2018 (4) TMI 1752 - AT - Income Tax

Addition in respect of Advertisement expenses - HELD THAT - AO did not conduct any further inquiry. He simply proceeded to make the addition without ascertaining the genuineness or otherwise of these transactions. His inference of non-genuineness of the transactions was based simply on non-compliance by these two parties, whose complete particulars were with him. In case of non-compliance, the AO ought to have deputed Inspector or got the enquiry conducted by any other means before jumping to the conclusion of the non-genuineness of the transactions. It is further pertinent to note that additions were made in similar way in other years of the assessee company. Such an issue came up for consideration before the Tribunal in assessee s own case for the assessment years 2009-10 and 2011-12 has upheld the deletion of similar additions made in respect of Advertisement expenses incurred by the assessee for which notices were issued u/s 133(6) of the Act but no compliance was made. Since the facts and circumstances of the instant ground are mutatis mutandis similar, respectfully following the precedent, we uphold the impugned order in deleting this addition. Assessment u/s 153A - Addition u/s 14A - HELD THAT - On a pertinent query, the ld. AR could not produce a copy of the computation of income or its original assessment order, which was stated to have been passed u/s 143(3) of the Act on 30.12.2009 to demonstrate that no such disallowance was offered by the assessee and further that a return was actually filed u/s 139 for the year under consideration. Under these circumstances, we set aside the impugned order and remit the matter to the file of Assessing Officer for examining, firstly, if the assessee filed its return u/s 139 of the Act or offered disallowance of ₹ 13.89 lac in the original return or any such addition was made. If it is found that no return was filed or the disallowance was so offered or an addition made in the order u/s 143(3) of the Act that, then, such a disallowance has to be repeated in the assessment made u/s 153A read with section 143(3) - The ground raised by the Revenue is, therefore, dismissed and that taken by the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes.

Summary

Issues:
- Deletion of addition of Advertisement expenses in various assessment years
- Addition u/s 14A of the Act

Assessment Year 2006-07:
The Revenue challenged the deletion of an addition of ?3,67,14,462 related to Advertisement expenses. The Assessing Officer added the amount based on non-compliance by two parties, without further inquiry. The Tribunal upheld the deletion, citing a similar precedent in the assessee's own case for other years.

Assessment Year 2007-08:
The Revenue contested the deletion of an addition of ?5,14,72,157 for Advertisement expenses and reduction of the addition u/s 14A of the Act. The Tribunal upheld the deletion of Advertisement expenses addition but remitted the matter of the u/s 14A addition back to the Assessing Officer for further examination.

Assessment Year 2008-09:
The Revenue challenged the deletion of an addition of ?5,04,24,777 for Advertisement expenses and the addition u/s 14A of the Act. The Tribunal upheld the deletion of Advertisement expenses addition but remitted the u/s 14A addition issue back to the Assessing Officer for detailed examination.

Assessment Year 2010-11:
The Revenue appealed against the deletion of an addition of ?1,44,56,578 for unexplained Advertisement expenses. The Tribunal upheld the deletion, following the decisions for previous years.

In each assessment year, the Tribunal consistently upheld the deletion of Advertisement expenses additions but varied in its approach towards the u/s 14A additions, remitting the matter back to the Assessing Officer for further investigation and verification. The decisions were based on the absence of conclusive evidence and compliance with legal procedures.