2019 (7) TMI 838 - HC - Income Tax

Bogus purchases - Tribunal said the addition should be restricted to 10% of the total purchases - HELD THAT - What the Tribunal by the impugned Judgment held is that the Department had not rejected the instance of the purchases since the sales out of purchase of such raw material was accounted for and accepted. With above position, the Tribunal applied the principle of taxing the profit embedded in such purchases covered by the bogus bills, instead of disallowing the entire expenditure. We do not find any error in the view of the Tribunal. No question of law arises. Enhancement of GP - ITAT deleting the enhancement of GP made by the CIT(A) from 2.59% to 6.00% of the turnover of ₹ 151 crores thereby giving undue relief of ₹ 4.92 Crores to the assessee - HELD THAT - Tribunal noted that there was no material to discard the Assessee's book results. No incriminating material or evidence of the Assessee's transactions outside the books have been brought on record. It was under these circumstance, the Tribunal deleted the addition made by the CIT (Appeals). We do not find any error in the view of the Tribunal. There was no evidence on record to disturb the Assessee's book results. No question of law arises. The Income Tax Appeal is dismissed.

Summary

Issues:
1. Reduction of addition under Section 68 of the Income Tax Act for purchases made from a company providing accommodation entries.
2. Deletion of enhancement of Gross Profit (GP) by the Commissioner (Appeals) from 2.59% to 6.00% of turnover.

Issue 1: Reduction of addition under Section 68:
The first issue in the judgment concerns the reduction of an addition under Section 68 of the Income Tax Act. The Assessing Officer had initially added ?23.16 Lakhs to the assessee's income due to allegedly bogus purchases. However, the Tribunal restricted this addition to ?2,21,600. The Tribunal's reasoning was that since the Assessing Officer did not reject the purchases or sales related to them, the addition should be limited to 10% of the total purchases. The Tribunal applied the principle of taxing the profit embedded in the purchases covered by bogus bills instead of disallowing the entire expenditure. The High Court upheld the Tribunal's decision, stating that no error was found in the Tribunal's view, and no question of law arose. The Revenue's appeal was dismissed in this regard.

Issue 2: Deletion of enhancement of Gross Profit (GP):
The second issue revolves around the deletion of an enhancement of Gross Profit (GP) by the Commissioner (Appeals) from 2.59% to 6.00% of the turnover. The Assessee had disclosed a profit at a GP rate of 2.59%, which was not altered by the Assessing Officer. However, the Commissioner (Appeals) increased the profit rate to 6% after providing notice to the Assessee. Subsequently, the Tribunal overturned this enhancement, noting that there was no material to reject the Assessee's book results. No incriminating evidence of transactions outside the books was presented. Therefore, the Tribunal deleted the addition made by the Commissioner (Appeals). The High Court concurred with the Tribunal's decision, stating that there was no evidence to disturb the Assessee's book results, and no question of law arose. The Income Tax Appeal was dismissed in this regard.

In conclusion, the judgment addressed two main issues related to income tax assessments, specifically the reduction of an addition under Section 68 and the deletion of an enhancement of Gross Profit by the Commissioner (Appeals). The High Court upheld the Tribunal's decisions in both instances, emphasizing the lack of evidence to support altering the assessments and dismissing the Revenue's appeal.