The Chennai Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) recently opined that a Will executed even on a plain paper is admissible while adjudging an Appeal regarding an Assessee’s disputed income and the exemptions claimed thereunder.
The statement was made by ITAT while hearing an Income Tax Appeal filed by the Assessee, Shri Kolandasamy against the Order of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), National Faceless Appeal Centre , Delhi upholding the Assessment Officer’s (AO) rejection of Will furnished by the Assessee.
Step by Step Guidance for Tax Audit & E-filing, Click Here
The unregistered Will dated 06.09.2010 produced by the Assessee, was claimed to be executed by the Assessee’s father and sought to provide an amount of Rs.5 Lacs to the Assessee and Rs.20 Lacs, distributed between the Assessee’s two children.
The amounts were deemed to be generated by the Assessee’s father by means of farming conducted on their ancestral property, and thus sought to be classified as ‘Agricultural Income under the Income Tax Act, 1961.
The Will adduced by the Assessee to prove his Sources of Income for the Assessment Year 2012-13, was summarily rejected by the AO alleging that the same had been fabricated by the Assessee to illicitly avail Agricultural Exemptions.
Step by Step Guidance for Tax Audit & E-filing, Click Here
The AO further observed that the Adangal Certificate issued by the Mandal Revenue Office recorded the cultivation of coconut tree, sugarcane, paddy and gingelly as opposed to the Assessee’s submission that the Income had been generated by sale of turmeric.
Subsequently, the AO classified the cash deposit of Rs.15.50 Lacs by the Assessee under Section 69A (Unexplained Money) and the Agricultural Income of Rs.9.37 Lacs as ‘income from other sources’ under the Income Tax Act, 1961. The AO only allowed capital gains of Rs.0.41 Lacs received by the Assessee through the sale of Agricultural Land to be classified as ‘Agricultural Income’.
Step by Step Guidance for Tax Audit & E-filing, Click Here
The two-member Bench of ITAT, Chennai comprising Manoj Kumar Aggarwal, Accountant Member and Manu Kumar, Judicial Member observed that the unregistered will executed by the Assessee’s late father stated that the Assessee has been bequeathed a total amount of Rs.25 Lacs explaining the source of cash deposit.
ITAT further observed that there is no statutory requirement to notarize a will to prove its effectivity and that a “will executed even on a plain paper is admissible”.
Step by Step Guidance for Tax Audit & E-filing, Click Here
In conclusion, the Bench while partly allowing the Appeal held that, ‘once the onus for proving the veracity of the Will has been discharged by the Assessee, the same cannot be usurped by the AO without bringing concrete evidence on record to establish that the Will was a fabricated one’.
In the absence of conclusive evidence vitiating the Will, ITAT proceeded to accept the Agricultural Income returned by the Assessee.
Subscribe Taxscan Premium to view the JudgmentSupport our journalism by subscribing to Taxscan premium. Follow us on Telegram for quick updates
