I-T department appeal against actress Trisha dismissed

Upholding the orders of Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) (CIT) and Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), in this regard, the First Bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar, said, “The assessee (Trisha) is not guilty of deliberate concealment of income and is not liable to be mulcted with penalty under Section 271(1)(c) of the IT Act.”

As per the case, Trisha filed her return of income for assessment year 2010-2011 on September 25, 2010, declaring an income of Rs 89.69 lakh. Subsequently, she filed a revised return on March 30, 2012, admitting a total income of Rs 4.41 crore. In the original return filed, the advances received by her had not been shown as income in the said assessment year. But the same was set out in the balance sheet filed by her with the Income Tax Department.

Trisha had submitted that since she was under the belief that it is not necessary to show the advances received in the said assessment year as income as she may have to return the advances received, if ultimately, she is not able to perform her work for one reason or the other. However, in the light of the order of the CIT in the previous assessment years, she decided to file the revised return and showed the advances as income in the same assessment year.

Based on the advances not being shown and failure to show proof of deduction and remittance of TDS, the Income Tax Department through an order on September 24, 2013, imposed a penalty of Rs 1.16 crore under 271(1)(c) of the IT Act.

However, both CIT and ITAT, before whom the issue was taken, concluded that disallowance qua TDS was an error by the accountant and advances not being shown was not deliberate suppression or concealment of income. Following this, the Income Tax Department moved an appeal in the High Court.