Late Fee on TDS Return matter under appeal

[Suresh P]

In one of the TDS Return for the FY 2017-18, assessee mentioned wrong TAN and all other details including PAN of the deductee were correctly mentioned and deductees could claim TDS in their return of Income for that year. Matter came to the notice of Assessee when a notice was served upon him and he approached Jurisdictional TDS officer and made a request to correct the return with his acknowledgement together with a NOC from the holder of TAN mentioned in return.As the matter was oending with TDS officer Assessee did no do anything further.Later on a revised TDS return was filed with correct TAN. Subsequently a notice was received from IT Dept to pay late fee Aprox 70K in filing the TDS return lately from the due date to till correct return was filed.Matter went on to appeal and we made a request to CIT (A) and sought possibility to make request to CPC for a rectification u/s 154 .In this case return was filed but with clerical errors quoting wrong TAN and no harm has caused to the deductee and the dept has not affected by this act and the matter has been referred to Jurisdictional TDS Officer with acknowledgement.The late fee is charged to file tds return in time so that deductee is not deprived off not getting the TDS benefit but otherwise claimed by them in their return.

How to proceed with this case?

Is there any case law on this?

Thanks in Advance.

AI Summary

Assessee Appeals Late Fee for TDS Return Error; Seeks Rectification Under Section 154 Citing No Harm to Deductees An assessee filed a TDS return for the fiscal year 2017-18 with an incorrect TAN, although all other details were accurate, allowing deductees to claim TDS. Upon receiving a notice, the assessee sought correction from the Jurisdictional TDS officer and later filed a revised return. Subsequently, they received a notice to pay a late fee of approximately 70,000 INR for the delayed filing. The matter is under appeal with a request for rectification under section 154, arguing that the error caused no harm to deductees or the department. Guidance is sought on how to proceed and any relevant case law.