Section 234E late fee for belated TDS statements before 01.06.2015 was upheld, despite the section 200A amendment timing.

Late fee under section 234E was leviable for belated quarterly TDS statements relating to periods before 01.06.2015, because the fee provision itself had been inserted with effect from 01.07.2012 and the binding jurisdictional High Court had held it applicable for the earlier period. The absence of the later amendment to section 200A did not defeat the levy for those prior periods. The confirmation of the late fee by the first appellate authority was therefore sustained and the challenge failed.

---

---

Issues: Whether late fee under section 234E of the Income-tax Act, 1961 could be levied for belated TDS statements pertaining to the period prior to 01.06.2015, and whether the confirmation of such levy by the first appellate authority was sustainable.

Analysis: The quarterly TDS statement was admittedly filed belatedly. The levy was for a period prior to the amendment to section 200A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 that became effective on 01.06.2015. Although one view had held that late fee under section 234E could not be levied in the absence of an enabling provision in section 200A for the earlier period, the binding jurisdictional High Court had subsequently held that the fee envisaged under section 234E was leviable even for the period prior to 2015, as the provision itself had been inserted with effect from 01.07.2012.

Conclusion: The levy of late fee under section 234E was upheld and the challenge to the confirmation of the levy failed.

---