ITAT rules in favor of assessee, overturns late fee under section 234E of Income Tax Act

The ITAT ruled in favor of the assessee, holding that the levy of late fees under section 234E of the Income Tax Act, 1961 for late filing of the TDS statement for the financial year 2013-14 was unsustainable in law. The ITAT emphasized that the imposition of fees under section 234E was beyond the permissible adjustments under section 200A at the time of the order. Therefore, the ITAT deleted the penalty imposed on the assessee, citing legal precedent and the absence of conflicting judgments presented by the Revenue authorities.

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Issues:
Challenge to the levy of late fees under section 234E of the Income Tax Act, 1961 for late filing of statement for financial year 2013-14.

Analysis:
The assessee contested the imposition of late fees under section 234E, arguing that the provision of section 200A does not cover late fee defaults. The assessee highlighted previous ITAT orders where penalties were deleted in similar circumstances. The ITAT noted that the assessee filed the TDS return late, but cited a judgment by the ITAT Amristar Branch stating that the AO cannot charge a fee under section 234E while processing under section 200A. The ITAT upheld the assessee's grievance based on the legal position and deleted the penalty.

The ITAT further discussed the amendments to Section 200A post-June 2015, allowing for the computation of fees under section 234E during TDS statement processing. However, as the impugned order was issued before this amendment, the ITAT deleted the late filing fees imposed on the assessee. The ITAT emphasized that the levy of fees under section 234E was beyond the scope of permissible adjustments under section 200A at the time of the order, and the CIT(A) should have examined the legality of the adjustment based on the scope of section 200A. The ITAT concluded that the levy of fees under section 234E was unsustainable in law and upheld the assessee's appeal, deleting the fee.

The ITAT found no conflicting judgments presented by the Revenue authorities and upheld its decision based on the legal precedent established in previous cases. The ITAT allowed the assessee's appeal and deleted the late filing fee imposed under section 234E. The order was pronounced in favor of the assessee on 18th February 2016 at Ahmedabad.

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