Narender Rangineni Vs ITO (ITAT Hyderabad)
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Hyderabad, partly allowed the assessee’s appeal for statistical purposes by remanding two additions made for Assessment Year 2020-21 to the Assessing Officer (AO) for fresh adjudication.
The assessee challenged the order of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), contending that the appellate authority failed to consider requests for additional time, did not adjudicate the jurisdictional issue relating to proceedings under Section 148A, wrongly sustained an addition of Rs.30 lakh as short-term capital gains by treating the entire sale consideration as taxable without considering the cost of acquisition, and upheld an addition of Rs.10,83,713 as unexplained investment under Section 69.
The Tribunal recorded that the assessee did not press the ground challenging the validity of the notice under Section 148, and accordingly dismissed that ground.
Regarding the addition of Rs.30 lakh towards short-term capital gains, the Tribunal noted that the AO had completed the assessment ex parte under Sections 147 read with 144 based on information received from the Sub-Registrar’s Office about the sale of the property. As the assessee had not responded to the notices, the AO assessed the entire sale consideration as short-term capital gains. The Tribunal observed that the correct income should be determined after considering the cost of acquisition and improvement, if established by the assessee. It further noted that the assessee had filed a paper book containing replies submitted during the assessment proceedings, along with the sale deed and purchase deed of the property, but these documents had not been considered either by the AO or by the Commissioner (Appeals). The Tribunal therefore set aside the issue to the AO for fresh adjudication after examining these records and deciding the matter in accordance with law.
