Maheepal Vs ITO (ITAT Delhi)
The appeal before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Delhi, concerned Assessment Year 2016-17 and arose from an order of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), which had upheld an assessment made under Sections 147, 144 and 144B of the Income-tax Act. The reassessment was initiated after the Assessing Officer (AO) received information through the departmental portal based on a TDS statement under Section 194-IA showing an alleged sale consideration of ₹75 lakh relating to an immovable property at Kanchan Nagar.
The assessee had not filed a return of income under Section 139, claiming that his income was below the taxable limit. Based on the information available on the departmental portal, the AO initiated proceedings under Sections 147 and 148. Although the assessee did not participate in the proceedings under Section 148A, he later participated during the reassessment proceedings. He consistently denied having entered into any transaction involving the sale of immovable property for ₹75 lakh during the relevant year.
In support of his claim, the assessee produced his bank passbook and submitted that there was no receipt of ₹75 lakh or any sale proceeds in his bank account. He explained that the information appearing on the departmental portal originated from the TDS return filed by the deductor and that he had no authority to rectify such information. According to the assessee, only the deductor could correct the reported transaction, and he could not be penalized for incorrect information uploaded by the alleged purchaser. Despite these submissions, the AO treated ₹75 lakh as short-term capital gains and added it to the assessee’s income.
