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2023 (6) TMI 483 - AT - Income TaxPenalty u/s 271B - Delay in filing the tax audit report - delay occurred due to the Accountant leaving the job abruptly and it took time for the new Accountant to finalize the accounts - As per assessee he is regular in filing its tax audit report meeting the due dates this year i.e. AY 2017-18 is the exceptional year where tax audit report could not be furnished on/before due date due to uncontrollable circumstances - HELD THAT:- The assessee submitted that the delay occurred due to the Accountant leaving the job abruptly in the month of February, 2017 and the assessee could appoint new Accountant after a gap of three months and, therefore, the delay occurred due to the Accountant leaving the job abruptly and it took time for the new Accountant to finalize the accounts. We observe that there is no dispute on this fact - delay is not willful and it was occurred only due to the Accountant leaving the job. We also further observed that this is the only year where there is a delay in getting the books of accounts audited u/s 44AB of the Act. On perusal of the acknowledgements and tax audit reports for preceding previous year and also for subsequent years i.e. AY 2015-16 and 2016-17, AY 2018-19 and 2019-20, we find that the assessee has been filing the tax audit report in time. Therefore, we hold that there is a reasonable cause in not getting the books of accounts audited u/s 44AB within the due date specified for the assessment year under consideration. In the case on hand the tax audit report was filed on 08.03.2018, the return was field on 09.03.2018 and the assessment was completed on 30.12.2019 on which date the tax audit report was very much before the Assessing Officer. Further the assessment was completed accepting the loss returned by the assessee. Thus, as relying on P. SENTHIL KUMAR [2019 (1) TMI 222 - MADRAS HIGH COURT we hold that the assessee is prevented with reasonable cause in getting the books of accounts audited u/s 44AB of the Act within the due date specified - Decided in favour of assesee.
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