Tribunal held that the assessee got its books of accounts audited on March 28, 2014 and they were made available to the Assessing Officer and no prejudice had been caused to the Revenue. The assessee had only committed a technical or venial breach which did not create any loss to the exchequer as the audit report was available to the Assessing Officer before the completion of the assessment proceedings. Levy of penalty is held to be not justified . (AY. 2013-14)
Johns Biwheelers v. ACIT (2019) 70 ITR 325 (Cochin)(Trib.)
S. 271B : Penalty-Failure to get accounts audited–Audit report is made available before completion of assessment–No loss to revenue–Levy of penalty is held to be not valid. [S. 44AB]