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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, AHMEDABAD “SMC” BENCH
Before: Smt. Annapurna Gupta & Shri T.R. Senthil Kumar
Shri Nagjibhai Income Tax Officer, Kuberbhai Kheni Ward-1(9), 1, Royal, Tal Talaja, Vs Bhavnagar Royal, Bhavnagar- 364150, Gujarat PAN: AEMPK1539C (Appellant) (Respondent) Assessee Represented: Shri Sulabh Padshah, A.R. Revenue Represented: Shri Urjit B Shah, Sr.D.R. Date of hearing : 07-03-2024 Date of pronouncement : 28-03-2024 आदेश/ORDER PER : T.R. SENTHIL KUMAR, JUDICIAL MEMBER:-
This appeal is filed by the Assessee as against the appellate order dated 31-08-2023 passed by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), National Faceless Appeal Centre, Delhi, (in short referred to as “CIT(A)”), arising out of the assessment order passed under section 143(3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’) relating to the Assessment Year 2020-21.
Page No 2 Shri Nagjibhai Keberbhai Kheni vs. ITO
The brief facts of the case is that the assessee is an individual and Senior Citizen, engaged in agricultural activities along with his family members. They are holding agricultural lands around 64.64 Acres and regularly cultivating cotton crops. For the Asst. Year 2020-21, the assessee filed his Return of Income 22.12.2020 declaring total income of Rs.3,13,560/- and agricultural income of Rs.25,86,233/- The Return of Income was taken up for ‘limited scrutiny’ assessment for verifying the agricultural income, since for the earlier Asst. Year 2019-20, the assessee has declared agricultural income of Rs.6,25,300/- only. The assessee was required to explain the sudden increase in the agricultural income, by issuing various notices. Since there was no compliance by the assessee, the Assessing Officer added the agricultural income of Rs.25,86,233/- as the unexplained income of the assessee.
Aggrieved against the assessment order, the assessee filed an appeal before Ld. CIT(A), NFAC. The assessee filed his Tax Consultant’s Notarized Affidavit explaining that inadvertently the Tax Consultant mentioned the agricultural income of the assessee as Rs.25,86,233/- but the above entire amount belongs to other family members of the assessee. The Ld. CIT(A) issued a notice dated 24.08.2023 asking the assessee to furnish (a) copy of the details of agricultural lands from Revenue Authority (b) Bills and Vouchers of income from agricultural activities and (c) Copies of Bank Statements and copies of the Income Tax Returns of the other family members. Though the assessee sought for time to furnish the above details, because of his health reasons, without Page No 3 Shri Nagjibhai Keberbhai Kheni vs. ITO considering the same the Ld. CIT(A) confirmed the additions and dismissed the appeal filed by the assessee.
Aggrieved against the same, the assessee is in appeal before us. Ld. Counsel brought to our notice to the Notarized Affidavit filed by the Tax Consultant which reads as follows:
RAJUBHAI VAJABHAI MORI (Applicant, Name as per id proof), residing at AT-PADARGADH TA TALAJA DIST-BHAVNAGAR (Address as per address proof), being assessed to tax under PAN AJNPM2180M, do solemnly affirm as under: That, I am a tax consultant by profession, having my office 101, VASUDEV COMPLEX, GOPNATH ROAD, TALAJA-364140. I do hereby solemnly affirm that the income tax return of Shri. Nagjibhai Kuberbhai Kheni (PAN: AEMPK1539C) for FY 2019-20 (A.Y. 2020-21) has been filed by me on 15.02.2021. While filing the return, I inadvertently made a mistake in the declaration of income in case of my above said client. I have wrongly disclosed the entire agriculture income of the entire family amounting to Rs.25,86,233/- in Shri. Nagjibhai Kuberbhal Kheni's income tax return only. That, the actual case being that the said agricultural income was of the entire family comprising of other 5 family members, all of them being farmers and owning agricultural lands in and around 64.64 Acre, where they have all been regularly cultivating cotton crop. Accordingly, the actual agricultural Incomes of the respective family members as was actually meant to be is being tabulated hereunder: Sr. No. Name Relation Agricultural Agricultural Land Held (In Income for A.Y. Acres) 2020-2021 earned out of Cotton cultivation 1 Nagjibhai Own 32.38 6,11,048/- Kuberbhai Kheni 2 Bharatbhai Younger 3.48 2,68,861/- Kuberbhai Kheni Brother 3 Atulbhai Brother 10.25 5,37,722/- Dhanjibhai Kheni 4 Hiteshbhai Brother 14.55 3,91,070/- Dhanjibhai Kheni Page No 4 Shri Nagjibhai Keberbhai Kheni vs. ITO
