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2019 (8) TMI 312 - HC - Wealth-taxPenalty u/s 18(1)(c) of the Wealth Tax Act - alleged that the assessee would have escaped from payment of wealth tax - HELD THAT:- CIT(A) proceeded to affirm the orders passed by the AO levying penalty by referring to the amendment to the Statute, which came into force with effect from 01.4.1997. To be noted that the assessments under consideration are for the years 1997-98 and 1998-99 and the assessee's specific case was that they were under the bona fide belief that the house property would not fall within the definition of the term 'asset' as defined u/s 2(ea)(i) of the Act. It is not in dispute that in the case on hand, the assessee did not file the return. In the first instance, notice was issued u/s 17(1) and only thereafter, the return was filed. This, according to the assessee, was because of their bona fide belief that the property would not fall within the definition of the term 'asset' as defined under Section 2(ea)(1). If at all the AO imposes penalty under Section 18(1)(c), by referring to Explanation 3, the AO should have rendered a finding that there was no reasonable cause shown by the assessee so as to invoke the deeming provision. As rightly pointed out by the Tribunal, there was no such finding by the CIT(A). We also find that there was no such specific finding rendered by the Assessing Officer as well. Thus, in the absence of any proof to show that there was an attempt on the part of the assessee to conceal the particulars or to furnish inaccurate particulars, the levy of penalty was not justified. - Decided against the Revenue
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