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Facts
The assessee's appeals were against penalty orders. The assessee could not produce its books of accounts and documents before the Assessing Officer (AO) and Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) because they were seized by the DGGI. The books have now been released and are in the assessee's possession.
Held
The Tribunal held that since the books of accounts were seized and not examined by the lower authorities, the matter should be restored to the AO. This is to allow the AO to examine the books and decide the case denovo after giving the assessee a fair opportunity to be heard.
Key Issues
Whether the penalty orders passed without considering seized and subsequently released books of accounts warrant a remand to the Assessing Officer.
Sections Cited
271AAD, 270A
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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, GAUHATI BENCH, GUWAHATI
Before: SHRI DUVVURU RL REDDY, VP & SHRI RAJESH KUMAR, AM
These are appeals preferred by the assessee against the order of the National Faceless Appeal Centre, Delhi (hereinafter referred to as the “Ld. CIT (A)”] dated 17.02.2025 for the AY 2021-22. The penalties were levied u/s 271AAD & 270A of the Income Tax Act, 1962 (hereinafter referred as „the Act‟) vide order dated 23.06.2023 & 27.06.2023.
The ld. Counsel for the assessee at the outset stated that the documents / books of accounts of the assessee were seized by DGGI, Shillong Regional Unit, Meghalaya and therefore the same could not be furnished by the assessee before the ld. AO as well as before the ld. CIT (A). The ld. Counsel for the assessee prayed before the bench that since the books of accounts/records were released by the DGGI
The ld. DR on the other hand, fairly considered that the assessee had not produced the documents/ books of account before the authorities below as these were seized by the service tax authorities.
After hearing the rival contentions and perusing the materials available on record, we find that the books of accounts/ documents were seized by the service tax authorities and consequently could not be produced before the ld. AO as well as before the ld. CIT (A) and the orders were passed without taking into account the records/books of accounts. Therefore, in the interest of justice and fair play, we are inclined to restore these cases to the file of the ld. AO so that these books of accounts along with documents could be examined by the authorities and case can be decided denovo after affording reasonable opportunity of being heard to the assessee. Therefore, we restore the appeal to the file of AO with the above directions.
In the result, the appeals of the assessee are allowed for statistical purposes.
Order pronounced on 13.03.2026.