Credit in ‘bank account’ cannot be construed as credit in books under section 68

Vishan Swaroop Gupta Vs ITO (ITAT Jaipur)

Credit in the ‘bank account’ of an assessee cannot be construed as a credit in the ‘books’ of the assessee as per section 68 of Income Tax Act, 1961.

We observe that credit in the ‘bank account’ of an assessee cannot be construed as a credit in the ‘books’ of the assessee, for the very reason that the bank account cannot be held to be the ‘books’ of the assessee. Though, it remains as a matter of fact that the ‘bank account’ of an assessee is the account of the assessee with the bank, or in other words the account of the assessee in the books of the bank, but the same in no way can be held to be the ‘books’ of the assessee. We have given a thoughtful consideration to the scope and gamut of the aforesaid statutory provision of Section 68, and are of the considered view that an addition made in respect of a cash deposit in the bank account of an assessee, in the absence of the same found credited in the ‘books’ of the assessee maintained for the previous year, cannot be brought to tax by invoking the provisions of Section 68 of the Act. In this respect, we draw strength from the decision of the Hon’ble Bombay High Court in the case of CIT Vs Bhaichand N Gandhi (1983) 141 ITR 67 (Bombay).

FULL TEXT OF THE ITAT JUDGEMENT

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