Offence Under Section 276CC Committed as Soon as There Is Failure on Part of Assessee in Filing ITR Within Due Date | SC

Case Details: Vinubhai Mohanlal Dobaria v. Chief Commissioner of Income-tax - [2025] 171 taxmann.com 268 (SC)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• J.B. Pardiwala & Sanjay Karol, JJ.

Facts of the Case

The assessee filed the return of income for assessment year 2011-12 after the due date. Subsequently, the Commissioner issued a show cause notice alleging violation under section 276CC. The notice stated that although the due date for filing the income tax return was 1-8-2011, the assessee had filed the same with a delay on 4-3-2013.

The assessee replied to the aforesaid show cause notice along with the application for compounding. Later, the assessee filed return of income for assessment year 2013-14, which was also filed after the due date. Consequently, he received another show cause notice as regards the launching of prosecution.

The Commissioner rejected the compounding application of the assessee on the ground that the offence committed by the assessee would not be covered by the expression “first offence” as defined in the 2014 guidelines.

The matter reached the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court Held

The Supreme Court held that after discussing the various methods of statutory interpretation, took the view that the legislative intent behind section 276CC, undoubtedly, was to restrict the meaning of the expression ”in due time” used in the said provision to the time period referred to in section 139(1) and not to the time period referred to in section 139(4).

The Supreme Court observed that by virtue of section 278E, the trial court has to presume the existence of a culpable mental state, and it would be open to the accused to plead the absence of the same in his defence. What is discernable from the decision is that an offence under section 276CC could be said to have been committed as soon as there is a failure on the part of the assessee in furnishing the return of income within the due time as prescribed under section 139(1).

Filing the return of income later within the time limit under Section 139(4) or before the initiation of prosecution does not change the fact that an offence under Section 276CC occurs on the day immediately after the due date for filing the return.

List of Cases Reviewed

• Vinubhai Mohanlal Dobaria v. Chief Commissioner of Income-tax [2017] 81 taxmann.com 60 (Gujarat)/[2017] 247 Taxman 253 (Gujarat) [para 82] reversed.
• Prakash Nath Khanna v. CIT (2004) 9 SCC 686 [para 44] followed.

List of Cases Referred to

• Prakash Nath Khanna v. CIT (2004) 9 SCC 686 (para 34)
• Y.P. Chawla v. M.P. Tiwari (1992) 2 SCC 672 (para 52).