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2023 (7) TMI 819
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....ctions in Securities) Act, 1992, and all her assets including bank accounts were attached and vested in the hands of the Custodian appointed under the said Act. Pursuant to the order dated 14/01/2015 passed by the Tribunal in WTA No. 35/Mum./2013, the Wealth Tax Officer ("WTO") issued a notice under section 16(4) of the Act directing the assessee to furnish various details. However, in the absence of the evidence, the WTO vide order dated 30/03/2016 passed under section 17 read with section 24 of the Act, computed the net wealth of the assessee at Rs.505,72,58,517, by making the following additions:- "Net wealth as on 31.03.1991 = Rs.8,26,33,600 Add: i) Income during A.Y. 1992-93 = Rs.255,07,68,308 ii) Appreciation in value of asset = Rs.3,96,18,86,766 iii) Appreciation in value of jewellery = Rs.46,080 iv) Value of stock exchange membership card - = Rs.62,50,000 = Rs.660,15,84,754 Less: i) Personal expenses = (Rs.5,00,000) Gross Wealth = Rs.660,10,84,754 Less: I.T. liability = (Rs.142,93,74,864) Less: Wealth tax liability = (Rs.11,44,51,373) Net wealth = Rs.505,72,58,517" 4. The learned CIT(A),....
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....ut appreciating the fact that the books of accounts of the assessee as unreliable? 2. Whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Ld.CIT(A) was justified in directing the A.O to charge interest u/s 31 of the Wealth Tax Act from the date of latest assessment order and not from original assessment order without appreciating the facts that the demand was raised and assessee is liable to pay interest only from the date of original assessment order? 3. The appellant craves to leave, to add, to amend and / or to alter any of the ground of appeal, if need be." 7. Since the issue arising in grounds no.1 and 2, raised in assessee's appeal, and grounds no. 1, raised in Revenue‟s appeal, pertains to addition on account of appreciation in the value of assets, therefore the aforesaid grounds are dealt with together. 8. The brief facts of the case pertaining to this issue, as emanating from the record, are: A search and seizure operation was carried out at the premises of the assessee on 27/09/1990 and 28/02/1992. During the search, a large number of documents and valuables were seized. It was found that the assessee was in possession of assets re....
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.... Representative ("learned AR") submitted that the WTO cannot make an addition on account of net wealth by simply picking the figure of addition made in the Income Tax assessment order. It was further submitted that the onus is on the WTO to demonstrate and establish beyond doubt that the additions so made in the Income Tax proceedings represent „assets' as defined in section 2(e) of the Act. On a without prejudice basis, the learned AR submitted that since the addition has already been deleted by the Tribunal substantially, no fault can be found with the addition so reduced by the learned CIT(A) vide impugned order. 12. On the contrary, the learned Departmental Representative ("learned DR") vehemently relied upon the order passed by the WTO. 13. We have considered the submissions of both sides and perused the material available on record. We find that while dealing with similar arguments of the assessee, the learned CIT(A), vide impugned order, held that the case of the assessee is a peculiar one, as no books of accounts were furnished by the assessee at the time of search under section 132 of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Further, it was found that most of the details of t....
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....f shares was calculated at Rs. 396,18,86,766, after reducing the market value of shares as on 31/03/1991, and cost of shares acquired during the relevant financial year from the market value of shares as on 31/03/1992. Even in the assessment order dated 30/03/2016, passed under section 17 read with section 24 of the Act, in the third round of Wealth Tax assessment proceedings, there was no change in the amount of appreciation in the value of assets. The learned CIT(A), vide impugned order, dismissed the ground raised by the assessee on this issue. Being aggrieved, the assessee is in appeal before us. 16. The learned AR submitted that the coordinate bench of the Tribunal vide order dated 14/01/2019, deleted the addition made by the AO on account of profit on the sale of shares since the investments determined by the AO were not proved by producing any evidence on record. 17. On the other hand, the learned DR vehemently relied on the order passed by the lower authorities. 18. We have considered the submissions of both sides and perused the material available on record. In the present case, it is evident from the record that since the assessee had not produced her books of ac....
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....vant findings of the coordinate bench, in the aforesaid decision, are reproduced as under:- "15.37. We noted from the original order passed u/s 144 by the assessing officer and referred to before us during the course of hearing that the AO has computed the closing stock of shares of various companies acquired by the assessee on the basis of opening stock, purchases and sale of shares compiled by him on basis of information received from various sources as submitted by ld DR. In doing so, he has taken closing stock of shares of last Assessment Year (i.e. AY 1991-92) as opening stock for AY 1992-93. Thereafter, he has gathered the details of purchases and sale of shares affected by the assessee from various sources such as B.S.E. brokers, clients, financial institutions, companies, banks, receipt and payment details from RBI, information received from other entities from the group of the assessee etc. during the period 01.04.1991 to 31.03.1992 and for the period 01.04.1992 to 08.06.1992 without providing the copies of these information to the assessee for his rebuttal and without affording cross examination of the parties from where these information has been received even t....
