Parul Suyal Vs ITO (ITAT Delhi)
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Delhi, partly allowed the assessee’s appeal by holding that the Assessing Officer (AO) was not justified in extrapolating an amount appearing in a seized Excel sheet without supporting evidence. The Tribunal directed that the addition under Section 69 of the Income Tax Act be restricted to the actual amount reflected in the seized document instead of the enhanced figure adopted by the AO.
The appeal arose from an assessment made under Sections 147 and 148 of the Income Tax Act for Assessment Year 2020-21. The assessee had originally filed a return declaring income of ₹2,10,000. Following a search conducted on the Omaxe Group on 14 March 2022, the Investigation Wing found an Excel file allegedly containing details of cash payments made by various customers, including the assessee. Based on this information, the AO issued a notice under Section 148, alleging that the assessee had made an unexplained cash payment for purchase of immovable property during FY 2019-20.
The AO noted that the seized Excel file contained an entry of ₹14,800 against the assessee’s name. Proceeding on the assumption that the figures in the Excel sheet were suppressed by a factor of 100, the AO multiplied the amount by 100 and treated ₹14,80,000 as unexplained cash investment under Section 69. The assessment was completed accordingly. The Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) upheld the addition.
