TIRMULA SURYA KUMARI,SRIKAKULAM vs. INCOME TAX OFFICER, WARD-1, SRIKAKULAM

ITA 745/VIZ/2025Status: DisposedITAT Visakhapatnam25 February 2026AY 2012-135 pages

AI SummaryAllowed

Facts

The assessee appealed against a penalty levied under section 271(1)(c) of the Income Tax Act. The primary contention was that the penalty notice was ambiguous, failing to specify whether the penalty was for concealment of income or filing inaccurate particulars. Additionally, it was noted that the assessment order upon which the penalty was based had been set aside by the ITAT in a prior appeal.

Held

The Tribunal held that since the assessment order itself was set aside, the additions made therein would not survive, and consequently, the penalty levied on those additions would also not survive. The Tribunal also found merit in the argument that the penalty notice lacked clarity by not specifying the exact limb under section 271(1)(c) under which the penalty was proposed.

LOKIREDDI RAMA cn=LOKIREDDI RAMA c=IN 0=INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL ou=INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL 2026-02-26 11:47+05:30 Sr. Private Secretary ITAT, Visakhapatnam", "summary": {"facts": "The assessee filed an appeal against a penalty order passed under section 271(1)(c) of the Income Tax Act. The original assessment order on which the penalty was based was set aside by the ITAT. The assessee argued that the penalty notice was ambiguous as it did not specify the limb under which the penalty was being levied.", "held": "The Tribunal observed that the original assessment order had been set aside by the ITAT. Therefore, the addition itself would not survive, and consequently, the penalty levied on the assessment would also not survive. The Tribunal also noted that the penalty notice was ambiguous, not specifying whether the penalty was for concealment of income or filing inaccurate particulars.", "result": "Allowed", "sections": ["271(1)(c)"], "issues": "Whether the penalty order is valid when the underlying assessment order has been set aside and the penalty notice is ambiguous?"}} ambiguous."}} }}