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....of the same being repeatedly asked for. We noted from page 10 para 3 of the original assessment order that the assessing officer himself observed "The assessee has insisted on inspection of the original copies of the data/information gathered". We also noted that the assessee has furnished several letters since 10.12.1994 till 22.3.2016 before Assessing officer, CIT(A) and DCIT asking for the inspection and copies of the material as well as cross examination of the parties, the details of which were filed before us as listed hereinabove but not denied by the Ld DR. We do agree that onus is on the revenue to adduce main and supporting evidence on the basis of which the huge additions are made. Until these evidences and details are not provided, the assessee cannot rebut the same. Even a number of discrepancies were demonstrated in the quantity of registered shares mentioned in the Annexure S-3 to the AO when compared with the custodian's letter dt. 29.10.1993. Even a chart showing such discrepancies which we pursued was filed before us, the copy of which was given to revenue which was not contradicted by the ld DR. Under these facts and circumstances, we are of the firm view that na....
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....already been given to the assessee and the same is not required to be given again to the assessee, even before the tribunal. The assessee submitted para wise reply to the said remand report before us. The assessee ultimately summarized its observations in respect of various enclosures of the remand report dt.2.3.2018:- Sr. No. Enclosure as per the Covering Letter Applicant's observation a) Copies of order sheets (1 to 121 pages) Several pages are not readable. Also certain pages are missing b) Remand Report Enclosure is missing c) Letter of assessee's name (1 to 3 pages) Page no.1 is assessee's letter asking for inspection. Page no.2 to 5 is the photocopy of the order of the Hon'ble Special Court dated 24.08.1993 in relation to release of money towards advance tax is provided (photocopies are not readable). d) Dot matrix paper table (25 to 29 pages These pages are not readable e) Mahzernama Page no.1, specifies the name of the persons who shall take inspection. No further details are provided. Page nos.2 and 3 are Mahzernama and not assessee's letter. 15.40. On going through the annexure, we noticed that these are old c....
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....ed by the revenue even though we have given sufficient opportunity to the revenue to adduce the relevant material on the basis of the figures of purchases and sales of the shares have been computed and we noted earlier also this issue has been restored by the tribunal three times to the authorities below but instead of bringing any clinching evidence on record, additions are being made as were made in the original assessment passed u/s 144 of the Income Tax act. The original assessment was made in the case of the assessee on 27.3.1995 and the matter is being hanging since then i.e. more than 25 years have passed but the revenue could not discharge its onus. The shortage so computed in our view is just based on estimate and surmises. The onus is on the revenue to prove that the assessee has earned the income. Even we noted that the assessing officer by working out the shortage on 8.6.92, assumed as if the assessee has sold all the shares as on 31.3.1992 i.e. in a single day and that too in cash although no such material or evidence being brought on record. If the shortage has been computed as on 8.6.92, how the sales can be assumed to take place as on 31.3.1992 and at the rate preva....
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....ound no.4 is dismissed as not pressed. 21. The issue arising in ground no.5, raised in assessee's appeal, is pertaining to the addition on account of the value of stock exchange membership card. 22. The brief facts of the case pertaining to this issue, as emanating from the record, are: The WTO, vide first assessment order dated 28/03/1995, passed under section 16(3) of the Act, on the basis of information received from Bombay Stock Exchange ("BSE") added the value of stock exchange membership card of Rs.62,50,000, to the gross wealth of the assessee. The said addition remained unaltered even in the third round of proceedings, which resulted in the present appeal. The learned CIT(A), vide impugned order, dismissed the ground raised by the assessee on this issue by placing reliance upon the decision of its predecessors in earlier rounds of litigation. Being aggrieved, the assessee is in appeal before us. 23. During the hearing, the learned AR submitted that no addition can be made on account of the stock exchange membership card as the same cannot be treated as property for the purpose of the Act. 24. On the contrary, the learned DR vehemently relied upon the orders pass....
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....d Mr. Ashwin S. Mehta and their brokerage firms. The learned CIT(A), vide impugned order, dismissed the ground raised by the assessee on this issue on the basis that the AO in the assessment order dated 17/01/2022, for the assessment year 1991-92, has given the deduction for the credit balances in the case of the assessee. It was further held that the figure of total income has been taken as the basis of computation of taxable wealth in the case of the assessee for the assessment year 1991-92 and a net wealth determined for the assessment year 1991-92 has, in turn, become the base figure for computing the net wealth for the assessment year 1992-93. Thus, it was held that the assessee cannot claim that the liabilities incurred in relation to assets belonging to the assessee while determining the net wealth have not been considered in the case of the assessee. We deem it appropriate to set aside the impugned order on this issue and restore the issue to the file of the WTO for de novo adjudication as per law after necessary verification. As a result, ground no.9 raised in assessee's appeal is allowed for statistical purposes. 29. The issue arising in ground No. 10 raised in assesse....