Sanjit Kumar Ghosh, Kolkata V. ITO, Ward-2(2),Durgapur, Durgapur

ITA 417/KOL/2023

AI Insights

The case involves appeals by Sanjit Kumar Ghosh against the orders of the National Faceless Appeal Centre (CIT(A)), which affirmed the disallowances made by the Assessing Officer for the assessment years 2015-16 and 2016-17. The main issues pertained to the disallowance of deductions under section 80C for LIC premiums and school fees, and under section 80D for insurance premiums. Additionally, the assessee contested the inclusion of interest income from savings and fixed deposits, and the treatment of a cooking gas subsidy as taxable income. The Tribunal's decision involved restoring some issues to the Assessing Officer for a detailed examination of the claims and supporting documents.

• Counselvise Citation: [2023] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 128125 (ITAT-KOLKATA)
• Duration Of Justice: 6 month(s) 12 day(s)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 09-11-2023
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: PartlyAllowed
• Bench Allotted: SMC
• Next Hearing Date: 14-06-2023
• Assessment Year: 2016-2017
• Appeal Filed On: 27-04-2023
• Laws Referred To: Income Tax Act
• Result in Favour of: Assessee
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Keywords: Capital receipt
• Section: 145; 80C; 250

Judgement Text

आयकर अपीलȣय अͬधकरण, कोलकाता पीठ ‘एसएमसी’, कोलकाता IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL “SMC” BENCH KOLKATA Įी संजय गग[, ÛयाǓयक सदèय एवं Įी ͬगरȣश अĒवाल, लेखा सदèय के सम¢ Before Shri Sanjay Garg, Judicial Member and Shri Girish Agrawal, Accountant Member I.T.A. Nos.416&417/Kol/2023 Assessment Years: 2015-16 & 2016-17 Sanjit Kumar Ghosh.......................................................................Appellant C/o Jain Vinod K & Associates, 41A, AJC Bose Road, Suite No.613, 6 th Floor, Kolkata-700017. [PAN: ADHPG7981J] vs. ITO, Ward-2(2), Durgapur................................................................. Respondent Appearances by: Shri Vinod Jain, AR, appeared on 15.06.2023 & None appeared on 03.11.2023 on behalf of the appellant. Shri Sanjiv Kumar Paul, Addl. CIT-DR, appeared on 15.06.2023 & Shri B. K. Singh, JCIT – Sr. DR, appeared on 03.11.2023 on behalf of the Respondent. Date of concluding the hearing : June 15, 2023 & November 03, 2023 Date of pronouncing the order : November 10, 2023 आदेश / ORDER संजय गग[, ÛयाǓयक सदèय ɮवारा / Per Sanjay Garg, Judicial Member: The captioned appeals have been preferred by the assessee against the separate orders dated 26.11.2021 & 28.04.2022 of the National Faceless Appeal Centre [hereinafter referred to as ‘CIT(A)’] passed u/s 250 of the Income Tax Act (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Act’) respectively. 2. ITA No.416/Kol/2023 – The assessee in this appeal has taken the following grounds of appeal: “1. That the Ld. CIT(A) NFAC erred in law as well as on facts by affirming the A.O's order to disallow Rs.15,187 U/S 80C. I.T.A. Nos.416&417/Kol/2023 Assessment Years: 2015-16 & 2016-17 Sanjit Kumar Ghosh 2 2. The Ld. CIT(A) erred on facts to affirm the addition made by the AO as interest income from the bank on Saving bank account of Rs.11,478 and accrued interest of RD/FD account of Rs.7,867, aggregate to Rs.19,345. 3. That the Ld. CIT(A) NFAC erred in law as well as on facts by affirming the A.O's to disallow deduction U/S 80TTA of Rs 10,000, corresponding to interest of Rs.11,478 earned on saving bank account, on technical ground. 4. The Ld. CIT(A) NFAC eared on fact to affirmed order of the AO to denied tax credit of Rs.47,170/- paid on 25.02.2019. 5. That the appellant crave leave to adduce, modify, any ground which may arise in course of appeal hearings.” 