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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, RAJKOT BENCH, RAJKOT
Before: SHRI WASEEM AHMED & SHRI SIDDHARTHA NAUTIYAL
PER SIDDHARTHA NAUTIYAL, JM:
This appeal has been filed by the assessee against the order passed by the Ld. Commissioner of Income Tax(Appeals), (in short “Ld. CIT(A)”), National Faceless Appeal Centre, (in short “NFAC”) in Order No. ITBA/NFAC/S/250/2021-22/1037170595(1) vide order dated 24.11.2021 passed for Assessment Year 2015-16.
The assessee has taken the following grounds of appeals:-
“1. Grounds of Appeal as under are without prejudice to one another.
Lalitbhai Kishanchand Nathani vs. ACIT Asst.Year –2015-16 - 2 - 2. The Assessment Order under section 144 of the Act is bad in alw as well as facts.
3. The Learned CIT(A)/NFAC has erred in confirming addition of Rs.1,36,66,863 without providing adequate opportunity of being heard to the Appellate.
4. The learned CIT(A)/NFAC has erred in confirming addition of Rs. 1,36,66,863 on alleged ground that the appellant has not disclosed receipts as per Form No.26AS. The confirming of addition made is totally unjustified on facts as well as in law.
On the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law, the learned CIT(A)/ NFAC has erred in confirming the action of the learned AO.
The order of the learned CIT(A)/NFAC u/s. 250 of the Act, is bad in law and contrary to the facts of the case.
7. The learned CIT(A)/NFAC has erred in confirming the initiating penalty u/s.271(1)(c) of the Act.
8. The learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) erred on facts as well as in law in confirming the charging of interest u/s. 234A, 234B and 234C of the Act, when addition itself is not sustainable.
9. The orders of the learned CIT(A)/NFAC is illegal, unjustified and against the principles of natural justice.
Lalitbhai Kishanchand Nathani vs. ACIT Asst.Year –2015-16 - 3 - 10. Without prejudice to the above your petitioner craves leave to add, amend, alter, vary or withdraw all or any of the grounds on or before the hearing of appeal.”
The brief facts of the case are that assessee filed its return of income on 30.10.2015 declaring loss of Rs. 5.69 lakhs. During the course of assessment, party-wise reconciliation of receipts as per Form 26AS vis-à-vis the ITR was called for. However, the assessee only furnished the table showing the total receipts as per Form 26AS as against the total receipts disclosed in the books of accounts. The assessee did not furnish party-wise reconciliation of receipts. Further, the assessee also did not produce books of accounts for the verification before the Ld. Assessing Officer. In light of the above circumstances, the AO was of the view that it is not clear that whether the receipts appearing in Form 26AS was disclosed by the assessee in the books of accounts. Accordingly, in absence of any details furnished by the assessee regarding the party-wise reconciliation of receipts, the Assessing Officer added a sum of Rs. 1,36,66,863/- to the total income of the assessee.
In appeal, none appeared before Ld. CIT(Appeals). Accordingly, Ld. CIT(Appeals) confirmed the additions made by the Assessing Officer with the following observations:
“During the course of appellate proceedings, the appellant was granted opportunity to file submissions and documents in support of its grounds of appeal vide various notices before the implementation of faceless appeals scheme and notices dated 27.01.2021 (fixing date of compliance 09.02.2021) and 13.10.2021 (fixing date of compliance 20.10.2021) after implementation of faceless appeal scheme. However,
Lalitbhai Kishanchand Nathani vs. ACIT Asst.Year –2015-16 - 4 - till date there has been no response from the appellant. Therefore, it is apparent that the appellant have no submissions/documents to submit in support of its grounds of appeal. I have considered the statement of facts and grounds of appeals filed as well as the assessment order. On carefully considering the facts and circumstances and assessment order, I find no infirmity in the assessment order. Accordingly the addition made by the AO is confirmed.”
5. The assessee is in appeal before us against the aforesaid order passed by Ld. CIT(Appeals) confirming the additions made by the Assessing Officer. Before us, the Counsel for the assessee submitted that the Assessing Officer has not given adequate opportunity of hearing to the assessee. Further, the assessee could not cause appearance before Ld. CIT(Appeals) for the reason that due to the effect of Covid-19 national pandemic, the assessee could not communicate with his Chartered Accountant regarding the notices received by the assessee from Ld. CIT(Appeals). Further, on merits, the Counsel for the assessee submitted that the total receipts as per Form 26AS is Rs. 1,36,66,863/- and the total receipts as per the books of accounts is Rs. 6,90,32,714/-. It was submitted before us that it may be verified from the statement that out of the receipts aggregating to Rs. 1,36,66,863/- reported in Form 26AS, the receipts of Rs. 1,32,91,819/- are already included in the total receipts of Rs. 6,90,32,714/- as per audited books of accounts. The Counsel for the assessee also submitted copy of Audit Report before us for our perusal. The Counsel for the assessee submitted a chart before us and submitted that there is only a short-recording/difference of Rs. 3,75,044/- between the receipts as per Form 26AS and the receipts included in the books of accounts. Accordingly, the Lalitbhai Kishanchand Nathani vs. ACIT Asst.Year –2015-16 - 5 - Counsel for the assessee submitted that the difference of Rs. 3,75,044/- may be added to the income of the assessee.
6. In response, the Ld. DR placed reliance on the observations made by the Assessing Officer and Ld. CIT(Appeals) in their respective orders.
We have heard the rival contentions and perused the material on record. In light of the fact that the assessee was unable to place on record various details (which has been placed on record before us) at the earlier stages of proceedings before the Department, in the interest of justice, the matter is being restored to the file of Ld. CIT(Appeals) with an opportunity to the assessee to give the requisite details so as to substantiate that out of the receipt of Rs. 1,36,66,863/- an amount of Rs. 1,32,91,819/- has already been included in the total receipts of Rs. 6,90,32,714/- as per the books of accounts of the assessee. The balance amount of Rs. 3,75,044/- may be added to the income of the assessee as per statement of the Counsel for the assessee before us.
In the result, the matter is being restored to the file of Ld. CIT(Appeals) with the aforesaid directions.
In the result, the appeal of the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes. This Order pronounced in Open Court on 23/08/2023