TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (1) TMI 18
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....ved, we shall take up ITA No. 203/Viz/2023 (AY: 2015-16) as a lead appeal. ITA No. 203/Viz/2023 (AY: 2015-16) 2. This appeal filed by the Revenue against the order of the Ld. CIT(A), Visakhapatnam-3 arising out of the order passed u/s. 153A of the Income Tax Act (the Act) in DIN & Order No ITBA/AST/S/153A/2021-22/1041719889(1), dated 27/03/2022 for the AY 2015-16. 3. Brief facts of the case are that the assessee is a Private Limited Company deriving income from Aqua Culture filed its return of income on 29/09/2015 declaring total income of Rs. 21,56,660/-. Subsequently, a search and seizure operation u/s. 132 of the Act was conducted on 28/01/2021 in the case of the assessee. Since the impugned assessment year falls under the block of six years a notice u/s. 153A of the Act was issued. In response, the assessee filed its return of income on 29/11/2021 admitting total income of Rs. 1,29,56,660/- by including an additional income of Rs. 1,08,00,000/-. Subsequently, the Ld. AO issued notices u/s. 143(2) and 142(1) of the Act. In response the assessee furnished the information as called for by the Ld. AO from time to time. During the search operations, certain amount of cas....
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....21 as under: S. No. Entity Own (Acres) Leased (Acres) Total (Acres) 1. Usha Bala Agro Farms (P) Ltd 130 110 240 2. UBK Hotels & Resorts (P) Ltd _ 65 65 3. VBK Exim (P) Ltd 52 52 Total 130 227 357 The Ld. AO further observed that since the Aqua Culture activity being operated in 357 Acres, the exact entity of each transaction could not be identified by Sri VV Balakrishna Rao. Therefore, the Ld. AO based on the seized material vide Annexures UPF/RP/EL/41, 74, 81, 82, 90 to 155 observed that there are various types of unaccounted receipts and payments including Aqua culture pertaining to the entities Usha Bala Agro Farms Pvt Ltd (UBAFPL), UBK Hotels & Resorts Pvt Ltd (UBKHRPL) and VBK Exim Pvt Ltd (VBKEPL). The details of the receipts and payments for the FY 2014-15 relevant to the AY 2015-16 are segregated in respect of UBAF & UBKH & VBKE as under: Transaction Type Receipts Transaction Type Payments Fish Sales 47502079 Payments 4206417 Lease Income 20615744 Feed Purchase 9978839 Receipts 7708022 Land Purchase in ITR 0 Lease Income & Fish Sales....
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....nds given on own culture and leased rental receipts could not be accepted since the activities of pisci culture is not so profitable. The assessee also further submitted before the Ld. AO that the income on fish culture per acre would be between Rs. 30,000/- to Rs. 35,000/- on own lands and Rs. 20,000/- to Rs. 25,000/- from leased lands. The assessee also submitted that the bund area should be excluded while computing the income from Aqua Culture on acre basis. The Ld. AO observed that the above submissions were not supported by cogent evidences and hence rejected the objections raised by the assessee. The Ld. AO therefore proceeded to add an amount of Rs. 3,47,92,824/- to the total income of the assessee as undisclosed income. Aggrieved by the order of the Ld. AO, the assessee filed an appeal before the Ld. CIT(A)-3, Visakhapatnam. 4. On appeal, the Ld. CIT(A), considering the submissions of the assessee's Representative, found that no separate entity wise transactions are recorded in the said hand written books. The Ld CIT also found that the basis for working out of the undisclosed income of the assessee for the year under consideration lacks clarity by the Ld. AO. Further, t....
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....eral in nature and therefore they need no adjudication. 6. Grounds No. 2, 3 & 4 are with respect to deletion of addition by the Ld. CIT (A) by relying on the Board Instruction and the decision of the jurisdictional ITAT Bench in the case of Krishna Fisheries Vijayawada (supra). The Ld. DR at the outset submitted that in the case relied on by the Ld. CIT(A) in the case of Krishna Fisheries Vijayawada (supra) there is no incriminating material. However, in the instant case, there is incriminating material which has been relied on by the Ld. AO while making the additions. The Ld. AR therefore pleaded that the order of the Ld. AO be upheld. Per contra, the Ld. Authorized Representative referred to the sworn statement of the Managing Director wherein he has clearly mentioned that the rough cash books prepared by the Accountant cannot be relied upon. Further, the Ld. AR submitted that with respect to the receipts and payments prepared by the Ld. AO based on the seized material, there is no authenticity of the income receipts extracted by the Ld. AO. Further, the Ld. AR also argued that the Ld. AO also failed to identify the undisclosed income entity wise and has merely estimated ba....
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....bsp; 2,40,86,862 168 1,43,374 2018-19 2,29,14,122 2,29,14,122 168 1,36,394 2019-20 2,79,06,292 2,79,06,292 168 1,66,109 Calculation of per Acre income as per AO without deducting bunds portion AY Addition made as per the AO Admitted income in 153 returns Total income Total acreage cultivated Per acre income 2015-16 2,74,72,850 2,74,72,850 240 1,14,470 2016-17 1,59,43,297 1,59,43,297 240 66,430 2017-18 2,40,86,862 2,40,86,862 240 1,00,362 2018-19 2,29,14,122 2,29,14,122 240 95,476 2019-20 2,79,06,292 2,79,06,292 240 1,16,276 The Ld. AR therefore pleaded that since the assessee has declared higher income, the order of the Ld. CIT(A) be upheld. 7. We have heard both the sides and perused the material available on record as well as the orders of the Ld. Revenue Authorities. It is an admitted fact that the assessee has offered an additional income of Rs. 1,08,00,000/- while filing return of income u/s. 153A of the Act which translates to Rs. 74,458/- per Acre. Based on the land h....
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.... by the Ld. AR that if the addition is made as per the Ld. AO, the income per acre on an average works out to Rs. 1,20,000/- which is practically impossible in the opinion of the assessee in this trade. From the facts discussed as above, we are of the considered view that since the assessee has offered an amount of Rs. 74,458/-per Acre (net of Bund area), and which is more than the rate per Acre fixed by the jurisdictional Bench, the Ld. CIT(A) has rightly held and deleted the addition made without any justification / corroborative evidences, by the Ld. AO, and therefore we find no infirmity in the order of the Ld. CIT(A) and thereby dismiss the grounds raised by the Revenue. 8. In the result, appeal of the Revenue is dismissed. I.T.A. Nos. 204, 205, 206 & 207/Viz/2023 Assessment Years: 2016-17 to 2019-20 9. These appeals are filed by the Revenue against the orders of the Ld. CIT(A), Visakhapatnam-3 arising out of the orders passed u/s. 153A of the Act. 10. In all these appeals for the AYs 2016-17 to 2019-20, the Revenue has raised identical grounds to that of the grounds of appeal for the AY 2015-16. Therefore, our decision given on the issues raised by the Revenue ....