Dhondiram Tukaram Shinde At Murti Vs Asst. Director of Income Tax (ITAT Pune)
Pune ITAT: Tax Cannot Be Collected Merely Because Taxpayer Mistakenly Offered a Non-Taxable Receipt in ITR – Goetze (India) Does Not Restrict ITAT’s Power to Grant Legitimate Relief
The Pune ITAT granted relief to a retired Maharashtra Police Department employee who had inadvertently offered certain non-taxable/capital receipts as “Income from Other Sources” in his return. The assessee had declared total income of ₹33.77 lakh, but his daughter, who prepared the return, mistakenly included three receipts as taxable income.
The three amounts wrongly offered were ₹15,90,442 towards retirement gratuity, ₹10,10,000 towards sale proceeds of agricultural land and ₹10 lakh representing a Post Office fixed deposit, aggregating to about ₹36 lakh. CPC processed the return under Section 143(1) on that basis, resulting in a substantial tax demand. The assessee’s rectification application was unsuccessful.
Unfortunately, the assessee repeated the same mistake even in the revised return. The first appellate authority refused relief by relying on the Supreme Court decision in Goetze (India) Ltd. v. CIT, reasoning that a fresh claim not made through the return could not be entertained, and suggested that the assessee approach the jurisdictional PCIT for correction.