5 Shivabhai Grandfather 3.98 6,35,489/- Javerbhai Kheni
The inadvertent mistake happened due to a misunderstanding and unintentional omission. It was not anyone's intention to conceal any information or misreport any data. I realized said mistake having been made only after receiving a notice from the Income Tax Department u/s.143(2) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 in the case of Shri. Nagjibhai Kuberbhal Kheni. The notice was also received on Email ID: parmarandco@gmail.com. The said error was noticed at the time of compilation of the details for submission in response to the notices issued to Shri. Nagjibhai Kuberbhai Kheni with respect to the above proceedings initiated in his case. The Income tax return revision time limit had already expired and I am unable the revised return in case of Shri. Nagjibhai Kuberbhal Kheni for the FY 2019-20. I confirm that the said error was inadvertent and was owing to some especially since the COVID19 restrictions were still in place and hence exchange information was not as smooth. Moreover, Shri. Nagjibhal Kuberbhal Kheni, owing to his age and health was restricted from venturing out frequently and was keeping check on his health during the COVID19 times. Further, that since the registered email id on Income Tax portal in the case of Shri. Nagjibhai Kuberbhai Kheni is mine, as stated above, Shri. Nagjibhal Kuberbhai Kheni was in fact not aware of the order u/s.143(3) of the Income Tax Act 1961 dt. 08/09/2022 having been passed, the same having been missed by me also. This in turn has resulted in appeal not being filed in time. The same has been noticed just recently and hence the appeal is being filed now, though belated, with a prayer for condonation of delay. That, for non-compliance of various notices, Learned Assessing Officer has issued penalty Order, U/s 272A(1)(D) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 amounting Rs. 10,000/-. Since this is owing to my oversight and fault, owing to our long standing relation, the said penalty has also been reimbursed by me to Shri. Nagjibhai Kuberbhai Kheni. I hereby acknowledge the mistake and affirm that it was committed inadvertently, and that it was not done with any fraudulent intent. That, I request the Income Tax Department to consider the above facts and condone the said delay as also consider the explanation on the inadvertent Page No 5 Shri Nagjibhai Keberbhai Kheni vs. ITO error having crept in leading to the addition in the said assessment order passed in the case of Shri. Nagjibhal Kuberbhai Kheni. I solemnly state that the contents of this affidavit are true to the best of my knowledge and belief and that it conceals nothing and that no part of it is false. 4.1. Ld. Counsel further submitted that the assesse is prepared to furnish all the required details before the Assessing Officer and prayed to set aside the matter to the file of Jurisdictional Assessing Officer for passing fresh assessment order.
Per contra, the Ld. Sr. D.R. appearing for the Revenue opposed the above prayer, since the assessee has not made use of the hearing opportunities given by the Assessing Officer as well as ld. CIT(A). Therefore the appeal filed by the assessee is liable to be dismissed.
We have given our thoughtful consideration and perused the materials available on record. It is an admitted case by the Revenue that the assessee was showing agricultural income in the previous assessment years also. Now the Tax Consultant of the assessee has admitted the wrong inclusion of entire agricultural income of Rs.25,86,233/- of the all other family members mistakenly in the hands of the assessee and the assessee is prepared to furnish the required agricultural land holding details with Revenue records and other details as mentioned by the Ld. CIT(A). Therefore to uphold the Principle of Natural Justice, we deem it fit to set aside the matter back to the file of Jurisdictional Assessing Officer to pass fresh assessment order by giving proper opportunity of hearing to the assessee. Needless to state, the assessee should co-operate by Page No 6 Shri Nagjibhai Keberbhai Kheni vs. ITO filing all the required details before the JAO for passing fresh assessment order.
In the result, the appeal filed by the Assessee is allowed for statistical purpose.