TMI Blog2018 (6) TMI 1392X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... statistical purposes. Disallowance on account of vehicle maintenance expenses - Held that:- The onus is on the assessee to substantiate that the expenses debited under the head “vehicle maintenance expenses” have been incurred wholly and exclusively for the purpose of the business irrespective of the fact, whether the same are incurred on fuels or the repair of the vehicles - restore this issue to the file of the Assessing Officer and before him the assessee may produce logbook of the vehicles or any other evidences to substantiate its claim of expenses incurred for business purposes. In case of absence of any logbook or other evidence, the Assessing Officer may consider for disallowing reasonable expenditure towards possible personal use by the partners of the firm, in accordance with law. Decided in favour of assessee for statistical purposes. - ITA No.2946/Del/2015 - - - Dated:- 27-6-2018 - SH. H.S. SIDHU, JUDICIAL MEMBER AND SH. O.P. KANT, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER For The Appellant : Sh. Ranjan Chopra, CA For The Respondent : Sh. Atiq Ahmed, Sr. DR ORDER PER O.P. KANT, A.M.: This appeal by the assessee is directed against order dated 31/03/2015 pa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... includes disallowance of ₹ 69,30,000/- on account of remuneration to partners. Aggrieved, the assessee filed appeal before the Ld. CIT(A), who dismissed the appeal of the assessee. Aggrieved, the assessee is in appeal before the Tribunal raising the grounds as reproduced above. 3. The ground No. 1 of the appeal is general in nature and covered by the other grounds raised and, thus, we are not required to adjudicate upon this ground specifically. 4. The grounds No. 2 to 4 are related to disallowance of remuneration to partners of ₹ 69,30,000/-. The Assessing Officer made the disallowance under section 185 of the Act observing that the assessee submitted only photo copy of the partnership deed and failed to provide certified copy of the same as required under section 184 of the Act. During appellate proceedings before the Ld. CIT(A), the matter was remanded back to the Assessing Officer and assessee was asked to file certified copy and produce the original copy of the partnership deed for verification. However, the Ld. CIT(A) in the impugned order observed that the claim of the assessee of producing the original partnership deed in letter dated 07/03/2014 was n ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r, as per the order sheet the Assessing Officer has pointed out that the details have been filed only in part and he has asked the AR to produce the remaining details on the next date of hearing. Again on 11.03.2014 the Assessing Officer has reiterated that the certified copy of partnership has not been produced on behalf of the assessee firm. It is apparent from the perusal of the assessment record that the production of original partnership deed in letter dated 07.03.2014 has been mentioned on behalf of the assessee firm without actually producing it. 4.1 Lastly, the Ld. CIT(A) following the decision of the Hon ble High Court of Kerala in the case of Bhaskar Co. Vs. CIT in ITA Nos. 454 and 457 of 2009, upheld the disallowance of remuneration to partners amounting to ₹ 69,30,000/-. 4.2 Before us, the Ld. counsel filed a paper book containing pages 1 to 70 and produced the original partnership deed of the firm. The assessee also filed a photo copy of the partnership deed alongwith the documents filed at the time of appeal. According to the Ld. counsel, only issue in dispute is in relation to verification of the partnership deed, for which the assessee has alrea ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ll furnish a certified copy of the revised instrument of partnership along with the return of income for the assessment year relevant to such previous year and all the provisions of this section shall apply accordingly. 4.6 The assessee was assessed as a firm till assessment year 2010-11. At the start of the previous year relevant to the assessment year in consideration i.e. 01/04/2010, the firm admitted three new partners i.e. Mr. Nikhil Sharma, Mr. Pankaj Mishra and Mrs. Divya Kashyap. In view of the provision of section 184(4) of the Act, due to change of the Constitution of the firm, the assessee was required to file a copy of the partnership deed certified in writing by the all the partners along with return of income. Under Rule 12 of the Income-tax Rules, 1962, it has been provided that the return of income shall not be accompanied by any document or copy of any account and same shall be filed on being asked by the Assessing Officer during any proceedings before him. Accordingly, in the assessment proceedings, the assessee was asked to produce a copy of the relevant partnership deed duly certified by all the partners. 4.7 Now the claim of the Assessing Officer i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d in the profit and loss account, therefore, he disallowed the vehicle maintenance expenses of ₹ 1,75,492/- claimed by the assessee firm. 5.1 Before the Ld. CIT(A), the assessee filed bills and vouchers supporting the expenses claimed. In respect of the said bills and vouchers, the Ld. CIT(A) commented as under: The perusal of the bills enclosed by the appellant show that the expense relate to insurance of vehicle Tlo.3598 in the name of Saroj Kumar Mohanta and refueling of the same vehicle on different dates. All the refueling expenses pertain to Delhi Petrol Pumps near his residence at Shekh Sarai, New Delhi. Similarly there are bills in favour of Benjamin Mathew for repair of vehicle No.0246 on different dates and refueling of the vehicle at different fuel pumps most of which are in Sarita Vihar, New Delhi, i.e., near his residence in Faridabad. Thus the claim of the appellant that the bills relate to travelling expenses is not proved from the perusal of the bills of the expenses claimed by the appellant. The addition is therefore confirmed. 5.2 Thus, the Ld. CIT(A) is of the opinion that expenses on fuels etc. have been incurred for the personal purpos ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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