Fees for tecnical service

[ranganathan thiruvenkatachari]

A work in which scope includes two parts one for surveying land measuring the extent and submission of suvey drawings and the other for erecting pillars marking boundary. My presumption is the tds is to be deducted u/s 194C as there is no specialised knowledge or know-how involved in surveying land and also since the second part involves supply of materials i.e. pillars. kindly confirm whether my presumption is correct or the tds is to be deducted u/s 194J.

[CA Rachit Agarwal]

If separate prices has been fixed for both work, then it would be considered 2 services/supply has been made.

As regarding the first part, surveying of land is technical in nature and section 194J would be attracted. As the surveying of land includes the recording of temperature, surveying of soils, survey of climate, hence the same is technical in nature.

As regarding the second part, if it is erection of pillars, then 194C would be attracted.

Further if it is the supply of pillars, no TDS will be attracted. Section 194C is on sale of services and not sale of goods.

AI Summary

TDS classification: surveying is a technical service attracting fee-based deduction, while erection may be contract or supply. If separate prices are fixed for the surveying and erection components, treat them as separate transactions: surveying is a technical service subject to withholding as a fee for professional/technical services, erection is a contractual service subject to contract-based withholding, and pure supply of pillars (sale of goods) does not attract withholding under contract-service provisions.