3. At the outset, the ld. counsel for the assessee has submitted that the assessee in the return of income had claimed deduction under Chapter VI-A of the Act of Rs.1,50,000/-. However, the Assessing Officer disallowed a claim of Rs.1,15187/- u/s 80C of the Act. The ld. counsel for the assessee has submitted that the assessee had claimed deduction on account of LIC premium + school fees of children. However, the Assessing Officer while disallowing the said deduction has not properly examined the documents pertaining to the said claim of deduction. 4. Considering the above submissions, the matter is restored the file of the Assessing Officer with the limited direction to examine the claim of the assessee/documents furnished by the assessee in support of his claim. If the assessee is found entitled to the aforesaid claim of deduction, the Assessing Officer to accordingly allow the deduction. 5. Ground Nos.2 & 3 – Vide Ground Nos.2 & 3, the assessee has agitated the addition of the interest income in respect of saving bank a/c of Rs.11,478/- and accrued interest of RD/FD account of Rs.7867/-. I.T.A. Nos.416&417/Kol/2023 Assessment Years: 2015-16 & 2016-17 Sanjit Kumar Ghosh 3 6. Admittedly, the assessee has earned the aforesaid interest income during the year but the same was not offered for taxation, therefore, the Assessing Officer was justified in making the impugned addition in respect of interest income. However, so far as the claim of the assessee u/s 80TTA is concerned, since the assessee has not claimed interest income of Rs.11,478/- on saving bank account and therefore, the deduction in respect of the same was not claimed. The Assessing Officer, while adding the said interest income, was supposed to grant admissible deduction u/s 80TTA of the Act. Ground Nos.2 & 3 are accordingly decided by confirming the addition of interest income but subject to admissible deduction u/s 80TTA of the Act. 7. Ground No.4 - The assessee vide Ground No.4 has claimed tax credit of Rs.47,170/-. 8. However, a perusal of the assessment order reveals that the said amount was not deposited on account of any advance tax or otherwise, towards tax liability, rather, the said amount was excess refunded to the assessee which the assessee returned to the Department. Even otherwise, no argument has been advanced by the ld. counsel on this ground. Ground No.4 is, therefore, dismissed. 9. Ground No.5 is general in nature. 10. In view of the above, the present appeal of the assessee is treated as partly allowed. 11. ITA No.417/Kol/2023 – The assessee in this appeal has taken the following grounds of appeal: “1. That the Ld. CIT(A) NFAC erred in law as well as on facts by affirming the A.0's order to disallow Rs.11,399 U/S 8OC, though the details and evidences filed. I.T.A. Nos.416&417/Kol/2023 Assessment Years: 2015-16 & 2016-17 Sanjit Kumar Ghosh 4 2. That the Ld. CIT(A) NFAC erred in law as well as on facts by affirming the A.0's order to disallow Rs.9951 U/s 80D, though the details and evidences filed. 3. That the Ld. CIT(A) erred in law and on fact to treat the cooking gas subsidy of Rs.1341 received as Income from other source. 4. That the Ld. CIT(A) erred in law to affirm the additions of Rs.27162 made by the AO as alleged interest earned on saving bank account and Fixed deposit accounts without considering the submission and details filed. 5. That the Ld. CIT(A) NFAC erred in law as well as on facts by affirming the action of the A.0's to disallow deduction U/S 80TTA of Rs 10,000, though eligible on the facts of the case. 6. That the appellant crave leave to adduce, modify, any ground which may arise in course of appeal hearings.” 12. Ground No.1 is relating to the disallowance of Rs.11,399/- u/s 80C of the Act. In view of our observation made above while deciding the identical ground in assessee’s appeal for assessment year 2015-16 in ITA No.416/Kol/2023, this issue is restored to the file of the Assessing Officer for examination of the factual details/evidences furnished by the assessee and accordingly to decide the issue as per our directions given above. 