Tribunal deletes tax additions for 2014-15 & 2015-16 due to lack of corroborative evidence.

The Tribunal allowed both appeals, deleting the additions of Rs. 12,74,700 and Rs. 2,92,867 for A.Y. 2014-15 and A.Y. 2015-16. It emphasized that no addition could be made solely based on retracted statements without corroborative evidence and that the presumption under Section 292C is rebuttable.

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Issues Involved:

1. Addition of Rs. 12,74,700 as undisclosed income for A.Y. 2014-15.
2. Addition of Rs. 2,92,867 as unexplained expenditure for A.Y. 2015-16.

Detailed Analysis:

1. Addition of Rs. 12,74,700 as Undisclosed Income for A.Y. 2014-15:

The assessee contested the addition of Rs. 12,74,700 as undisclosed income, arguing that the ITRs of female family members were wrongly considered as incriminating material. These ITRs were already in possession of the Income Tax Department before the search and thus cannot be regarded as incriminating material unearthed during the search. No other documents found during the search indicated that the income declared by the assessee or the female members was incorrect. The addition was based solely on statements recorded under section 132(4) during the search, which the assessee later retracted through an affidavit.

The Tribunal observed that the documents found during the search were already in possession of the Income Tax Department and related to different family members, not the assessee. Since no other incriminating material was found, the completed assessment could only be interfered with based on new incriminating material. The Tribunal cited various judicial pronouncements, including the Supreme Court and jurisdictional High Court, which held that no addition could be made solely based on retracted statements without corroborative evidence. The Tribunal concluded that the addition of Rs. 12,74,700 was not sustainable and deleted it.

2. Addition of Rs. 2,92,867 as Unexplained Expenditure for A.Y. 2015-16:

The assessee challenged the addition of Rs. 2,92,867 as unexplained expenditure, arguing that the bills were issued in the name of a shop owned by his nephew Manoj Kumar Yadav, who had accepted the said bills through an affidavit. The Tribunal noted that the seized documents were bills and challans of TMT Bars issued in the name of 'Mehta Kirana Store,' which belonged to the nephew. The same documents were considered in the assessment of the assessee's brother, where no addition was made.

The Tribunal found that the presumption under Section 292C is limited to the correctness of documents found during the search but does not extend to presume an amount as the income of the assessee. The Tribunal cited judicial precedents that supported the view that the presumption under Section 292C is rebuttable. The Tribunal concluded that the addition of Rs. 2,92,867 was not sustainable and deleted it.

Conclusion:

The Tribunal allowed both appeals, deleting the additions of Rs. 12,74,700 and Rs. 2,92,867, respectively, for A.Y. 2014-15 and A.Y. 2015-16. The Tribunal emphasized that no addition could be made solely based on retracted statements without corroborative evidence and that the presumption under Section 292C is rebuttable.

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