Case Law Details
Agarwal Print Media Vs ITO (ITAT Delhi)
There is no dispute with regard to the fact that the three items of the expenses have been disallowed on estimate basis. The basis of such disallowances is said to be incompleteness of the bills and vouchers. However, the Assessing Officer has not pointed out as to which bills and vouchers were found to be wanting.
Learned counsel for the assessee has relied upon the decision of the Tribunal rendered in the case of Tripat Kaur Vs. ACIT in ITA no. 3244/Del/2012 dated 07.09.2012, wherein the Tribunal has held as under:
“6. We have heard the rival contentions in light of the material produced. We find that the addition on account of travelling expenses was totally based on surmises and conjectures. Assessing Officer has not brought on record any cogent basis as to why this expenditure was to be disallowed. It is not the case that expenditure was considered to be bogus or any shortcoming in the vouchers in this regard was observed by the Revenue. Under the circumstances, we hold that estimated addition without any basis cannot be sustained. In this regard, the case law relied upon by the Ld. Counsel of the assessee in the case of the ITO vs. Lake Palace Hotels and Motels (P) Ltd. 13 TTJ (JP) 216 is germane. In this case, it was held that the travelling expenses and salary expenses, addition made on estimate basis cannot be justified. Moreover, disallowance is also not justified merely on the ground that similar disallowance was made in the previous year. Accordingly, in the background of the aforesaid discussions and precedent, we hold that the addition on account of travelling expenses is liable to be deleted and hence, we set aside the ITA NO. 3244/Del/20i2 orders of the authorities below and decided the issue in favour of the assessee.”
The facts in the present case are similar. In the present case also the assessing authority has disallowed the expenses purely on the basis of estimation without specifying the instances where the vouchers were found to be incomplete or missing. Therefore, respectfully following the binding precedence, I direct the Assessing Officer to delete the addition.
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