ADDITIONAL COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX Vs. HARI SAH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) FOR the assessment year 1967-68, the assessee filed a return of Rs. 21,628. He then filed a revised return showing an income of Rs. 32,244. The ITO assessed him on a total income of Rs. 59,513 which was reduced in appeal to Rs. 47,753. The increase in the assessed income was largely because of several items of losses having been disallowed.

(2.) FINDING that the returned income was less than 80% of the assessed income the ITO referred the case to the IAC for consideration whether it was a fit case for imposition of penalty. The Commissioner, after hearing the assessee, levied a penalty of Rs. 30,000 because the difference in the assessed and returned income was Rs. 27,269.

(3.) SECTION 271 makes one liable to penalty on failure to furnish the return or comply with the notices or for concealment of income or furnishing inaccurate particulars of such income. When one either conceals or furnishes inaccurate particulars of his income, Clause (c) is at once attracted and the liability to penalty accrues to the assessee. An assessee is liable to file a return of his total income for each assessment year. An individual assessee may have several sources of income but the liability to assessment of tax depends upon the total income. Under the Income-tax Act, the total income of an assessee is the assessable unit, not the individual sources, separately or independently. In the present case, the assessee had income from the business of Indian Oil products, from shares in several partnership firms and also from the business of running a taxi and a truck. He filed a return of Rs. 21,628 in the first instance and a return of Rs. 32,244 as a revised return. These amounts represented his total income from the various sources.