Section 65B of the Income Tax Act

Section 65B(4) of the Indian Evidence Act is mandatory for the admissibility of electronic records as evidence, including WhatsApp chats and statements recorded under Section 132(4), to ensure their source and authenticity. If a person cannot obtain the certificate despite efforts, they can apply to the court for its production.

Electronic records, including printouts from seized devices, lack evidentiary value unless the mandatory conditions of Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, particularly the requisite certificate from an authorized officer, are strictly complied with.

The Assessing Officer must provide the assessee with all material relied upon for an addition or disallowance and an opportunity to cross-examine deponents or witnesses whose statements form the basis of the assessment. Failure to provide such an opportunity violates natural justice and invalidates the addition or disallowance.

Evidence or material found during a search and seizure operation is admissible for assessment purposes, even if the search itself is subsequently held to be illegal or invalid.

For an electronic record to be admissible as evidence in income tax proceedings, all conditions prescribed under Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, must be strictly fulfilled. The provisions of Section 65B of the Evidence Act and Section 132(4) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, operate in distinct fields regarding the admissibility of evidence.

A voluntary statement made under section 132(4) during a search, if clear and unambiguous and made without coercion or threat, is binding on the assessee and raises an estoppel, shifting the burden of proof to them to show it is wrong.

The validity of reassessment proceedings under Section 147 is judged solely by the reasons recorded, which cannot be supplemented or improved upon by any subsequent material or order rejecting objections.

Submissions made by the assessee's counsel in a case concerning additions to income due to alleged on-money payments are to be considered in their entirety. The assessment should not add the same amount twice for different assessment years.