2018 (8) TMI 1045 - AT - Income Tax

Rectification appeal dismissed for indirect expenses disallowance under Income Tax Act.

The appeal for rectification of an order under section 154 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 for Assessment Year 2004-05 was dismissed. The Assessing Officer ... Rejection of application of rectification u/s 154 - Doctrine of merger - ex-parte order was passed by the Assessing Officer (AO) - Held that:- We find that the order passed by the Ld. CIT(A) dated 19.03.2012 against which the rectification application was preferred and ultimately dismissed by the order dated 12.05.2016 merged with the order passed by the Co-ordinate Bench on 10.12.2015 and attained finality. In view of that matter, rectification application of the quantum order dated 19.03.2012 itself has lost its force since the very basis of such application i.e. quantum order dated 19.03.2012 has already been tested and decided in appeal. Consequently, the application before us questioning the validity of rejection of the said rectification application rendered infructuous. Appeal dismissed - Decided against the assessee. Issues involved:1. Rectification of order under section 154 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 for Assessment Year 2004-05.Analysis:Issue 1: Rectification of order under section 154The appeal was filed against the order rejecting the application for rectification of the order dated 16.11.2006 passed by the Assessing Officer. The Assessing Officer disallowed 50% of the indirect expenses of Rs. 73,49,750 due to lack of response and supporting details from the assessee. The Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) upheld the disallowance at 40% for expenses not fully verifiable, while allowing deductions for expenses paid through bank. The claim of bad debts was deleted by the Commissioner. The assessee filed a rectification application under section 154, which was dismissed by the Commissioner on the grounds that the issue had been duly considered in the appeal order dated 19.03.2012. The Tribunal confirmed the disallowance at 20% of the expenses shown in Schedule 'L,' reducing the disallowance amount. The rectification application was rendered infructuous as the quantum order had already been tested and decided in appeal, leading to the dismissal of the appeal.This detailed analysis covers the issues involved in the legal judgment regarding the rectification of the order under section 154 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 for the Assessment Year 2004-05.