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Judgment
PER SANJAY AWASTHI, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER:
The present appeal arises from order dated 10.11.2025, passed u/s 250 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereafter as “the Act”), by Ld. CIT(A)-NFAC, Delhi. In this case, the assessee has been levied with a penalty u/s 272A(2)(g) of the Act on account of late issue of TDS Certificate for the first quarter of FY 2013-14. The Ld. AO has held that the assessee did not file any justification for the delay and therefore the said penalty was clearly leviable on him.
The assessee approached the Ld. CIT(A) where also he could not succeed since the Ld. CIT(A) was not convinced that a delay of 731 days was not something that could be easily condoned. Thereafter, the penalty of Rs.73,100/- was confirmed.
The aggrieved assessee has approached the ITAT and has challenged the impugned penalty. Before us the Ld. AR argued that the assessee had good and sufficient reason for the delay which was also regretted. The Ld. AR made a statement at the Bar that the assessee is a Charitable Trust and was relying on a part time Accountant for making the necessary compliances before the Income Tax Authorities. It was the submission that the trustees depended exclusively on this Accountant for making the necessary compliances and any breach of Section 203 of the Act was unintentional and without any malafide motive. The Ld. AR relied on a number of judgments and prayed for consideration u/s 273B of the Act.
The Ld. DR relied on the orders of the authorities below.
We have carefully considered the rival submissions and have gone through the record before us. It is seen that indeed a default has occurred to the extent that the TDS Certificate have not been deposited in time. However, the legislature in its wisdom, has provided and opportunity for relief in such cases, u/s 273B of the Act. Considering the totality of facts and circumstances of the case and the arguments before us, we find that this case would be covered under “reasonable cause” as envisaged u/s 273B of the Act. We, accordingly, direct the penalty to be deleted.
In the result, the appeal is allowed.