Leave Fare Concession exemption is confined to travel within...

Leave Fare Concession exemption is confined to travel within India and does not extend where the journey includes a foreign leg. In the absence of any binding interim order in the assessee's own case, the authoritative Supreme Court ruling governed the deduction obligation, so tax had to be deducted at source on such LFC payments. Non-deduction therefore attracted treatment of the assessee as in default under section 201, and consequential interest under section 201(1A) followed. Relief granted in other matters on the basis of interim High Court directions was treated as inapplicable here.

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