TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2016 (1) TMI 530
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....er referred to as the Ld. CIT (Appeals)] grossly erred on facts and in law in confirming the levy of fee for an amount of Rs. 31067/- u/s 234E of the I.T. Act, 1961 by holding that the same is not an appealable order u/s 246A of the Act and further that there is no discretion or application of mind involved by the AO (C.P.C.) while levying this fine and is mandatory in nature and thus the finding being against all settled principles of law may kindly be ordered to be quashed. Notwithstanding Ground No. I taken above:- II. The Ld. CIT (Appeals) further grossly erred on facts and in law in confirming the levy of fee on the present set of facts and circumstances on merits also and in not appreciating the submissions so filed before him d....
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....nd if the assessee fails to deliver or cause to be delivered the statement, he shall be liable to pay by way of fees a sum of Rs. 200/- for every day during which the failure continues. As per provisions of Section 234E of the Act for levy of fees a specific order is to be passed u/s 234E by the Act but after the insertion of clause c in sub section (1) of Section 200A w.e.f. 1.06.2015 as per provision of Section 234E fee can be levied while processing of statement of TDS but before the amendment in Section 200A that fee can only be levied by passing a specific order u/s 234E of the Act and not while processing the statement of TDS. Ld. counsel for the assessee further invited our attention to the statement processed u/s 200A of the Act wit....
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.... about the decisions of various Hon'ble High Courts, including Hon'ble Kerala High Court, in the case of Narath Mapila LP School Vs Union of India [WP (C) 31498/2013(J)], Hon'ble Karanataka High Court in the case of Adithya Bizor P Solutions Vs Union of India [WP No. 6918-6938/2014(T-IT), Hon'ble Rajasthan High Court in the case of Om Prakash Dhoot Vs Union of India [WP No. 1981 of 2014] and of Hon'ble Bombay High Court in the case of Rashmikant Kundalia Vs Union of India [WP No. 771 of 2014], granting stay on the demands raised in respect of fees under section 234E. The full text of these decisions were not produced before us. However, as admittedly there are no orders from the Hon'ble Courts above retrainingus from our adjudication on mer....
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.... on or after the 1st day of July, 2012 6. We may also reproduce the Section 200A which was inserted by the Finance Act 2009 with effect from 1st April 2010. This statutory provision, as it stood at the relevant point of time, was as follows: 200A: Processing of statements of tax deducted at source (1) Where a statement of tax deduction at source, or a correction statement, has been made by a person deducting any sum (hereafter referred to in this section as deductor) under section 200, such statement shall be processed in the following manner, namely:- (a) the sums deductible under this Chapter shall be computed after making the following adjustments, namely:- (i) any arithmetical error in the statement; or (ii) an incorre....
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.... at source to expeditiously determine the tax payable by, or the refund due to, the deductor as required under the said subsection. 7. By way of Finance Act 2015, and with effect from 1st June 2015, there is an amendment in Section 200A and this amendment, as stated in the Finance Act 2015, is as follows: In section 200A of the Income-tax Act, in sub-section (1), for clauses (c) to (e), the following clauses shall be substituted with effect from the 1st day of June, 2015, namely:- "(c) the fee, if any, shall be computed in accordance with the provisions of section 234E; (d) the sum payable by, or the amount of refund due to, the deductor shall be determined after adjustment of the amount computed under clause (b) and clause (c) ....
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.... - Section 200A(1)(a) (b). after making adjustment for 'interest, if any, computed on the basis of sums deductible as computed in the statement". - Section 200A(1)(b) 9. No other adjustments in the amount refundable to, or recoverable from, the tax deductor, were permissible in accordance with the law as it existed at that point of time. 10. In view of the above discussions, in our considered view, the adjustment in respect of levy of fees under section 234E was indeed beyond the scope of permissible adjustments contemplated under section 200A. This intimation is an appealable order under section 246A(a), and, therefore, the CIT(A) ought to have examined legality of the adjustment made under this intimation in the light of the sc....