Supriya Roy Vs ITO (ITAT Guwahati)
Addition Based Solely on Statement of Employee (Husband) During Survey u/s 133A Unsustainable; Entire Addition Deleted – ITAT Guwahati
The ITAT Guwahati allowed the assessee’s appeal for AY 2018-19 & deleted additions made on the basis of statement recorded during survey u/s 133A, holding that such additions were legally unsustainable.
In this case, a survey u/s 133A was conducted at the business premises of the assessee, a retail trader of mustard oil. During survey, the statement of the assessee’s husband, who was an employee, was recorded. Based on this statement, the AO made additions towards alleged cash surplus (₹5.22 lakh), stock difference (₹5.41 lakh) & further addition of ₹9.94 lakh being 1.3% of turnover as undisclosed income.
The Tribunal noted that the statement was not of the assessee but of an employee, & no addition can be sustained solely on such statement. It was further observed that in the very statement, the employee had explained the cash surplus as sale proceeds not deposited due to survey & the stock difference was also explained. The Tribunal questioned how an employee could voluntarily offer additional income, even if he happened to be the husband of the assessee.
The ITAT further recorded that bank accounts were operated by the assessee herself, not by the employee, & therefore the presumption that the husband was the real operator of business was incorrect. In absence of any independent corroborative material, reliance on survey statement alone was held to be impermissible.
Accordingly, holding that the additions were based purely on an inadmissible survey statement, the ITAT deleted the entire addition & allowed the appeal in full.
