Smt. Shanti Devi vs Income Tax Officer, Ward-1(5)

PER MANISH AGARWAL, AM:

This appeal is filed by the Assessee against the order of the Ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi [‘Ld. CIT(A)’ in short], in Appeal No. NFAC/2018-19/10397076 dated 30.09.2025 passed u/s 250 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (‘the Act’ in short) for Asst. Year 2019-20.

None appeared on behalf of the assessee.

On the other hand, the Ld. SR. DR supports the order of the Ld. CIT(A) and submits that assessee has not made compliance to the statutory notice issued u/s 142(1) of the Act before the AO, therefore, he is liable to penalty u/s 272A(1)(d) of the Act. He thus prayed for the confirmation of the penalty levied u/s 272A(1)(d) of the Act.

Heard the Ld. Sr. DR and perused the materials available on record. It is true that assessee has not appeared before the AO and failed to make compliance on two occasions, however, it was submitted by the assessee before Ld. CIT(A) that she is residing in Village –Dariapur Rajdev Chokuni-Sambhai and is illiterate and since her total income is below the maximum amount of basic exemption limit, she was not obliged to file the return of income. The notices issued by the AO through online mode, however as the assessee neither have any mail id nor registered her PAN and never visited the online portal thus was not aware of the pending assessment proceeding, therefore, even the assessment order was passed ex-parte. Under these facts, the assessee prayed for the deletion of the penalty before the Ld. CIT(A) who after considering the submissions made, deleted the penalty of Rs.10,000/- and confirmed the penalty of Rs.10,000/- u/s 272A(1)(d) of the Act for non-compliance of the statutory notices.

It is further observed that the AO his served the notices though mail-ID [email protected], however such mail-ID was not belonged to assessee as according to the assessee her PAN was never registered online portal. In view of these facts, we direct the AO to delete the penalty levied of Rs.10,000/- for non-compliance of the notices u/s 142(1) of the Act. Both the grounds of appeal are thus allowed.

In the result, the appeal of the assessee is allowed.