Chinthalapudi Ramakrishna Vs ITO (ITAT Hyderabad)
ITAT Hyderabad held that addition towards unexplained money under section 69A of the Income Tax Act is liable to be set aside and matter is remanded back to AO since additional evidences submitted by the assessee needs to be verified by lower authorities.
Facts- On the basis of information available, AO noticed substantial transactions aggregating to Rs.136,25,180/- in the Andhra Bank account of the assessee. Accordingly, after passing an order u/s. 148A(d) on 25.04.2022, AO issued notice u/s. 148 of the Act on 26.04.2022. During the reassessment proceedings, AO found that the assessee had deposited cash of Rs.136,68,180/- along with other credits of Rs.8,29,492/- in his bank account, totalling Rs.144,97,672/-. AO treated the entire deposit of Rs.144,97,672/- in the bank account as unexplained money u/s. 69A of the Act and completed the assessment u/s. 147 r.w.s. 144 & 144B on 16.03.2024.
CIT(A) confirmed the addition made by AO. Being aggrieved, the present appeal is filed.
Conclusion- Held that the assessee has now filed for the first time before us additional evidences such as GST returns (Sept. 2017 – Mar. 2018), Commercial Tax Department’s assessment order dated 15.05.2019 and copies of some sales invoices placed at page nos. 17 to 39 of the paper book. On perusal, these documents prima facie support the assessee’s claim of being engaged in genuine business activities. However, since these evidences were never examined by the lower authorities, the verification of the same is required. The genuineness of the audit report dated 30.04.2022 also needs to be examined.
