Completed search assessments need incriminating material, and unexplained-money additions require proof of ownership before section 69A can apply.

For a completed, unabated assessment, additions under section 153A of the Income-tax Act cannot be made unless supported by incriminating material found during the search; material already available with the Revenue does not justify disturbing finality. The article also states that an addition under section 69A fails unless the Revenue first proves that the assessee owned the money or asset in question. On the facts described, the foreign bank accounts stood in the names of foreign entities and the evidence did not establish ownership or control by the assessee, so the additions were held unsustainable and the Tribunal's deletion was upheld.

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Issues: (i) Whether, in respect of a completed assessment that had not abated, additions under section 153A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 could be made in the absence of incriminating material found during search; and (ii) whether an addition under section 69A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 could be sustained without establishing that the assessee was the owner of the money in the foreign bank accounts.

Issue (i): Whether, in respect of a completed assessment that had not abated, additions under section 153A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 could be made in the absence of incriminating material found during search.

Analysis: The assessment year in question had attained finality before the search, as no scrutiny notice had been issued and the assessment had not abated. The additions were founded only on the Base Note, which was already available with the Revenue and was not shown to be material unearthed in the search. The governing principle applied was that for completed or unabated assessments, jurisdiction under section 153A is confined to additions based on incriminating material found during search, and other material cannot be used to disturb such final assessments.

Conclusion: The additions made under section 153A were unsustainable and the assessee succeeded on this issue.

Issue (ii): Whether an addition under section 69A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 could be sustained without establishing that the assessee was the owner of the money in the foreign bank accounts.

Analysis: Section 69A requires the Revenue first to show that the assessee is the owner of the money or other valuable article and that the asset is unexplained. The bank accounts stood in the names of foreign entities, and the evidence on record, including bank confirmation and contemporaneous statements, did not establish ownership or control by the assessee. The burden to link the assessee to the asset was not discharged.

Conclusion: The addition under section 69A could not be sustained and the assessee succeeded on this issue.

Final Conclusion: The appeals raised no substantial question of law, the Tribunal's deletion of the additions was upheld, and the Revenue's challenge failed.

Ratio Decidendi: In a completed and unabated search assessment, additions under section 153A can be made only on the basis of incriminating material found during search, and an addition under section 69A cannot stand unless the Revenue first establishes the assessee's ownership of the alleged money or asset.

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