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2022 (9) TMI 1391 - AT - Income TaxPenalty u/s 271(1)(b) - notice issued on wrong person u/s 142(1) - HELD THAT:- Notice were admittedly issued and served upon one Shri Chaitanya Kochar, who was neither a Director nor a Shareholder or the Principal Officer of the assessee company. Shri Chaitanya Kochar and his family members, as per the Departmental record, were directors of a group of bogus companies engaged in providing accommodation entries. As relevant to mention that the appeals are against the imposition of penalty u/s.271(1)(b) which talks of imposing penalty for non-compliance with the notice issued by the Department under certain sections including section 142(1). Merits of the additions become irrelevant insofar as the question of issuance of notice and the consequential penalty u/s.271(1)(b) is concerned. It goes without saying that notice u/s.142(1) needs to be properly served on the assessee who is required to submit his reply. If notice is served on a wrong person, who is not authorized to receive the same, it cannot be said that the assessee is at fault in not responding to such notice. As apparent from the factual panorama recorded above that the notices were issued by the AO on a person who was not authorized to receive them on behalf of the assessee company. In such circumstances, there can be no question of imposing or confirming any penalty u/s.271(1)(b) - We delete the penalty for all the years under consideration. Decided in favour of assessee.
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