For the so-called best managers (wives), The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Agra bench has recently provided a big relief. The Bench consisting of the Accountant Member Dr. Mitha Lal Meena and Judicial Member Lalit Kumar has passed a ruling. The ruling is as follows:
The cash deposit, which has been undertaken by the housewives during the time of demonetization in the year 2016, cannot become the subject of addition if aforesaid deposits are below the amount of Rs. 2.5 lakhs and consequently the said amount shall not be considered as income of the assessee.
Recalling history in a hurry, the Tribunal was taking into consideration an appeal that was filed by a housewife, the assessee who had deposited the cash worth Rs 211500 in the bank account during the demonetization period. The assessee had collected/ saved the aforesaid amount from her previous saving that was given by her. Husband, Son, And other relatives for the security of her and her family’s future.
“Women all over the country had been accumulating cash that they had saved for themselves from household budgets, by haggling with vegetable sellers, tailors, grocers, and assorted traders, years of stashing in whatever little cash gifts they received from relatives during festival times and years of tucking away the change they found in the pants that they washed every day, however suddenly they were left with no option but to deposit the amount in the denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes in the banks on account of Demonetisation scheme 2016, these notes were no more legal tenders. Lots of concerns were raised by political and social organizations bring on fore the plight of women folks, on account of scheme of 2016.”
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Allowing the appeal after considering the facts deeply, the Tribunal observed that the assessee had truthfully and clearly explained the source of deposit i.e previous years’ saving and it had no hesitation to accept the aforesaid truth. The reason being, it could be concluded that this small sum of Rs 2,21, 000/ would have been stored up or saved by her from a variety of activities that had been done by her on behalf of the family in the last few years.
“Further as mentioned hereinabove, in the decision of Kirti ( supra), women per se cannot be said to be not having income from any activities, as they are presumed to always been doing economic activities in the family for many years, hence in our view, the assessee had duly explained the source of her investment. Therefore no additions can be made by a lower authority.”
“Further, even if we ignore the explanation, for the sake of argument, then also it is for the assessing officer to bring on record some cogent evidence to prove that the amount deposited in the bank was undisclosed I from the business or from any other activities. No evidence has been brought on record by the lower authorities, the Tribunal said.”
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Elaborating and Emphasizing the invaluable contributions of the house-wives that are undertaken for the growth and development of the country, the Tribunal said that aforesaid ruling might be treated as a precedent with respect to proceedings that arise out of the cash deposit that was made by the housewives during the time of demonetization and that too only up to the extent of Rs 2.5 lakhs only.
