Delhi ITAT directed the AO to recompute disallowance under Section 14A as per the amended Rule 8D (2016), limiting it to 1 % of investments yielding exempt income. Other Revenue grounds, including 80-IA and leave-encashment, were dismissed.
ITAT Delhi ruled that WhatsApp chats recovered during a search, if corroborated by context and left unrebutted by the assessee, create a statutory presumption of correctness under Section 292C, leading to a sustained addition of ₹9 lakh as unexplained money. The Tribunal also directed the allowance of an 80TTA deduction claim for the abated assessment year (AY 2018-19).
ITAT Bangalore held that delay in filing appeals caused by major heart surgery and prolonged illness constituted a sufficient cause. It restored the dismissed appeals and directed the CIT(A) not to adopt a hypertechnical approach while deciding condonation requests.
The ITAT Delhi quashed reassessment orders for three assessment years (AY 2011-12, 2015-16, 2016-17) based on fundamental legal flaws. The ruling confirms that reassessments are invalid if initiated on wrong or substituted reasons, if they are time-barred (following the Supreme Court’s concession in the Rajeev Bansal case), or if they proceed without valid statutory sanction from the competent authority.
The Tribunal annulled a reassessment after finding the AO wrongly assumed no return was filed. It held that a notice under Section 148 issued without applying mind is invalid, reinforcing that “reason to believe” must rest on verified facts.
Delhi ITAT declared an entire income tax assessment void ab initio because Assessing Officer, who assumed jurisdiction post-transfer, failed to issue mandatory notice under Section 143(2). This ruling confirms that a fresh jurisdictional notice is compulsory for the new AO to validate the assessment proceedings.
The ITAT Delhi upheld the deletion of a Rs.1.83 crore addition for alleged bogus loans, ruling that uncorroborated WhatsApp chats and retracted search statements cannot override documentary evidence. The Tribunal affirmed the loans were genuine, noting the assessee provided full proof of identity, creditworthiness, and genuineness via audited accounts, bank statements, and TDS on interest paid to the NBFC lenders.
ITAT clarified that absence of ownership transfer at the end of the lease period makes it an operating lease, rejecting Assessing Officer’s treatment of transaction as a financial lease.
The ITAT Kolkata deleted the Rs.10.25 crore addition made under Section 68, ruling that an addition cannot be sustained solely on a survey statement that was subsequently retracted, citing coercion. The court found the loans were genuine, routed through banking channels, supported by evidence, and later repaid with TDS deducted interest.
The ITAT Mumbai deleted an addition of Rs.1.74 crore, ruling that corpus donations received by a registered charitable trust with specific written directions (for a “building fund”) are exempt under Section 11(1)(d). The ruling confirms that the exemption applies regardless of whether charitable activities were carried out in the same year.
