Another pro-women judgment came from the Delhi bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), which stated that gold jewelry weighing up to 500 grams for married women cannot be included in taxable income.
Suresh Bansal, the assessee, is an individual who earned money from a salary, agriculture, and other sources during the assessment year 2013-14. In the case of the assessee, a search and seizure operation was conducted at the residential as well as business/office premises of M/s SRS group, during which jewelry worth Re. 66,31,229/- was discovered from the assessee’s residential premises, out of which jewelry worth RS.10,14418/- belonged to or belonged to the accused, and for which the assessee produced no documentary evidence.
The weight of gold attributable to the assessee’s possession was roughly 295.1g, and the jewelry also contained a diamond weighing 16.5 carats, according to the report of jewelry value. The value of this jewelry, rs10,14,418/-, was added to the assessee’s income by the assessing officer. An amount of Rs. 50,000/- was also added by the learned assessing officer for cash that was had but the source of which was unknown. As a result, the assessing officer calculated the assessee’s income for the assessment year 2013-14 to be Rs 15,75,818/-, as opposed to Rs 3,91,400/- and Rs.1.20 Lacs for agricultural income.
The assessee claimed that out of the total gold of 590 g, the Assessing Officer only attributed 295.1 g with a diamond to the assessee’s possession, while giving credit for 500 g to the assessee’s possession could be assumed to have been explained up to 600 g, and thus no addition could be sustained under CBDT instruction No. 1916.
According to the coram of Judicial Member K. Narasimha Chary and Account Member N. K. Billaiya, the wife of the assessee is entitled to keep 500 g of Jewellery and, as a result, no addition could be imposed.
