TMI Blog2017 (7) TMI 1431X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... details maintained by him, there is no merit in holding the said purchases to be bogus. The statements of bogus suppliers were relied upon without giving an opportunity to cross-examine the said parties to the assessee. It is case of trader, where admittedly, the assessee was engaged in the sale of industrial oil and only against the confirmed orders, it was making said purchases; then the assessee has discharged the onus cast upon him and in the absence of any contrary evidence being brought on record, mere reliance on the investigation carried out by the Sales Tax Department does not warrant any addition in the hands of assessee. Accordingly, we hold so. Thus, we direct the AO to delete the addition on account of bogus purchases. The grounds of appeal raised by the assessee are thus, allowed and the grounds of appeal raised by the Revenue are dismissed. - ITA Nos.1365 to 11367/PUN/2015, ITA Nos.1407 to 1409/PUN/2015 - - - Dated:- 5-7-2017 - MS. SUSHMA CHOWLA, JM AND SHRI ANIL CHATURVEDI, AM Assessee by : Shri Sanket Joshi Revenue by : Shri Ajay Modi ORDER PER SUSHMA CHOWLA, JM: All the three cross-appeals filed by the assessee and t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... A) had not controverted the affidavits filed by these suppliers and hence, in the absence of any contrary evidence, whatsoever, brought on record by the dept. to doubt the genuineness of the said purchases, there was no reason to make any addition in respect of the said purchases. 5] The learned CIT(A) erred in not appreciating that - a. The assessee had duly maintained stock register in respect of the purchases and sales made during this year and since the A.O./ CIT(A) had not found any defect with the said quantitative record maintained by the assessee, there was no reason to make any adhoc-addition in respect of such purchases. b. All the payments to these parties were made through account payee cheques and hence, the genuineness of the purchases made from the above parties should not have been doubted. c. The A.O. has not brought any evidence on record to show that the cheque payments made by the assessee to the various suppliers were withdrawn by them in cash and given back to the assessee and hence, in the absence of any such evidence suggesting non genuineness of purchases, there was no reason to make any disallowance in respect of these purchases. 6 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Officer received information from the Sales Tax Department, Maharashtra giving names, addresses and other details of persons, who had provided entries of bogus purchases. The said information also contained the details of beneficiaries of such bogus bills. Before the Sales Tax authorities, the persons who had provided the entries had also filed affidavits stating that they had merely provided entries to the beneficiaries and no goods were supplied by them to the said beneficiaries. The name of assessee i.e. proprietor of M/s. Karan Enterprises, Nashik was in the list of beneficiaries, who had obtained bogus purchase bills from the entry providers. The details of purchase bills totaling Rs.2,45,93,371/- are provided at page 2 of the assessment order. Since, no proceedings were pending before the Assessing Officer, information was sought under section 133(6) of the Act and the assessee was asked to explain the genuineness of above purchases. In response thereto, the assessee furnished copies of purchase bills, stock registers and ledger account of the parties for verification. The Assessing Officer after recording reasons for reopening assessment under section 147 of the Act, issued ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... la parties, where the assessee has failed to produce the parties from whom the purchases were made and also where letters sent to the parties were returned undelivered by the postal authorities. 10. The learned Authorized Representative for the assessee vehemently stressed that the assessee had filed affidavits of suppliers both before the Assessing Officer and the CIT(A) which has not been controverted by either of the authorities. He further stressed that very basis for making the addition in the hands of assessee ceased to exist and in the absence of any other exercise or evidence, there was no merit in making any addition in the hands of assessee. He also referred to the decision of the Pune Bench of Tribunal in bunch of cases with lead order in M/s. Chhabi Electricals Pvt. Ltd. Vs. DCIT and others in ITA No.795/PUN/2014 and others, relating to assessment year 2010-11, order dated 28.04.2017 and pointed out that when the parties have produced the evidence, no addition has been confirmed. He also fairly admitted that in case of bogus purchases, addition was made @ 10% of bogus purchases over and above the GP rate declared by assessee. 11. The learned Departmental Representa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... essed that the sales made by them to the assessee, who was the proprietor of M/s. Karan Enterprises were genuine. They have also enlisted the list of sales made by them for the respective years along with invoice numbers and the total value of goods sold bill-wise. 13. The case of Revenue is based on the investigation carried out by the Sales Tax Department and the information forwarded to the Assessing Officer by the said Sales Tax Department. In the first instance, no cross-examination of the said persons was allowed. However, the assessee has filed affidavits / confirmations in respect of transactions undertaken during the year. The allegation of non-existence of transaction was made by the Assessing Officer and hence, the onus upon the Department was heavier to establish its case. In the facts of the case, the assessee had tried to meet the case of Assessing Officer and hence, the onus shifted upon the Assessing Officer to disprove the claim of assessee. The Assessing Officer has failed to discharge the onus in this regard. Thus, the Assessing Officer has failed to complete the investigation in the case. In view of the affidavits / confirmation letters filed by the assesse ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
