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2015 (7) TMI 934 - AT - Income TaxSale of agricultural land - AO treating the income from sale of agricultural land as business income also upheld by CIT(A) - assessee claimed the same as exempt from income tax treating the same as agricultural land which is situated at a distance of more than 8 kms from the limit of any municipality - Held that:- There is no dispute to the fact that the land sold in question are agricultural lands. We do not find logic behind the argument of the Revenue that the assessee is definitely a man of means and there was no compelling circumstance to sale the land and therefore, such income has to be taxed as business income. In our opinion, if any income is otherwise exempt from tax as per the statute, the same cannot be brought to tax merely because assessee is a man of means or that the money so obtained has been utilised for some business in an organised manner etc. It is for the assessee to decide his affairs in the way he likes and the Revenue has no business to direct or advise the assessee to manage his affairs. We find an identical issue had come up before the Tribunal in the case of the brother of the assessee wherein the Assessing Officer treated the surplus from sale of agricultural land as business income which was held by the CIT(A) as exempt being surplus from sale of agricultural land. Since in the instant case the assessee has sold the agricultural land in the year 2005 which were held by him for more than 7 years except in one case where the same was held for about 4 years, the details of which are extracted at para 11 of the impugned order and since there is also no dispute to the fact that the assessee was deriving regular agricultural income from the same land and further considering the fact that the Assessing Officer in the assessment order for A.Y. 2008-09 passed u/s.143(3) on 27-12-2010 has accepted the claim of the assessee that gain on sale of agricultural land at ₹ 96,61,250/- is not liable to tax and no addition has been made in orders passed u/s.143(3) for A.Yrs. 2001-02 and 2003-04, therefore, we are of the considered opinion that the CIT(A) was not justified in bringing to tax the surplus on sale of agricultural land as business income. - Decided in favour of assessee. Treating agriculture income as undisclosed income under section 69A - Held that:- The agricultural income shown by the assessee during the impugned assessment year appears to be on the higher side. It is also an admitted fact that out of the total gross receipt of ₹ 7,69,115/- the assessee has received only an amount of ₹ 3 lakhs in cheque and the balance amount has been received in cash. The expenses claimed by the assessee are also unverifiable. Considering the totality of the facts of the case and the past records net agricultural income of ₹ 4,00,000/- for the impugned year, in our opinion, will meet the ends of justice - Decided partly in favour of assessee.
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