2019 (9) TMI 1507 - AT - Income Tax

Maintainability of appeal on low tax effect - tax limit for filing appeal by the Revenue before the Tribunal - HELD THAT - As brought to our notice that as per the CBDT Circulars No.03/2018 dated 11.07.2018 and Circular No.17 of 2019 dated 9th August, 2019, the tax limit for filing appeal by the Revenue before the Tribunal has been fixed at ₹ 50.00 lakhs and above. Therefore, since the tax effect in the present appeal before us is less than ₹ 50.00 lakh, we hereby dismiss the same with liberty to the Revenue to seek recall of the order, if the appeal falls within the exceptions mentioned in the Circulars of the CBDT. Appeal filed by the Revenue is dismissed.

Summary

Issues:
1. Appeal against the order of Ld. CIT(A)-1, Hyderabad regarding addition under section 68 of the IT Act disallowed LTCG claim.
2. Dismissal of the appeal by the Revenue due to the tax limit for filing appeal fixed by CBDT Circulars.

Analysis:
The appeal was filed by the Revenue against the order of the Ld. CIT(A)-1, Hyderabad concerning the addition under section 68 of the IT Act and the disallowance of the LTCG claim. The Revenue contended that the order of the Ld. CIT(A) was erroneous on facts and in law. They argued that the deletion of the addition under section 68 of ?1,44,09,577 by disallowing the LTCG claim under section 10(38) of the IT Act was not supported by evidence and material on record and was deemed perverse. Additionally, the Revenue claimed that the Ld. CIT(A) failed to consider the investigation conducted by the Investigation Wing of the Income Tax Department at Kolkata and also overlooked a decision of ITAT, Chandigarh in a similar case. The Revenue raised these grounds of appeal challenging the decision of the Ld. CIT(A).

During the hearing, it was brought to the attention of the tribunal that as per CBDT Circulars No.03/2018 and Circular No.17 of 2019, the tax limit for filing an appeal by the Revenue before the Tribunal had been fixed at ?50.00 lakhs and above. Consequently, since the tax effect in the present appeal was less than ?50.00 lakhs, the tribunal dismissed the appeal. However, the Revenue was granted liberty to seek a recall of the order if the appeal fell within the exceptions mentioned in the Circulars of the CBDT. As a result, the appeal filed by the Revenue was ultimately dismissed by the tribunal, pronouncing the decision in open court on 3rd September 2019.