Late TDS filing fee could not be levied through section 200A processing before the 2015 amendment.

For TDS statements processed under section 200A, fee for late filing under section 234E could not be levied for the period before 1 June 2015, because the pre-amendment scheme allowed only limited adjustments such as arithmetical errors, apparent incorrect claims and interest computation. The later amendment to section 200A, which expressly enabled computation of section 234E fee, showed that no such authority existed earlier. Accordingly, recovery of the fee through intimation under section 200A for the relevant pre-amendment period was not sustainable and was deleted.

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Issues: Whether, for the period prior to 1 June 2015, fee for late filing of TDS statements under section 234E could be levied through intimation issued under section 200A.

Analysis: The statutory scheme of section 200A, as it stood before the Finance Act, 2015 amendment, permitted only limited adjustments while processing TDS statements, namely arithmetical errors, incorrect claims apparent from the statement, and interest computation. The provision did not then authorise computation or recovery of fee under section 234E through such processing. The later amendment to section 200A, which expressly introduced computation of fee under section 234E, reinforced that the earlier regime did not contain the enabling provision for such adjustment.

Conclusion: The levy of fee under section 234E through the impugned intimation under section 200A for the relevant period was not sustainable and was deleted; the assessee succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: Before the insertion of the enabling amendment effective from 1 June 2015, section 200A did not authorise levy or recovery of fee under section 234E while processing a TDS statement.

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