CA acting in a fiduciary capacity

The Chennai Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has held that cash deposits received by a Chartered Accountant for remittance of statutory dues on behalf of clients cannot be treated as unexplained money under Section 69A of the Income-tax Act. 

The Tribunal observed that where the assessee merely acts in a fiduciary capacity as a conduit for depositing taxes and the corresponding bank debits establish payment to Government authorities, the deposits do not constitute the assessee's income. Accordingly, the entire addition was deleted.