Income Tax--Penalties

Penalty for Under Reporting and Misreporting of Income

V.K. Subramani

When a taxpayer admits income liable for income-tax it is normally accepted on self-assessment basis, which means the income self-assessed by the assessee, is accepted. But it may so happen that due to various reasons, the total income is sought to be determined later in an assessment which may get triggered under sections 143 or 144 or 147 of the Act. When the income is determined so by the assessing authority and there is upward revision of income, the tax payer may be subjected to penalty for not having admitted the correct income previously on voluntary basis. Here the act of the taxpayer may be called as either as under reporting of income or as misreporting of income.