What did the Tribunal hold?

The Tribunal noted that the issue of interest on income tax refund was not properly examined by the lower authorities. Therefore, in the interest of justice, the matter was remitted back to the Assessing Officer for fresh adjudication.

The assessee appealed an addition of interest income of Rs. 14,01,653/- on income tax refund. The assessee argued that this issue was not examined by the Assessing Officer or the CIT(A).

What were the issues?

Whether the interest income on income tax refund was correctly assessed and whether the assessee was given adequate opportunity to present its case.

Haldia Petrochemicals Limited vs ACIT | ITAT Kolkata 2019

Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, “B”, BENCH KOLKATA

Before: SHRI S.S.GODARA, JM &DR. A.L.SAINI, AM

For Appellant: Shri Harkamal Chakravorty, A.R

For Respondent: Smt. Ranu Biswas, Addl. CIT

Hearing: 31/10/2019Pronounced: 22/11/2019

आदेश / O R D E R Per Bench:

The captioned appeal filed by the assessee, pertaining to assessment year 2014-15, is directed against the order passed by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeal)-4, Kolkata in appeal no. 700/CIT(A)-4/16-17, which in turn arises out of an assessment order passed by the Assessing Officer u/s 143(3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (in short the “Act”) dated 16/12/2016.

The ground of appeal raised by the assessee are as follows:

i) That the ld. CIT(A) erred by upholding the addition of interest of Rs. 14,01,653/- under the head income from other sources.

Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd. Assessment Year:2014-15 3. At the outset itself, the ld. Counsel for the assessee submitted that the issue related to the interest on income tax refund has neither been examined by the Assessing Officer nor by the ld. CIT(A). Therefore, the ld. Counsel prayed the Bench that one more opportunity to be given to the assessee to present his case before the Assessing Officer.

We heard both the parties and carefully gone through the submission put forth on behalf of the assessee along with the documents furnished and the case laws relied upon, and perused the fact of the case including the findings of the ld CIT(A) and other materials available on record. We note that the ld. CIT(A) passed the order on the impugned issue observing the following:

“ Ground no. 2 relates to addition of Rs. 14,01,653/- on account of undisclosed interest income. From the assessment order, it is noted that the assessee has earned Rs. 14,01,653/- as interest on income tax refund which was not included in the income of the assessee for the year under consideration. During the appellate proceedings, the ld. A.R. was asked as to whether the company has earned this interest income or not. The ld. A.R. showed his inability to reconcile the exact figure received by them as interest u/s 244A. However, he accepted that interest on income tax refund was received by the company during the year under consideration. Since, the A/R has failed to negate to findings of the Assessing Officer about the interest income earned by the assessee on income tax refund. This ground of appeal is hereby dismissed.”

We note that the issue relating to income tax refund has neither been examined by the Assessing Officer nor by the ld. CIT(A). The ld. Counsel for the assessee submitted before the Bench that the assessee is ready to explain the issue before the Assessing Officer provided one more opportunity is given to assessee to represent his case before the Assessing Officer. We note that the issue on income tax refund has neither been examined by the Assessing Officer nor by the ld. CIT(A) as stated above, therefore, in the interest of justice and fair play we think it fit and proper to remit this issue back to the file of Assessing Officer for his examination and to adjudicate the issue in accordance to law. Therefore, we set aside the order of the ld. CIT(A) and remit this issue back to the file of Assessing Officer for de novo adjudication. Page | 2

Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd. Assessment Year:2014-15

In the result, the appeal of the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes.

Order pronounced in the Court on 22.11.2019

HALDIA PETROCHEMICALS LIMITED,KOLKATA vs. ACIT, CIRCLE - 7(1), KOLKATA, KOLKATA

What did the Tribunal hold?

What were the facts?

What were the issues?

Which sections of the Income-tax Act were involved?

Recent GST High Court judgments