Penalty under sec 271 cannot be imposed if payment of tax with interest made within the time limit of notice of demand under sec 156 before the penalty proceeding concluded

Court :
INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL

Brief :
We find that under the scheme of Section 271 AAA, there is a complete paradigm shift so far as penalty in respect of unaccounted income unearthed as a result of search operation carried out on or after 1st June 2007 is concerned. Unlike in the case of penalty under section 271(1)(c), Section 271 AAA, without any reference to findings or presumptions of concealment of income or the findings or presumptions of furnishing of inaccurate particulars, provides that in respect of unaccounted income in the cases where search initiated after 1st June 2007, the assessee is to pay a penalty @ 10% of unaccounted income. Sub section 2 of Section 271 AAA, however, relaxes the rigour of this penalty provision in a situation in which (i) in the course of the search, in a statement under section 132(4), admits the undisclosed income and specifies the manner in which such income has been derived; (ii) substantiates the manner in which the undisclosed income was derived; and (iii) pays the tax, together with interest, if any, in respect of the undisclosed income. While payment of taxes, along with interest, by the assessee is one of the conditions precedent for availing the immunity under section 271AAA(2), there is no time limit set out for such payments by the assessee. Once a time limit for payment of tax and interest has not been set out by the statute, it cannot indeed be open to the Assessing Officer to read such a time limit into the scheme of the Section or to infer one. There is thus no legally sustainable basis for the stand of the Assessing Officer that in a situation in which due tax and interest has not been paid in full before filing of the relevant income tax return, the assessee will not be eligible for immunity under section 271 AAA(2).

Citation :
Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax Central Circle III, Kolkata ………………….Appellant Vs.Pioneer Marbles & Interiors Pvt. Ltd …………….…Respondent Rawdon Enclave, 10 A Rawdon Street Kolkata 700 017 (PAN: AACCP7501J)