,
CAclubindia
