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TMI Blog2024 (10) TMI 926X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... engaged in the business of sale and purchase of foreign currency duly authorized by Reserve Bank of India since 2004 having license No.FE.DEL.FFMC./355/2004 3. The AO noted that the assessee company being an authorized person as referred to in section 2(c) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 and registered vide ITDREIN was required to file the statement of financial transactions(SFT) for reportable account under SFT Code-008 as per Rule-114E of the I.T. Rules, 1962, for which the due date for financial year 2017-18 was 31.05.2018. Since, the assessee company failed to file the SFT by due date, notice u/s 285BA(5) was issued thorough mail on 30.01.2019 and 20.05.2019 seeking it to furnish SFT on or before 10.02.2019 and 20.05.2019. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... us. 5.1. The assessee filed a written submission as appearing on page no.1 to 11 of the Paper Book and made the following submissions:- "8. Brief contention 9. The primary contention of the assessee is that the penalty u/s 271FA shall not be imposed on the assessee as a. The assessee was unaware of the requirement of filing of form SFT b. The portal of the assessee was not working properly due to which there was delay in filing the same and also it could only be filled manually. 10. The main intend of the government to introduce Section 285BA was- "The accumulation of black money poses a huge threat to the Indian economy. As a result, the Indian government has launched a number of steps to combat such actions. In 2003, the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... id form online after he was made aware of the legal requirement to comply with SFT requirement, however due to issues in portal, he could not file the same electronically. 15. The assessee had finally submitted the said form vide manual letter dated 09th August, 2019, The copy of the same is enclosed here with the paper book. 16. The appellant has no intention to escape submission of SFT Report of the relevant year and the same could not be submitted due to lack of proper guidance by the commercial adviser hired by assessee about the newly implemented provisions and technicalities involved in filing the SFT Form. Further there was technical issue due to which submission of SFT Report online has become impossible due to which SFT Reporti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hanges and amendments that it is not possible for even a person specialising in this field, including the tax administrator, to claim that he knows what exactly the law is on a particular given day or period without making references to the history of the enactments. In these circumstances, no mala fides can be attributed to the assessee so as to invoke the penalty proceedings under section 271FA of the Act and the learned Director of Income Tax (Intelligence and Criminal investigation) should have taken note that the breach is only technical or venial breach of the provisions of the Act and such a breach could have flown from a bonafide ignorance of the assessee that he is liable to act in the manner prescribed by the statute, and should n ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ax administrator, to claim that he knows what exactly the law is on a particular given day or period without making references to the history of the enactments. * In these circumstances, no mala fides can be attributed to the assessee so as to invoke the penalty proceedings under section 271FA of the Act and the Director (Intelligence and Criminal investigation) should have taken note that the breach is only technical or venial breach of the provisions of the Act and such a breach could have flown from a bona fide ignorance of the assessee that he is liable to act in the manner prescribed by the statute, and should not have invoked the penalty proceedings. Therefore, penalty proceedings are liable to be set aside." 5.2. The ld. DR suppor ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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