ITAT allowed the appeal, directing that cash payments to unnamed...

ITAT allowed the appeal, directing that cash payments to unnamed sub-contractors be allowed as business expenditure. The tribunal found the assessee, engaged in tentage contracts, had substantiated payments by producing PANs, ITRs of the sub-contractors, TDS deduction and certificates, and assessment records of those recipients. Given the unregulated nature of the trade, the assessee's declared gross receipts and the relatively small quantum of payments (circa 4% of gross receipts), the tribunal held the expenditures were wholly and exclusively for business and could not be denied solely for being settled in cash; any AO misgivings should have prompted further inquiry rather than blanket disallowance.