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2020 (4) TMI 765 - HC - Income TaxAddition u/s 68 - unexplained cash credit - onus to prove - HELD THAT:- Under Section 68, the onus is on the assessee to offer explanation where any sum is found credited in the books of account and where the assessee fails to prove to the satisfaction of the Assessing Officer, the source and nature of the amount of cash credits an inference may be drawn that the credit entries represent income taxable in the hands of the assessee. This does not however absolve the responsibility of the Assessing Officer to prove that the cash credits constitute the income of the assessee. The onus on the assessee has to be understood with reference to the facts of each case and if the prima facie inference on the basis of facts is that the assessee's explanation is probable, the onus shifts to the Revenue. Once the assessee has proved the identity of its creditors, the genuineness of the transactions and the creditworthiness of the creditors vis-a-vis the transactions which it had with the creditors, the burden stands discharged and the burden then shifts to the Revenue to show that the amount in question actually belong to, or was owned by the assessee himself. In a case where the integrity of the creditors is established and the entries are shown to be not fictitious, the burden would shift on the Revenue. In the case at hand, the partners have shown the agricultural income in their personal returns of the past years which had been accepted by the department as such. The partners are all identifiable and separately assessed to tax. The source of investment having been explained, in the event the Assessing Officer was not satisfied the addition could have been considered in the hands of the partners and not in the hands of the firm. The burden of proving the source of the credits having been sufficiently explained the addition could not have been made in the hands of the firm in the facts of the present case. - Decided in favour of assessee.
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