No Penalty for discrepancy in salary figure between Form No. 16 and 26AS

For discrepancy in salary figure between Form No. 16 and 26AS it cannot be said that the assessee has concealed amount or furnished inaccurate particulars of income – ITAT

ABCAUS Case Law Citation:
ABCAUS 2737 (2019) (01) ITAT

During scrutiny proceedings u/s 143(3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (the Act), the Assessing Officer (AO) noticed that as per 26AS, the assessee, apart from salary had also received commission and also the salary amount as per form 26AS was more than the amount declared in the return.

Since there is no response from the assessee in respect of the discrepancy between Form 26AS and Form 16, AO completed the assessment u/s 144 of the Act bringing the entire receipts as per 26AS and initiated penalty proceedings u/s 271(1)(c) of the Act and levied penalty.

Aggrieved, assessee preferred an appeal before the CIT(A), who upheld the AO’s decision and dismissed the appeal. Aggrieved, assessee filed the instant appeal before the Tribunal.

The assessee submitted that the assessee while filing return of income, relied upon the figure of salary income as mentioned in salary certificate in Form No. 16 issued by the employer.

It was pointed out that there was a difference between Form No. 26AS and Form 16 despite both were provided by the same employer.

It was contended that as the assessee admitted income as per Form 16, it cannot be said that such difference represents concealment.

The Tribunal opined that with regard to salary, there was a difference between amounts as per Form No. 16 and Form No. 26AS and both were provided by the employer and the assessee has filed his return of income in accordance with Form No.16 issued by the employer.

The Tribunal held that in view of the above facts, it could not be said that the assessee had concealed amount or furnished inaccurate particulars of income.

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