2012 (9) TMI 233 - AT - Income Tax

Addition on account of scrap sales - assessee engaged in the business of manufacture and export of ready made garments - addition made on ground that assessee has disclosed lower scrap sale in comparison to other exporters in similar trade - Held that - It is observed that AO has not found any defect in the books of accounts of the assessee. There is no finding about assessee s supressed production. Manufacturing production and trading accounts have been duly accepted during preceding three years though assessments were completed u/s 143(3) and no addition on this account was ever made. Current year s figures of production and trading has also not been doubted. AO made the addition purely on the basis of estimate. More importantly, the ITAT in assessee s sister concern had deleted the addition made on this account. CIT(A) in his order tried to distinguish assessee s case with the case of assessee s sister concern on the basis of raw material used by both parties which according to him was different but did not bring on record any thing to support his findings that material used by assessee generated more scrap as compared to assessee s sister concern. Therefore, on facts, addition is directed to be deleted - Decided in favor of assessee.

Issues:
1. Addition made on account of scrap sales.
2. Application of estimation in assessing scrap sales.
3. Distinction between the cases of the appellant and the appellant's sister concern regarding scrap generation.

Detailed Analysis:
Issue 1: Addition made on account of scrap sales
The appellant, engaged in the business of manufacturing and exporting ready-made garments, filed an appeal against the addition made by the Assessing Officer on account of scrap sales amounting to Rs.6,90,481. The Assessing Officer based the addition on the premise that the generation of scrap must be substantial compared to the sale of scrap shown by the assessee. The appellant contended that the scrap generated had negligible value and was destroyed to maintain secrecy. The Ld CIT(A) upheld the addition, stating that the appellant did not maintain month-wise records of wastage and that the fabric used by the appellant differed from that of the sister concern, leading to a higher scrap generation.

Issue 2: Application of estimation in assessing scrap sales
The Assessing Officer relied on the decision in M/s Krishna Kumar Aggarwal v. ACIT, where it was held that 0.2% of turnover could be a fair estimate for calculating scrap sale in a similar business. The Ld CIT(A) also supported this estimation, emphasizing that the appellant did not maintain records of scrap generation and the sale reflected in the accounts. However, the Tribunal noted that no specific defect in the books of accounts was found, and the Assessing Officer made the addition purely on an estimate basis. The Tribunal highlighted that similar additions were deleted by the ITAT in the case of the appellant's sister concern, indicating inconsistency in the application of estimation.

Issue 3: Distinction between the cases of the appellant and the appellant's sister concern regarding scrap generation
The appellant argued that the facts of the appellant's case were similar to those of the sister concern, where the addition was deleted by the ITAT. The Ld CIT(A) attempted to distinguish between the cases based on the raw material used by both parties, asserting that the material used by the appellant generated more scrap. However, the Tribunal found no evidence to support this claim and concluded that there was no ground to sustain the addition made for the sale of scrap, ultimately allowing the appeal filed by the assessee.

In conclusion, the Tribunal ruled in favor of the appellant, highlighting the lack of concrete evidence supporting the addition made on account of scrap sales and the inconsistency in applying estimation guidelines across related cases.

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