ITAT held that minimum guarantee charges/fees paid by...

ITAT held that minimum guarantee charges/fees paid by Assessee-Company, an online room-booking platform, to various hotel/guest-house owners do not constitute "rent" under s.194I, as the agreements did not grant Assessee any exclusive right to use rooms nor create a lessor-lessee relationship. The payments represented compensation for Assessee's failure to secure agreed minimum bookings or tariff, not consideration for use of premises. ITAT further held that such payments were also not liable for TDS under s.194C. Consequently, Assessee was not in default for non-deduction of TDS and disallowance under s.40(a)(ia) was directed to be deleted.

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