Arunbhai Chhaganbhai Patel Vs ITO (ITAT Ahmedabad)
The case before the ITAT Ahmedabad concerned an appeal filed by an assessee against the CIT (A)’s order for Assessment Year 2019-20. The assessee had not filed a return of income despite being identified under the Risk Management Strategy for various transactions, leading to the issuance of a notice under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The assessee failed to comply with statutory notices, stating they were not in India during the assessment period.
The Assessing Officer (AO) inferred from the partly-replied bank statement that the assessee had deposited Rs.1,17,00,000 in cash during the year and failed to satisfy the taxability of this deposit. Consequently, the AO made an addition of Rs.1,17,00,000 as unexplained money under Section 69A read with Section 115BBE. The AO also made an addition of Rs.1,06,982 and Rs.5,65,493 detected as TDS amounts and treated these as addition under the head Income from Other Sources. The total TDS amount mentioned in 26AS was Rs.43,263. The AO’s assessment was passed under Section 147 read with Section 144.
The CIT (A) dismissed the assessee’s appeal. Before the ITAT, the assessee argued that the CIT (A)’s order was ex-parte and that the consultant engaged by the assessee had failed to respond to notices despite receiving all necessary evidence. The assessee also claimed a delay of two days in filing the appeal, which the ITAT condoned.
