Voluntary admission of income during survey cannot be challenged first at the Tribunal absent foundational facts; tax upheld.

Voluntary offer of income during a survey and its subsequent declaration in the return cannot be contested for non taxability for the first time at the Tribunal where foundational facts were not placed before earlier authorities. The Court applied principles limiting Tribunal intervention on mixed questions of fact and law absent foundational facts on record and noted statutory routes for revision of returns and limited scrutiny scope. Allowing a late challenge would undermine finality of admissions in returns. Outcome: the Tribunal was justified in upholding taxation of the declared sum and in declining to entertain the new plea; the appeal was dismissed on that basis.

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Issues: (i) Whether the Tribunal was correct in upholding the taxation of the sum of Rs. 1,14,20,100/- voluntarily offered by the assessee during survey and declared in the return, and in refusing to entertain for the first time before it a plea that the admitted sum was not taxable.

Analysis: The Court noted that a survey under Section 133A was conducted and the assessee voluntarily offered Rs. 1,14,20,100/- by letter dated 29.09.2016 and subsequently declared that amount in the return filed on 20.11.2017. The statutory framework permits revision of returns under Section 139(5) and confines limited scrutiny to the matters for which selection is made. The Tribunal has discretion under Section 254 to entertain new grounds of law if foundational facts are on record; however, where the contention raised for the first time before the Tribunal involves mixed questions of fact and law and foundational facts were not placed before the lower authorities, the Tribunal cannot adjudicate the matter on merits. The Court observed that the assessee neither retracted the admission nor revised the return, paid tax on the declared amount, and did not challenge the taxability of the admitted amount before the Assessing Officer or the Commissioner (Appeals), who was only asked to examine applicability of Section 115BBE. The Court further noted that allowing the assessee to challenge the admitted income at the Tribunal stage, in the absence of foundational facts and without availing statutory remedies, would undermine the finality of admissions in returns.

Conclusion: The Tribunal's decision upholding taxation of Rs. 1,14,20,100/- and declining to entertain the plea of non-taxability raised for the first time before it is justified; the appeal is dismissed and the assessment confirmed in that respect.

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