ITAT Jabalpur Judgments — January 2020

The Tribunal decided to dispose of the appeal on merits due to the assessee's repeated adjournments and non-appearance. The AO treated the land as a capital asset as it was within municipal limits, which is a key point of contention.

The Tribunal restored the issue of Section 80IA deduction to the CIT(A) for fresh adjudication due to non-adjudication. However, the disallowance of expenses was upheld due to the assessee's failure to substantiate the business purpose and provide customer details.

The Tribunal held that the assessee could not take shelter under the plea of the matter being sub-judice as there was no such order from the High Court. The Tribunal further held that by not deducting tax at source, the assessee could not escape its liability for FBT, as it was not open for the assessee to deny its liability under both TDS and FBT.

The Tribunal held that while the genuineness and capacity of the creditors for the Rs. 3 lacs cash credit were not satisfactorily explained, the addition should be restricted to Rs. 2,79,000, as the balance Rs. 21,000 was sourced from the assessee's cash book. The estimation of income for liquor and transport businesses was upheld.

The Tribunal upheld the disallowance, stating that the assessee failed to discharge its onus to prove the genuineness of the expenses with proper documentation. The Tribunal declined to interfere with the CIT(A)'s order.

The Tribunal held that the approval granted by the Joint Commissioner of Income Tax (JCIT) under Section 153D was without application of mind, as no relevant material was produced before him. Consequently, the assessment order was vitiated and quashed.