Late Fee not leviable on TDS Statements filed before 1st June 2015: ITAT [Read Order]

TDS Statement Delay- Taxscan

The Mumbai bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has held that the late fee under Section 234E of the Income Tax Act, 1961 is not leviable for the TDS statements which had been filed prior to 1st June 2015.

the Assessing Officer found that the due date for filing the quarterly TDS and the date on which the TDS statement was filed by the assessee with delay. However, the penalty under section 234E of the Act has also been reflected there. After the due date for filing the quarterly TDS statement, the penalty/fee is leviable u/s 234E of the Act for each day’s default.

The assessee argued before the Tribunal that the late fee u/s 234E of the Income Tax Act is not leviable under the provisions of Section 234E, 200A (a,b,c,d,e and f) and also in view of the provisions of Section 200 (3) of the Act. It was also argued that the provisions of Section 200(3) of the Act speak that for late filing of the TDS statement of each quarter, the fee is liable to be imposed w.e.f. 01.04.2005 and the provisions of Section 272A(2)(k) of the Act provide for levy of penalty of Rs.100 per day for each day of default in filing TDS inserted w.e.f. 01.04.2005.

The assessee failed to secure relief from the first appellate authority and approached the Tribunal on the second appeal.

On the basis of various judicial precedents including the Karnataka High Court ruling in case of Fatheraj Singhvi, the Tribunal held that “the finding of the CIT(A) is not justifiable, therefore, we set aside the finding of the CIT(A) in all the appeals and delete the fee u/s 234E of the Act. All the appeals filed by the assessee are hereby allowed.”

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