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Facts
The assessee filed an appeal against the order of the CIT(A) who had deleted an addition of Rs. 71,73,954/- made by the Assessing Officer on account of unexplained investment under section 69 of the Income-tax Act, 1961. The Revenue then appealed this deletion to the ITAT, which had previously dismissed the appeal on the grounds of low tax effect.
Held
The ITAT, in this present order, considered the updated monetary limits for filing appeals as per CBDT Circular No. 9 of 2024, which set the limit at Rs. 60 lacs. The tax effect in this case was Rs. 55,41,880/-, which is below the revised limit. Therefore, the appeal was dismissed on this ground.
Key Issues
Whether the Revenue's appeal is maintainable given the revised monetary limits for appeals, and if the ITAT's previous order on tax effect was factually incorrect.
Sections Cited
69, 143(3), 115BBE, 254, 268A
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, DIVISION BENCH, AMRITSAR
Before: SHRI UDAYAN DAS GUPTA & SHRI KRINWANT SAHAY
Per Krinwant Sahay, AM: Appeal in this case has been filed by the Assessee against the order dated 21.04.2022 passed by ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)-5, Ludhiana [ herein referred to as ‘CIT(A)’ ]on the following Grounds:
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Grounds of appeal are as under:-
Whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Ld. CIT(A) has erred in deleting the addition of Rs.71,73,954/- on account of unexplained investment u/s 69 of the Act which was transferred in the account of assessee through foreign remittance by her father during the year under consideration?
Whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Ld. CIT(A) has erred in deleting the addition of Rs.71,73,954/- despite the fact that the assessee has failed to discharge her onus to satisfactorily explain the source of investment made in?
The appellant craves leave to add, amend, modify, vary, omit or substitute any of the aforesaid grounds of appeal at any time before or at the time of hearing of the appeal.
Note:
The decision of Hon'ble ITAT, Amritsar in ITA No.728 to 731/Asr/2019 dated 20.07.2021 was not acceptable in the case of assessee for the A.Y. 2011- 12 & 2013-14 to 2016-17 as relied upon by the Ld. CIT(A). However, no further appeal was filed in these cases due to Low Tax Effect.
At the very outset, the Counsel of the Assessee submitted that the tax effect in this case is below Rs. 60 lacs which is lower than the 146-Asr-2022 Smt. Jatinder Kaur, Jalandhar 3 prescribed limit in Circular No. 9 of 2024 dated 17.09.2024 issued by the CBDT, where the monetary limit for an appeal to be filed before the Tribunal is Rs. 60 lacs. The Counsel of the Assessee has filed written submissions on this issue which is as under:-
1) Respectfully the assessee has to submit that the aforesaid Departmental appeal initially was dismissed being involving tax effect of less than 50,00,000/- vide Order dated 20/02/2023 but however this Order was recalled vide Order 10/07/2024 at the behest of the Department who moved Misc. Application u/s 254 pleading that the tax effect was wrongly calculated which came to be Rs. 55,41,880/-. That the Honourable I.T.A.T. in their Order dated 10/07/2024 had wrongly picked up the figure of Rs. 94,61,431/- which was wrongly incorporated instead of Rs. 55,41,880/-. To substantiate the aforesaid issue the Misc. Application u/s 254 moved by the Department is enclosed who have in para 5 categorically claimed that premia facie the calculation doesn't pertain to the assessee and according to them the tax effect is Rs. 55,41,880/-. The I.T.AT. wrongly mentioned the figure of Rs. 94,61,431/- instead of Rs. 55,41,880/- as both the figures were above Fifty Lakhs and therefore Order stood recalled without pointing out this wrong figure as that was of no consequence.
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2) Consequently, the aforesaid appeal was fixed for regular hearing on 20 August, 2024 when it was partly heard and the same was adjourned to 07/10/2024 for certain further clarifications.
3) In the meanwhile, the CBDT has come out with another circular No. 09/2024 dt. 17/09/2024 copy enclosed where the monetary limit of filing appeals before the I.T.AT. by the Deptt. has been revised and the new monetary limit of tax effect for the same now is @ 60 Lakhs. The circular has further clarified that the same shall come into effect from the date of issue of the circular and shall also be applicable to pending appeals which should be withdrawn.
4) In view of above situation now the present appeal which has tax effect of Rs. 55,41,880/- only which is below Rs. 60 Lakhs as prescribed by the Circular needs to be dismissed on this ground only without going into the merits of the case.
In support, the Counsel of the Assessee has filed a letter dated 30.03.2023 from DCIT, Central Circle-1, Jalandhar addressed to the ITAT, Amritsar Bench, which is as under:-
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We have considered the letter written by the DCIT, Central Circle addressed to ITAT, Amritsar in which DCIT has given the total amount of tax effect as Rs. 55,41,880/-, which is below the limit of 60 lacs required under the new guidelines issued vide Circular No. 9 of 2024 dated 17.9.2024 of CBDT. Accordingly, the present appeal filed by the Department is dismissed due to low tax effect with a liberty to seek recall in case the matter falls under any of the exceptions so carved out in the aforesaid circular.
It is, however, clarified that the dismissal of the above appeal shall not be taken to be affirmation of the order of the CIT(A) on merits. The legal issue raised by the Revenue is being left open to be adjudicated in an appropriate case.
In the result the appeal of the Revenue is dismissed.
Order pronounced on 10.03.2025 ( UDAYAN DAS GUPTA ) Accountant Member “आर.के.”
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आदेशकीप्रनतनलपपअग्रेपर्त/ Copy of the order forwarded to : 1. अपीलधथी/ The Appellant 2. प्रत्यथी/ The Respondent 3. आयकरआयुक्त/ CIT 4. पवभधगीयप्रनतनिनर्, आयकरअपीलीयआनर्करण, चण्डीगढ़/ DR, ITAT, CHANDIGARH 5. गधडाफधईल/ Guard File
आदेशधिुसधर/ By order, सहधयकपंजीकधर/