Surrender of Income during survey

[Sanjay Aggarwal]

A survey was conducted on the assessee in December, 2009. The survey party did not find anything descremenating. However, the assessee was forced to surrender an amount of Rs. 1 crore on the basis of some jottings made by the assessee containing dates falling in FY 2009-2010. The assessee while recording the statement, pleaded that no penalty be levied on this amount and paid the tax on this income. The assessee subsequently, in the month of January 2010, deposited the surrendered amount in his bank account. As already stated, the assessee has already deposited tax on this income. So that no penalty is levied on this income, The queries are as under:- Under what head of Income, this income should be declared by the assessee? Is assessee required to disclose the source of this cash and prove source of this cash

[Darshan Jain]

Declaration according to you is made on the basis of some Jotting, which is incriminating doc u/s.292C of the Act. You have stated that declaration was made on the basis of such jottings. The nature of jottings, in fact, would determine the head of income under which income is to be offered. Penalty cannot be levied if income pertaining to the year of survey is duly disclosed in assessee's return of income. You may note that s.271AAA is not applicable to proceedings u/s.133A and hence there is no requirement to specify / substantiate the manner in which the undisclosed income was derived.

AI Summary

Declaration based on incriminating jotting: head of income depends on jotting's nature; penalty barred if disclosed under survey. Surrendered cash declared during a survey based on the assessee's jottings is treated as declaration rooted in incriminating evidence; the head of income depends on the nature of those jottings. If the amount pertains to the survey year and is disclosed in the return, penalty provisions do not apply. Survey proceedings do not require the taxpayer to specify or substantiate the manner of derivation of the undisclosed income as would be required under other assessment provisions, though tax can be paid and deposited.