Bala Filling Station Vs ACIT (ITAT Surat)
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Surat bench, has sent back a case involving Bala Filling Station to the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) [CIT(A)] for fresh consideration. The dispute centers on a disallowance of ₹4,26,950 made by the Assessing Officer (AO) under Section 40(a)(ia) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, concerning transport expenses for Assessment Year 2017-18.
The disallowance was made on the grounds that the assessee allegedly failed to comply with Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) provisions on payments to a transporter, M/s Sonal Transport. Bala Filling Station argued that the transporter owned fewer than ten goods transport vehicles, making the TDS provisions under Section 194C(6) of the Act inapplicable.
During the appellate proceedings before the CIT(A), the assessee sought to introduce a certificate from the transporter for the relevant financial year as additional evidence under Rule 46A of the Income-tax Rules, 1962. The assessee explained that a certificate from an earlier year had been mistakenly filed before the AO. However, the CIT(A) declined to admit the additional evidence, reasoning that the assessee had adequate opportunity during the assessment and did not satisfy the conditions for admitting new evidence under Rule 46A.
Aggrieved by the CIT(A)’s decision to reject the evidence and uphold the disallowance, the assessee appealed to the ITAT. Before the Tribunal, the assessee reiterated that the filing of the incorrect certificate before the AO was a genuine mistake that they sought to rectify before the CIT(A).
