The Ranchi Bench of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) remanded the matter to the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) emphasizing that it has no power to dismiss an income tax appeal solely based on non-prosecution without addressing the merits of the case.
Assessee, Maa Chintpurni Mining Pvt. Ltd, the assessee filed its income tax return for the assessment year 2015-16 declaring a total income of Rs. 21,960 which was selected for limited scrutiny due to the large share premium during the year.
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The assessee failed to confirm with the assessing officer (AO) whether the amount of Rs.68,11,000 was a share premium or otherwise. The assessee did not comply with the AO notices which led to the addition of taxable income under Section 68 of the Income Tax Act. The AO framed the assessment under 144 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 assessing Rs.68,32,955 as total income.
Aggrieved by the AO order, the assessee appealed before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) stating that the AO erred in making the addition which was not the subject matter of limited scrutiny. Despite several notices sent through the ITBA portal, there was no response from the assessee. The first appeal authority dismissed the appeal based on the materials on record and upheld the addition made by the AO.
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The assessee appealed before the ITAT, Ranchi against the order of the CIT(A). The assessee’s counsel represented by R.R. Mittal submitted that the AO exceeded his jurisdiction by expanding the limited scrutiny to full scrutiny without proper authorization. The assessee’s main concern is that CIT(A) did not consider the written submissions made through the e-filing portal before dismissing the matter.
On the other hand, the revenue counsel represented by P.K.Koley argued that the assessee failed to address the nature of the amount received and did not comply with the notices during the assessment proceedings. The revenue counsel supported the assessing office addition and the CIT(A) decision.
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The two-member bench comprising Partha Sarathi Chaudhury (Judicial Member) and Prabhash Shankar (Accountant Member) observed that the CIT(A) was not aware of the written submission made by the assessee through the e-filing portal due to some technical glitches.
The tribunal noted there was a lack of communication and emphasized that CIT(A) has no power to dismiss the appeal of the assessee on account of non-prosecution without deciding on the merits of the case.
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Given the technical glitches and the miscommunication, the tribunal decided to remand the case back to the CIT(A) for a fresh decision after taking into account the submissions made by the assessee.
The appeal was allowed for statistical purposes.
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