TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (3) TMI 802
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....n Jersey is GBP 17200 equivalent to 200000 USD approximately. The AO noticed that the assessee has not disclosed the above said foreign assets in Schedule FA of the returns of income filed for AY 2012-13 to 2018-19. The declaration of foreign assets and income is made mandatory under the Income Tax Act. Hence, the AO issued summons u/s 131 of the Act to make enquiries, but the assessee did not furnish any reply. Hence, a survey action u/s 133A of the Act was carried out in the business premises of the assessee. A statement u/s 131 of the Act was also taken at that time, wherein he admitted that he is having a bank account with Standard Chartered Bank in Jersey which is jointly held by him, his wife and his son. He also admitted that the balance lying in that account is approximately 200000 USD. However, he said that the relevant details are not readily available with him. 3. With regard to the sources, he submitted that his father was doing business in Sudan and he opened a bank account in UK in which his father had deposited his earnings from the business. Upon his death in 1984, the bank account was transferred to his mother"s name and later his name was also included by his m....
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.... assess 1/3rd of the deposit amount in the hands of the assessee. On a representation from the assessee, the AO agreed to consider the entire deposits in the hands of the assessee only. Accordingly, he proposed to assess the entire deposits in the hands of the assessee. 6. The assessee reiterated his submission that the deposits were made by his father only. He further submitted that the said bank accounts were earlier managed by his mother only. Only after her death in 2017, the assessee was having control over those bank accounts. Accordingly, the assessee contended that the BMA proceedings should not be taken against him and further the sources of deposits have been duly explained, i.e., it was inherited by him from his father/mother. The assessee also furnished copies of passport entries of his mother to show that she has travelled to Sudan, Australia, USA, UK, Singapore, Mauritius etc. He submitted that her mother had visited Sudan and stayed there for 22 days in order to settle all the pending matters. He also submitted that his elder brother was born in Sudan in 1950, which fact proves that his parents have resided in Sudan during that point of time. The assessee also fur....
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....dition made by the AO. The assessee is aggrieved. 8. We heard the parties and perused the record. We notice that the AO has assessed the sum of 241085.33 USD equivalent to Rs. 1,56,75,368/- under the BMA Act. The above said amount was available with the bank Account No. 1010787089 maintained with Standard Chartered Bank. However, as per the information received by the AO, there were many bank accounts in the name of the family members of the assessee with Standard Chartered Bank. The AO has discussed about them in the assessment order. As per the discussions so made, the family members of the assessee were having following bank accounts:- (a) In the name of Assessee and his mother Smt Manjula Jethalal Modi:-1010730702 and 1010145656; (b) In the name of Assessee, his wife (Dipti N Modi) and Son (Aditya N Modi):-1010787488 and 1010787089 The assessee explained that funds have been transferred between the bank accounts and the actual amount of deposits found to have been made was only 241085.33 USD equivalent to Rs. 1,56,75,368/-. The AO has also accepted the same. Thus, the fact that the deposits were initially available in the bank accounts held in the joint ....
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.... Following explanations given by the assessee before the AO are worth noting:- "1.2 In the given case, as already mentioned in my detailed reply dated 6th December 2018 and 5th February 2019, I reiterate that in the late 1940s, my father, Late Shri. Jethalal Modi was employed in Sudan. During his stay in Sudan, he was seconded to Japan for a period of two to three years and thereafter he returned to Sudan. His stay outside India was for almost 15 years. This can be substantiated from the fact that my elder brother was born in Sudan in 1950. During his stay in Sudan, he had his savings in two bank accounts in London, one with Natwest bank and other with Standard Chartered bank, which were in the joint name of my father and my mother. This was given to understand to me by my mother. During this period, my father and mother were non-resident Indians. They have not kept any documents with us. In the early 1960s, my father returned back to India after winding up his business and the bank accounts in London were still operational being his savings out of his eamings abroad. After the death of my father in the year 1984, at the instance of my mother, I was added as the j....
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....in Jersey were already disclosed before your goodselves in my first reply dated 6th December 2018 and the fact that there is a bank account in Jersey was also accepted by me. Further, it can also be observed that the facts, as disclosed or explained by me above and in my earlier replies, clearly matches with the details of bank accounts provided by you in the captioned show cause notice. Hence adequate explanation of the source of funds has been offered to you. It is presumed that these also meet your satisfaction as in the captioned notice your goodselves have not doubted the genuineness of my above explanation provided earlier to you. 1.4 In light of the above, I submit before your goodselves that the basic requirement of section 2(11) to consider an asset as foreign asset located outside India is not met. Hence, the bank accounts in Jersey are not undisclosed foreign asset located outside India as per the provisions of section 2(11) of the BMA. Therefore, at the foremost, I vehemently submit that the provisions of section 3 of the BMA are not applicable since there is no undisclosed foreign income and/or asset outside India as I have clearly explained the source of inve....