Section 234E late fee could not be added in TDS processing before section 200A(1)(c) became effective.

Section 234E created liability for delayed furnishing of TDS statements, but the processing machinery under section 200A could compute and include that fee only after insertion of section 200A(1)(c) from 01.06.2015. For assessment years before that date, the enabling provision was absent, so late fee could not be levied through intimation under section 200A and the resulting demand intimations were liable to be set aside in favour of the assessee. The later amendment was not treated as retrospective for those earlier periods.

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Issues: Whether late fee under section 234E of the Income-tax Act, 1961 could be levied while processing TDS statements under section 200A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 for assessment years prior to the insertion of section 200A(1)(c).

Analysis: Section 234E created the liability to pay fee for delayed furnishing of TDS statements, but the machinery provision enabling computation of that fee during processing under section 200A(1)(c) came into force only from 01.06.2015. For the relevant assessment years, the processing provision did not authorise inclusion of such fee, and the later insertion could not be applied retrospectively to sustain the intimation demands. The earlier decision relied on by the Court was applied on the same legal footing.

Conclusion: The levy of late fee under section 234E while processing the TDS statements under section 200A for the relevant assessment years was not permissible, and the demand intimations were liable to be set aside in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: A fee under section 234E cannot be imposed at the stage of processing TDS statements under section 200A for periods when section 200A(1)(c), the enabling computation provision, was not in force.

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