Case – Shri. Girigowda Dasegowda vs ITO – The Bangalore bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has ruled that the accumulated cash available out of past savings is justifiable as the source of unexplained money u/s 69 A of the Income Tax Act,1961. The assessee was represented by Shri. V. Srinivasan and the revenue was represented by Shri. Ganesh R Ghale. The assessee, Shri. Girigowda Dasegowda where his source of income was pension from Vijaya Bank where the assessee worked before retirement, and interest income on bank deposits. The return of income was taken up for scrutiny because the assessee had deposited cash of Rs.28,28,000/- in two bank accounts in his name with Bank of Baroda which was made during the demonetization period. The assessee explained the source of funds as earlier cash withdrawals from the very same bank accounts, and withdrawals from FD and pension accounts. The AO after giving credit for Rs. 5 lakhs added a sum of Rs.23,28,000/- as unexplained money deposited in the bank account under section 69A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (Act). On appeal, the CIT(A) confirmed the order of the AO. The assessee contended that earlier cash withdrawals from the two bank accounts are the source of funds for the cash deposit made in the bank account during the previous year which was not accepted by the CIT(A). The Tribunal held that “the past withdrawals as claimed by the assessee from 2013 should be considered as being available to the assessee to explain the source of the deposit and viewed that a reasonable quantum of cash available out of past savings should also be considered as being available to the assessee to explain the source of cash deposited in the bank account.” Shri N V Vasudevan, Vice President ITAT set aside the order of the CIT(A) and remand the case to the AO to consider the issue denovo. The appeal of the assessee was allowed for statistical purposes.
Counsel for Appellant: Shri. V. Srinivasan
Counsel for Respondent: Shri. Ganesh R GhaleReport th
