Glimpses of Supreme Court Rulings

9. Cutler Hammer Provident Fund Trust vs. Income Tax Officer

(2025) 478 ITR 235 (SC)

Penalty for filing the return of income in wrong form – High Court dismissed the petition against penalty with a liberty to seek rectification of the same under section 154 to file the return in correct form – Supreme Court clarified that the application may be decided expeditiously

The assessee filed its return of income for the assessment year 2013-14 on 30.03.2014. The case was processed u/s 143(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, on 17.03.2015, creating a demand of ₹68,36,280/-. It was noticed that the Petitioner has filed ITR Form 7 u/s. 139(4A) due to which it was treated as defective as the same was filed in wrong ITR form and section which was not applicable in the case of the assessee. The intimation regarding the defective ITR was sent by CPC to the assessee as could be seen from the CPC 2.0 portal Tax Department. Since the assessee did not respond, the said return had been transferred to the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer. The ITR was then processed by the Assessing officer but as the same was filed under wrong ITR form and section, the exemption was denied and a demand was created.

A penalty notice dated 18.7.2022 was issued u/s. 221(1) of the Income