TMI Blog1954 (11) TMI 57X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to comply with the provisions of section 18A (3) can be punished under the provisions of section 28 (1) of the said Act. Two persons, who were not previously assessed to income-tax, submitted returns of their income suo motu under the provisions of section 18A of the Income-tax Act. As those returns were submitted after the 13th day of March, the Income-tax authorities imposed certain penaltie ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the tax payable by him which he knows or had reason to believe to be untrue, the assessee shall be deemed to have deliberately furnished inaccurate particulars of his income, and the provisions of section 28, so far as may be, shall apply accordingly. Section 28(1)(c) declares that if a person has concealed the particulars of his income or deliberately furnished inaccurate particulars of such inco ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... otal income that renders him liable to punishment under section 28. He can be punished only (a) if he fails to furnish the return of his total income which he was required to furnish by notice given under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) of section 22 or section 34; or (b) if he fails to furnish the said return within the time allowed and in the manner required by the notice. Neither of these tw ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... plies the exclusion of another and it follows as a consequence that if a statute enumerates the circumstances under which liability to punishment is to arise, it can arise only if these circumstances exist and in no other. Again, where a statute imposes a tax which is in effect a penalty it should be strictly construed. If it is capable of two reasonable but contradictory constructions, one in fav ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... But the Court will not stretch the terms of taxing Acts in order to improve on the efforts of Parliament and to stop-gaps which are left open by the statutes. Tax avoidance is an evil, but it would be the beginning of much greater evils if the Courts were to overstretch the language of the statute in order to subject to taxation people of whom they disapproved. If the Legislature intended th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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