Mukesh Somani Vs Assessing Officer (ITAT Jodhpur)
The Jodhpur Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) allowed the assessee’s appeal and deleted the disallowance of ₹1,00,000 made under Section 80GGC of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
The appeal arose from the order of the National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC)/CIT(A) dated 05.09.2025 for Assessment Year 2019-20, whereby the deduction claimed by the assessee under Section 80GGC in respect of a donation made to Rashtriya Samajwadi Party (Secular) had been disallowed.
The Tribunal noted that the issue was covered by the decision of the ITAT Raipur Bench in Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax v. Anuj Prakash Gupta [2026] 183 taxmann.com 392. In that case, the Tribunal had held that where deduction under Section 80GGC for donations to a political party was disallowed merely on allegations that the party was providing accommodation entries, such disallowance could not be sustained in the absence of evidence showing that the donation amount had been returned to the assessee or that the assessee had derived any direct benefit from the transaction.
In the present case, the assessee had claimed deduction of ₹1,00,000 under Section 80GGC for a donation made to Rashtriya Samajwadi Party (Secular). Based on information received from the Investigation Wing, Ahmedabad, alleging that the political party was involved in providing bogus accommodation entries through donations, the assessee’s case was reopened under Sections 147 and 148 of the Act. The Assessing Officer thereafter disallowed the deduction claimed under Section 80GGC.
