In assessment under s.153A, the core issue was whether additions...

In assessment under s.153A, the core issue was whether additions for alleged unreported commission could be sustained on the basis of seized documents. The tribunal held that the seized material did not belong to the assessee; therefore, any assessment or addition founded on such documents lacked evidentiary basis and was unsustainable, resulting in deletion of the commission additions. On the related issue of the first appellate authority's direction to adopt a commission/net profit rate by referencing a rate used by the Settlement Commission in another group's case, the tribunal held that this direction was inseparably premised on the same incriminating material and thus could not survive; the assessee's ground was allowed. - ITAT