AO not authorized to make additions merely on presumptions

Brief of the Case

ITAT Mumbai held In the case of The ACIT vs. M/s Sandeep Shrivastava that AO is not authorized to make any addition merely on account of presumption. In this case because the assessee is Share holder and Director of the company, which sold the property, the assessing officer has presumed that the assessee has derived benefit from the transaction of purchase of property for the reason that there was a difference between the sale consideration and the value determined for stamp duty purposes. Also, the AO was not sure as to the section under which the said difference is assessable.

Facts of the Case

The assessee is a director and share holder in a private limited company named M/s Champion India Industries Pvt. Ltd. The AO noticed that the assessee has purchased a property from the said company on 17.7.2008 for an agreed consideration of Rs.40.00 lakhs. The AO noticed that the Stamp Duty Authorities had valued this property at Rs.1,36,26,528/-. Hence the AO took the view that the difference between the stamp duty valuation and sale consideration amounting to Rs.96,26,528/- constitutes income in the hands of the assessee and accordingly assessed the same as income of the assessee u/s 17(2)(iii) /28(iv).

Contention of the Assessee

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