Sandhya Das Vs ITO (ITAT Kolkata)
Assessment Set Aside in Double PAN Case – Matter Remanded for Proper Reconciliation of Bank Deposits
The Kolkata ITAT condoned a delay of 60 days in filing the appeal and restored the assessment to the file of the Assessing Officer after finding that the dispute arose due to inadvertent allotment of two PANs to the same assessee. The Tribunal noted that the assessee’s original PAN card had been misplaced and, instead of applying for a duplicate, the consultant wrongly applied for a fresh PAN, resulting in two PAN numbers and two bank accounts linked to different PANs. The Assessing Officer treated credits of ₹2.91 crore, including demonetisation cash deposits of ₹32.39 lakh, in one bank account as unexplained since no return was filed under that PAN, ignoring that the assessee had already filed returns under the original PAN and was carrying on regular business with deposits representing sales proceeds.
Holding that the issue required proper reconciliation and verification to bring only the correct income to tax, the Tribunal set aside the assessment and directed the Assessing Officer to examine the matter afresh after granting reasonable opportunity of hearing. The appeal was accordingly partly allowed for statistical purposes
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF ITAT KOLKATA
