Smt Krishna Singh Vs DCIT (ITAT Delhi)
The ITAT Delhi condoned a delay of 146 days in filing the appeal and admitted it for adjudication. The dispute concerned the addition of ₹33,50,000 under section 69A of the Income-tax Act. The cash had been intercepted by the police on 24.04.2019 while the assessee and her husband were returning from Dehradun after the sale of a property for ₹64 lakh, of which ₹30,50,000 was received through RTGS and ₹33,50,000 in cash. The assessee disclosed the entire sale consideration, offered the capital gains to tax, and explained that the intercepted cash formed part of the disclosed sale consideration. The Tribunal noted that the returned income already included the ₹33,50,000 received in cash, making the separate addition a double addition. It also found that the cash interception occurred on the same day as the property sale and that the assessee was carrying the registered sale deed at the time. Accepting the explanation that the cash formed part of the total sale consideration, the Tribunal deleted the addition under section 69A and allowed the appeal.
Core Issue: The principal issue before the Tribunal was whether cash of ₹33,50,000, intercepted by the police while the assessee was returning after executing a registered sale deed of immovable property, could be treated as unexplained money under section 69A, despite the assessee’s claim that it represented the cash component of the disclosed sale consideration already offered to tax in the return of income.
