Manoj Kumar Singh Yadav Vs ITO (ITAT Lucknow)
Lucknow ITAT Deletes ₹1.31 Crore Addition on Cash Deposits by Bank Mitra; Holds Customer Deposits Cannot Be Taxed as Agent’s Income
The Lucknow ITAT held that cash deposits made by a Bank Mitra on behalf of bank customers cannot be treated as unexplained money under section 69A merely because the assessee failed to explain the transactions during assessment proceedings. The Tribunal observed that the assessee had produced documentary evidence, including the Business Correspondent Agreement, establishing that he acted as a Bank Mitra authorised to collect cash from customers and deposit the same into their respective bank accounts. Since the deposits represented customers’ funds and not the assessee’s own money, the addition of ₹1.31 crore under section 69A was deleted by following its earlier decision in ITO v. Shyam Sagar Yadav. The Tribunal also deleted the addition towards alleged rental income, noting that the Revenue failed to establish that such income had not already been offered to tax. Further, while upholding the levy of penalty under section 272A(1)(d) for non-compliance with notices under section 142(1), it held that only one penalty of ₹10,000 can be levied for failure to comply with a particular statutory requirement, irrespective of the number of notices issued, and accordingly deleted the second penalty of ₹10,000.
