Foreign leave travel concession paid to employees is taxable as...

Foreign leave travel concession paid to employees is taxable as salary and is not exempt. An employer-bank must deduct tax at source on those payments; this obligation is separate from recovery of tax from employees. A stay or suspension of recovery proceedings against employees does not remove the deduction obligation, which applies again once any stay is vacated. Bank branches were treated as assessees in default where tax was neither deducted nor recovered during periods without an operative stay. Interest for non-deduction is mandatory and consequential, although relief may be sought for stayed periods or where an employee has paid self-assessment tax.