Section 148 Return Alone Does Not Attract Section 270A Penalty

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  • Last Updated on 22 June, 2026

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Penalty Under Section 270A

Case Details: ACIT vs. Nawazuddin Nawabuddin Siddiqui - [2026] 186 taxmann.com 876 (Mumbai - Trib.) [18-05-2026]

Judiciary and Counsel Details

  • Om Prakash Kant, Judicial Member & Ms Kavitha Rajagopal, Accountant Member
  • R.S. Modi, AR for the Appellant. 
  • Vijay Kumar Soni, CIT DR for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

The assessee had not filed a return of income for AY 2019-20. Based on information available on the Insight Portal regarding substantial transactions, including the purchase of immovable property and other high-value transactions, the AO issued a notice under section 148. In response, the assessee filed his return, declaring a total income of Rs. 12.92 crore.

The AO completed the reassessment under section 147, read with section 144B, by accepting the income declared in the return without making any additions, disallowances, or variations. Subsequently, the AO initiated penalty proceedings under section 270A for under-reporting of income arising from misreporting and levied a penalty of 200% of the tax sought to be evaded.

On appeal, the CIT(A) deleted the penalty on the ground that the reassessed income was exactly the same as the income returned by the assessee and that the notice issued under section 274 read with section 270A did not specify whether the penalty was proposed for under-reporting or misreporting of income. Aggrieved by the order of the CIT(A), the Revenue preferred an appeal before the Tribunal.

The Tribunal observed that although the assessee had filed the return for the first time in response to a notice under section 148, the AO had accepted the returned income without making any additions or variations. The Tribunal further noted that the penalty notice issued by the AO was vague and failed to specify the exact charge, i.e., whether the penalty was for under-reporting or misreporting of income. Such an omnibus notice deprived the assessee of a proper opportunity to defend himself and reflected a non-application of mind by the AO.

ITAT Held

Accordingly, the Tribunal held that the penalty under section 270A was unsustainable. As the AO had accepted the returned income without any addition and had failed to specify the applicable limb of section 270A, the penalty was rightly deleted by the CIT(A). Consequently, the Revenue’s appeal was dismissed.

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Author: Taxmann

Taxmann Publications has a dedicated in-house Research & Editorial Team. This team consists of a team of Chartered Accountants, Company Secretaries, and Lawyers. This team works under the guidance and supervision of editor-in-chief Mr Rakesh Bhargava.

The Research and Editorial Team is responsible for developing reliable and accurate content for the readers. The team follows the six-sigma approach to achieve the benchmark of zero error in its publications and research platforms. The team ensures that the following publication guidelines are thoroughly followed while developing the content:

  • The statutory material is obtained only from the authorized and reliable sources
  • All the latest developments in the judicial and legislative fields are covered
  • Prepare the analytical write-ups on current, controversial, and important issues to help the readers to understand the concept and its implications
  • Every content published by Taxmann is complete, accurate and lucid
  • All evidence-based statements are supported with proper reference to Section, Circular No., Notification No. or citations
  • The golden rules of grammar, style and consistency are thoroughly followed
  • Font and size that's easy to read and remain consistent across all imprint and digital publications are applied