2012 (8) TMI 238

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..... Bench for the assessment years 2005-06 and 2006-07. The appellant/assessee, a builder, is aggrieved by the assessments made under Section 143(2) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the "Act") pursuant to a search in the business premises of the appellant. The dispute revolves around the consideration of the amounts which remain outstanding under the so-called "consumer deposit account" as income for the respective years. Since we are disposing of the appeals at the stage of admission and since the context of the orders we propose to pass does not require answering any questions of law; we do not extract the questions of law framed by the assessee. 2. It was noticed by the Assessing Officer, on verification of the seized .....

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..... nior counsel Sri.A.K.Jayasankar Nambiar, on our direction, produced the agreements entered into with the clients of the assessee being purchasers of independent apartments as also documents showing the details of the deposit for the projects completed in each year as also the balance sheet disclosing how the amounts were treated as liability in the books of accounts. Our intention was not to examine the facts of the issue, but to arrive at a clear picture of the respective claims of the department and the assessee. The sale agreement produced by the assessee shows that these amounts are not the part of the total sales consideration. As noticed above, the customer deposit accounts are with respect to various services in the apartments, like .....

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..... ppellate authority. The 1st appellate authority had allowed the claim, thus resulting in divergent findings on facts. 5. Looking at the documents relied on by the assessee, as also the order of the lower authorities, we are of the opinion that the aspects relevant for examination are: i. the purpose for which the amounts are received by the assessee from the customer;   ii. the utilization of such amounts and the evidences regarding the same and; and   iii. the factum of refund. 6. The assessment order lists out the projects in which amounts were received and the balance lying outstanding in such accounts. The learned Senior Counsel would show at least four instances where there are no outstandings, pointing to the fact that .....

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