Vinubhai Mohanlal Dobaria Vs Chief Commissioner Of Income Tax 2025 INSC 155- S 276CC Income Tax Act - Compounding

Income Tax Act 1961 - Section 276CC & 139 - An offence under Section 276CC could be said to have been committed as soon as there is a failure on the part of the assessee in furnishing the return of income within the due time as prescribed under Section 139(1) of the Act. Subsequent furnishing of the return of income by the assessee within the time limit prescribed under sub-section (4) of Section 139 or before prosecution is initiated does not have any bearing upon the fact that an offence under Section 276CC has been committed on the day immediately following the due date for furnishing return of income -The point in time when the offence under Section 276CC could be said to be committed is the day immediately following the due date prescribed for filing of return of income under Section 139(1) of the Act, and the actual date of filing of the return of income at a belated stage would not affect in any manner the determination of the date on which the offence under Section 276CC of the Act was committed. (Para 36) - Referred to Prakash Nath Khanna v. CIT (2004) 9 SCC 686.

Income Tax Act 1961 - Section 279(2) -the provision is enabling in nature and cannot be construed as allowing the assessee to demand compounding as a matter of right. (Para 51)

Guidelines for Compounding of Offences under Direct Tax Laws, 2014 - Para 8 - Only those offences to be treated as the “first offence” which are committed by the assessee either prior to a notice that he is liable to prosecution under the Act for the commission of such offences or those offences which are voluntarily disclosed by the assessee to the Department before they come to be detected. The latter part of the definition of the expression “first offence” is not to curtail the scope of the first half but to expand its ambit by including those cases where the assessee comes forward on his own initiative and discloses the commission of the offence- The restrictions laid down in Paragraph 8 of the guidelines are although required to be generally followed, the guidelines do not exclude the possibility that in a peculiar case where the facts and circumstances so require, the competent authority cannot make an exception and allow the compounding application. (Para 73-79)