2012 (11) TMI 801 - AT - Income Tax

Addition on account of Unexplained cash credit u/s 68 - Assessee could not furnish the requisite confirmations from the two creditors before AO Held that - As the assessee had produced necessary confirmation along with pass book & ROI s before CIT(A) and AO also submit remand report on the same. There is no material or cogent reasoning made out by the Revenue with regard to the material on the basis of which the addition has been deleted. Issue decides in favour of assessee Addition on account of promissory notes/hundi u/s 69D AO argued that amount has been borrowed in cash on a hundi, which were found in the course of search u/s 132 Held that - As the CIT(A) has concluded that promissory note in question is in the same language and form, as was considered by the Tribunal in the case of Himalaya Distributors (2008 (12) TMI 272 - ITAT PUNE-B) and, therefore, he concluded that having regard to the material in question, Sec 69D could not be invoked, since the documents found were not hundis . The assessee representative has not referred to any material which would require us to depart from the aforesaid findings. Issue decides against revenue

Summary

Issues:
1. Addition of Rs 15 lakhs under section 68 of the Income-tax Act, 1961.
2. Disallowance of interest expenditure of Rs 1,96,242.
3. Addition of Rs 5,05,000 under section 69D of the Act.

Issue 1: Addition of Rs 15 lakhs under section 68 of the Income-tax Act, 1961:
The Revenue appealed against the deletion of an addition of Rs 15 lakhs made by the Assessing Officer as unexplained cash credits under section 68 of the Act. The Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) deleted the addition after considering fresh evidence, including confirmation letters from the creditors. The Commissioner directed the Assessing Officer to conduct necessary enquiries, which revealed that the credits were explained. The Tribunal upheld the Commissioner's decision, noting that the necessary confirmations were provided, and no adverse comments were made by the Assessing Officer on the documents submitted. The Tribunal affirmed the deletion of the addition, as the Revenue failed to provide material to challenge the decision.

Issue 2: Disallowance of interest expenditure of Rs 1,96,242:
The Assessing Officer disallowed interest expenditure due to unexplained loans. However, after the deletion of the addition under section 68, the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) also set aside the disallowance of interest expenditure. The Tribunal affirmed this decision, as it was based on the acceptance of the genuineness of the loans, which were previously questioned.

Issue 3: Addition of Rs 5,05,000 under section 69D of the Act:
The Assessing Officer made an addition under section 69D based on documents found during a search, alleging loans were taken in contravention of the Act. The Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) deleted the addition, stating that the documents did not meet the criteria of a hundi as required by section 69D. The Tribunal upheld this decision, citing precedents and finding no grounds to challenge the Commissioner's conclusion. The Revenue's appeal was dismissed on this ground as well.

In conclusion, the Tribunal dismissed the Revenue's appeal, upholding the decisions of the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) in deleting the additions under sections 68 and 69D, and setting aside the disallowance of interest expenditure. The judgments were based on thorough assessments of the evidence and legal provisions, with no sufficient grounds presented by the Revenue to overturn the decisions.