2025 (12) TMI 1508

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....ins to the Assessment Year [AY] 2018-19. The grounds of appeal of the assessee are as under:- (i) That the ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) ought to have held that the assessment order passed U/s 143(3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 without providing personal hearing through video conferencing, despite repeated specific requests, was in violation of provisions of section 144B of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and hence, was illegal, void and liable to be quashed. (ii) That neither the ld. Assessing Officer was justified in making the addition of Rs. 60,50,000/- U/s 69C of the Income Tax Act, 1961 on account of unexplained expenditure and charging to tax U/s 115BBE of the Income Tax Act, 1961 nor the ld. Commissioner of ....

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.... non-genuine, and completed the assessment by making an addition of Rs. 60,50,000/- u/s 69C of the Act. 3. Beig aggrieved, the assessee filed 1st appeal before the ld. CIT(A). The ld. CIT(A) vide order dated 12.09.2023dismissed the appeal of the assessee. 4. Being aggrieved, the assessee filed the appeal before the Tribunal. 5. Heard the representatives of both the parties and perused the materials on record. 6. The Ld. AR submitted that, the ld. AO did not provide personal hearing through video conferencing facility to the assessee despite such a request was made by the assessee and thus, the ld. AO did not provide opportunity to the assessee so as to make more effective submission in support of his claims. The Ld. AR also subm....

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....sessee by paying of his money as income tax which is not the object of the Income Tax Act. The assessee must get every opportunity for defending his claims. The assessment of income tax must be free from any doubt and surmises. 10. We observe that, the assessee made a request before the ld. AO for a personal hearing through video conferencing as provided in the Income Tax Act. Section 144B (6)(viii) provides such a provision for granting of personal hearing where such a request comes from the assessee. The section provides as under- " Where the request for personal hearing has been received, the income tax authority of relevant unit shall allow such hearing, through National Faceless Assessment Centre, which shall be conducted e....

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....t, the assessee must get every opportunity to substantiate his claims before the income tax authority. Hence, non-granting of personal hearing to the assessee by the ld. AO certainly deprived the assessee in substantiating his claims before the ld. AO. Further, the ld. AO has made addition on doubt. The ld. CIT(A) in his decision has stated as under---- "After considering the various details including the mode of payment, the invoice and the method of accounting adopted by the assessee in respect of the said machine, the AO raised suspicion about the genuineness of the transaction in respect of acquisition of the machine by the assessee and held the same to be non-genuine, and completed the assessment by making an addition of Rs. 6....