Gujarat High Court holds No Concealment Penalty Without Tax Sought to Be Evaded

An assessee disclosed additional income in a return filed following a Section 153C notice and paid the tax. The Tribunal restored the penalty by relying on the assessee’s failure to disclose the income in an earlier return. The Gujarat High Court held that the earlier pending returns had abated under the search-assessment framework and, in the absence of any difference between tax payable and tax paid, the statutory basis for concealment penalty was absent.