The Delhi Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has dismissed an appeal by an assessee who was liable to pay a late filing fee for delay in filing a Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) statement.
The assessee, Yogender Kumar was required to deduct TDS @ 1% under Section 194IA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 while making payment to the seller of immovable property. The TDS was in fact deducted from the assessee and deposited into the government account.
However, there was a delay in filing the TDS statement in Form 26QB. The AO levied a late filing fee of Rs.1,59,200 under Section 234E of the Act.The assessee appealed against this to the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), who confirmed the late filing fee. The assessee then appealed to the Tribunal.
The assessee argued that as the delay in submitting the TDS statement was unintentional, the late filing fee should not be applied.
Further contended that the provisions of Section 200A of the Act need to be applied in this situation because they set forth a method by which the AO may compute the late filing charge at the time the return is processed and provide a notification indicating such.
The Tribunal disagreed with the assessee’s claims. It was determined that the late filing charge was levied in line with Section 234E of the Income Tax Act, which took effect on July 1, 2012, and its provisions.
Additionally, the Tribunal ruled that the provisions of Section 200A of the Income Tax Act do not provide the Assessee any relief in this matter because these provisions only apply to situations when the TDS statement is submitted after the due date.
The ITAT observed that the assessee had the responsibility to comply with the applicable provisions of the Income Tax Act.
The tribunal stated that “the assessee had the responsibility to deduct and deposit the TDS and also file the TDS statement within the stipulated time. The delay in filing the TDS statement was not deliberate, however, the assessee cannot escape from the liability to pay the late filing fee.”
The Two Member bench of Saktijit Dey (Vice- President) and Girish Agrawal (Accountant Member) held that the appeal filed by the assessee has been dismissed by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT).
The bench upheld the decision of the Commissioner of Income-Tax (Appeals) [CIT(A)], confirming the imposition of a late filing fee of Rs. 1,59,200 on the assessee under Section 234E of the Income-tax Act.
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