The Assessing Officer treated lease deposits received in earlier years as income under section 41(1) on the ground that the liability had ceased. The Tribunal held that the lease deposits were interest-free security deposits received under a subsisting lease agreement for a period of 21 years, duly confirmed by the depositor and consistently reflected in the books of account. There was no remission, cessation or discharge of the liability, nor had the assessee obtained any benefit during the relevant previous year. Accordingly, the addition under section 41(1) was rightly deleted. The assessee had received booking advances against sale of properties in earlier years and no fresh advances were received during the year under consideration. The Tribunal held that the Assessing Officer failed to establish any remission or cessation of liability or that the assessee had earlier claimed any deduction in respect of such liabilities. Since the statutory conditions prescribed under section 41(1) were not satisfied, the booking advances could not be treated as income  (AY. 2020-21).