Mithilesh Gupta Vs ITO (ITAT Agra)
The ITAT Agra allowed the assessee’s appeal against an addition of ₹11 lakh under Section 69A of the Income-tax Act, 1961, concerning cash deposits during the demonetization period. The assessee, a 64-year-old woman receiving family pension and income from stitching/alteration work, had deposited ₹11 lakh in her Madhya Pradesh Gramin Bank account and ₹2.50 lakh in an SBI account. The Assessing Officer accepted ₹2.50 lakh as accumulated savings but added ₹11 lakh as unexplained money. The CIT(A) upheld the addition.
Before the Tribunal, the assessee submitted that the deposits represented accumulated savings from earlier bank withdrawals, pension, stitching income and amounts received following her husband’s death. She relied on cash-flow statements, bank statements, ITRs and passbooks, and contended that her household expenses were substantially borne by her son and daughter-in-law.
The CIT(A) had particularly relied on the fact that ₹7 lakh was deposited on 15.11.2016 and ₹5 lakh was transferred by NEFT on 16.11.2016, while ₹4 lakh was deposited on 30.11.2016 and ₹2 lakh transferred by NEFT on the same day. The CIT(A) considered these transactions inconsistent with the assessee’s claim of accumulated savings.
The Tribunal, however, noted that the Assessing Officer did not make any enquiry regarding the destination of the NEFT transfers. In the absence of such enquiry, the Tribunal observed that the ₹7 lakh cash deposit could not have been treated as the assessee’s money. Regarding the remaining ₹4 lakh, the Tribunal accepted the assessee’s claim that it represented past withdrawals, taking into account her status.
