Ashfak Kasam Patel Vs ITO (ITAT Pune)
Wrong Claim in Original Return Does Not Automatically Defeat Genuine Chapter VI-A Deduction- ITAT Orders Fresh Verification
The Pune ITAT held that merely because an assessee had admitted certain mistakes in the original return and voluntarily repaid excess refund received, a genuine claim for deduction under Chapter VI-A cannot be denied without proper verification. The matter was restored to the Assessing Officer for fresh examination.
The assessee, a salaried employee of Bosch Ltd., had originally filed returns claiming deductions under Chapter VI-A and a loss under the head “House Property”. Subsequently, he discovered that his tax consultant had made certain incorrect claims, resulting in excess refund being granted. The assessee voluntarily repaid the excess refund along with interest to the Government.
During reassessment proceedings, the Assessing Officer denied the entire Chapter VI-A deduction for AYs 2016-17 and 2017-18 on the ground that the assessee himself had admitted mistakes in the original returns. However, the assessee contended that deductions such as contributions to Provident Fund, LIC premium and tuition fees were genuine deductions reflected in Form 16 issued by the employer.
The Tribunal observed that the deductions claimed under Chapter VI-A appeared to be supported by Form 16 and other evidence, and therefore their correctness required proper verification. At the same time, the ITAT noted that the assessee had again claimed the refunded amount, which had already been repaid to the Government, as prepaid taxes in the reassessment return, which was not permissible.
Accordingly, the ITAT restored the matter to the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer for the limited purpose of verifying the admissibility of the Chapter VI-A deductions on the basis of Form 16 and supporting evidence, while also directing the assessee to file a revised computation excluding the excess refund already received and repaid. The appeals were allowed for statistical purposes.
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF ITAT PUNE
