Loose papers found during a search at the residences of ...

Insufficient evidence linking loose papers with individual's income/investments overturned at Tribunal.

Case Laws     Income Tax

October 1, 2024

Loose papers found during a search at the residences of individuals contained notings and calculations presumed by the Assessing Officer (AO) to relate to undisclosed income and investments of one individual. However, the evidence failed to establish any connection between the notings and that individual's activities or sources of income. The notings pertained to expenses, vehicle purchases, and numerical entries, but no regular income was identified for that person to correlate with such expenses. The loose papers were found at another individual's residence, whose business records were accepted. The Tribunal held that the AO wrongly attributed the loose paper notings to the first individual without establishing any link or means of income, when they likely related to the second individual's accepted business. Consequently, the additions made by the AO based on the loose papers were deleted for lack of credible evidence connecting them to the first individual's undisclosed income or investments.

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