13. Ground no.2 – Vide Ground No.2, the assessee has agitated the disallowance of Rs.9951/- u/s 80D of the Act. This issue is also restored to the file of the Assessing Officer to examine the relevant evidences that may be furnished by the assessee in support of his claim and if the claim of the assessee is found correct, then the Assessing Officer to allow the claim accordingly. 14. Ground No.3 – Vide Ground No.3, the assessee agitated against the cooking gas subsidy of Rs.1341/-. 15. The ld. counsel for the assessee in this respect has submitted that the said subsidy was not taxable being capital receipt. However, as per I.T.A. Nos.416&417/Kol/2023 Assessment Years: 2015-16 & 2016-17 Sanjit Kumar Ghosh 5 the Clause xviii to section 2(24) as inserted by Finance Act 2015 w.e.f 01.04.2016, any assistance in the form of subsidy or grant is taxable. The ld. counsel however has relied upon the following press release: “PRESS RELEASE FINANCE BILL, 2015 - CLARIFICATION AS TO APPLICABILITY OF OFFICIAL AMENDMENT MOVED IN FINANCE BILL, 2015 WITH RESPECT TO DEFINITION OF INCOME - PROVISIONS IN FINANCE BILL, 2015 WILL NOT AFFECT LPGSUBSIDY AND OTHER WELFARE SUBSIDIES RECEIVED BY INDIVIDUALS PRESS RELEASE, DATED 5-5-2015 Certain doubts have been raised in a section of the media about the applicability of the official amendment moved in the Finance Bill, 2015 in the Lok Sabha on 30th April, 2015 with respect to definition of 'income'. Sub-section (2) of section 145 provides that the Central Government may notify Income Computation and Disclosure Standards (1CDS) for any class of assessees or for any class of income. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) notified ICDS on 31.3.2015 vide Notification number S.O. 892 (E) after wide consultations with the stakeholders for which the draft was placed in the public domain. The ICDS is applicable to persons having income chargeable under the head "Profits and gains of business or profession" or "Income from other sources" and following Mercantile System of Accounting. This is not applicable to individuals not having any income chargeable under the head "Profits and gains of business or profession" and receiving LPG subsidy or any other subsidy which is for the welfare of the individual. The Finance Bill, 2015 proposes to align the definition of Income with that provided in ICDS for this purpose. To restate the position, the provision in the Finance Bill, 2015, will not affect the LPG subsidy and other welfare subsidies received by individuals.” 16. In view of above development/clarification relied upon by the ld. counsel, the matter is restored to the file of the Assessing Officer with a direction to examine the above contention of the assessee and to decide the issue afresh. 17. Ground Nos.4 & 5 – These grounds are identical to the Ground nos.2 & 3 in assessee’s appeal for assessment year 2015-16 in ITA No.416/Kol/2023. In view our findings given above, it is directed that the interest income has been rightly added by the Assessing Officer, I.T.A. Nos.416&417/Kol/2023 Assessment Years: 2015-16 & 2016-17 Sanjit Kumar Ghosh 6 however, the same will be subject to admissible deduction u/s 80TTA of the Act. These grounds are accordingly partly allowed. 18. Ground No.6 is general in nature. 19. This appeal of the assessee is treated as partly allowed. 20. In the result, both the appeals are treated as partly allowed. Kolkata, the 10 th November, 2023. Sd/- Sd/- [ͬगरȣश अĒवाल /Girish Agrawal] [संजय गग[ /Sanjay Garg] लेखा सदèय/Accountant Member ÛयाǓयक सदèय/Judicial Member Dated: 03.11.2023. RS Copy of the order forwarded to: 1. Sanjit Kumar Ghosh 2. ITO, Ward-2(2), Durgapur 3.CIT (A)- 4. CIT- , 5. CIT(DR), //True copy// By order Assistant Registrar, Kolkata Benches