"No Penalty
to be levied u/s 271D or 271E if there is reasonable cause :
As per Section 273B of Income Tax Act no penalty shall be levied if the failure
to comply with the provisions of section 269SS or 269T is due to some
reasonable cause. Now the question arises what can be a reasonable cause to
justify the violation of the provisions of section 269SS and 269T. Some of the
reasonable causes based upon judicial decisions are provided as follows:-
Repayment
or receipt of amount to partners:
If a partner introduces capital in cash in the firm or withdraws the same to
the tune of
Rs 20000 or in excess of Rs 20000, then Provisions of section 269SS or 269T
shall not be attracted as the introduction of capital or withdrawl from firm
cannot be called as loans or deposits.
Amount paid by firm to partners or vice versa- is payment to
self and doesnot partake the character of loan or deposits in general law.
Provisions of section 269SS are not applicable to such facts(
CIT v. Lokhpat Film Exchange (Cinema) [2008] 304 ITR 172 (Raj.)
Deposit
assessed as income, No penality can be imposed u/s 271D in such case: It was held by Jodhpur tribunal in Bajrang
Textiles v. Additional CIT [2009] 122 (JD.) 190 that where the A.O having treated the
impugned amount of deposit as income, he is precluded from treating the same
amount as deposit or loan for the purpose of section 269SS and levy penalty u/s
271D. The penalty ought to be cancelled.
Acceptance
or repayment through Journal entry donot attract section 269SS or
269T: Acceptence or repayment through
Journal Entry would not come within the ambit of the words ‘loans or
deposits’-section 269SS applies only where money passes from one person to
another by way of ‘loan or deposit’[CIT v.
Noida Toll Bridge Co. Ltd. 262 ITR 260 (Del.)]
A
genuine transaction made in an emergency, doesnot attract penalty u/s
271D: held in Mrs
Rupali R. Desai v. ACIT 88 ITD 76 (Mum.). In ITO v. Shree
Mahaveer Industries 82 TTJ 549 (Jd.) it was held that cash paid to meet medical treatment
expenditure in emergency, does not attract penalty u/s 271D.
In ITO v. Prabhulal Sahu [2006] 99
TTJ (Jd.) 177 it was held that Assessee was
not aware of provisions of section 269SS or 269T. His councel did not apprise
him about the provisions. No penalty u/s 271D shall be attracted.
Where Depositors
residing in rural areas are not having access to banking facility and are
ignorant of relevant provisions of law, it would constitute bonafide reasons
for payment in cash. (ACIT v. Vinman Finance &
Leasing Ltd. [2008] 306 ITR (AT) 377 (Visakha.)
Loan
given by relatives on Sunday for safe custody and for use in business. No
contravention of section 269SS takes place- ITO v. T.R. Rangarajan [2005] 279 ITR 587 (Mad.)
Cash Transaction made on Sunday. No penalty could be imposed in such a case.- ITO v. Narsing Ram
Ashok Kumar[1993] 47 ITD 38(Pat)
Transfer
of money exceeding Rs. 20000 by way of bank voucher instead of a/c payee cheque
or draft doesnot attract penalty u/s 271D as the transaction are through
banking channels only held in Asst. CIT v. Jag Vijay Auto Finance (p) Ltd.[2000] 68 TTJ (Jp) 44
Loan
in cash under compelling circumstances have been held to be reasonable
cause: Industrial Enterprises v. DCIT [2000] 68 TTJ (Hyd) 373
Where
the Lenders did not have any bank account which compelled the assessee to
accept the loan in cash. This has been considered as reasonable cause in Balaji
Traders v. DCIT [2001] 73 TTJ (Pune) 246.