In a recent development, a woman was convicted and sentenced to six months' imprisonment by a Delhi Court for her failure to file an income tax return on a substantial income of Rs two crores. The case originated from a complaint lodged by the Income Tax Office (ITO), alleging that the accused had received Rs two crore during the financial year 2013-14, with TDS (tax deducted at source) of Rs two lakh, yet failed to file a return of income for the assessment year 2014-15.
What did the court say?
The sentencing was handed down by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Mayank Mittal after careful consideration of submissions and examination of the case's facts and circumstances. "The convict is awarded a sentence of simple imprisonment for six months with a fine of Rs 5,000 and in default to undergo simple imprisonment for one month," ACMM Mittal said in the order passed on March 4.
30 days to challenge the order
Despite the conviction, the court granted the accused 30 days' bail to contest the order. Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Arpit Batra emphasised that the significance of imposing a sentence on a convict lies not solely in the amount of tax evaded but also in the intent behind the provision. This underscores the importance of upholding tax compliance laws to ensure fairness and integrity in the financial system.
It was also submitted that the purpose of the provision is deterrence among the persons liable to pay the tax to file their return of income in time and to pay the tax accordingly. He also submitted that a maximum amount of imprisonment should be awarded to the convict and a substantial amount of fine should also be imposed. On the other hand, counsel for the convict submitted that the sentence awarded to the convict should concern the social circumstances of the convict and the condition of the convict at the time of the commission of a crime and at the time of imposing of sentence.
ITO issued a letter in 2017
It was submitted that the convict is a widow lady and uneducated. There is no one in the family of convicts to take care of the family except the convict only. As per the Prosecution, a letter on September 11, 2017, was issued by the ITO to the convict for verification of data on whether the income tax return was filed for the assessment year 2014-15 or not, however, the accused failed to file a reply.
A notice dated January 10, 2018, under Section 142(1) of The Income Tax Act, 1961 (IT Act ) was issued to the accused with direction to furnish the return of assessment year 2014-15, however, no compliance was made by the assessee / accused, the Prosecution said Thereafter, ITO issued a notice on January 22, 2018, under Section 271F of The IT Act to the accused for non-filing of the return and further accused had not bothered to reply to the same.
(With ANI inputs)
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