TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2016 (1) TMI 1271
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.... delivering TDS Statement /Return. There is no provision that it can be demanded from the assessee at later stage i.e. after filing the TDS Return. 1.2 As per Sec. 204 of the Act, there is provision of person responsible for paying TDS from salary payments. Sec. 204 r.w.s. 234E, there is no provision of making any person / officer holding responsible for paying the late filing fee, due to late filing of TDS Return. 1.3 Demand of Late fees cannot be raised by way of processing of TDS statement because provisions of Sec. 200A of the Act does not cover default in payment of late fee u/s. 234E. 2. There is no inherent power vested in the authorities under the Income Tax Act to levy and extract fee under section 234E on their own in the absence of specific power conferred on them. Such power is at least absent in the said section. Therefore, no one can assume such powers suo motu. 3. The appeal against intimation u/s. 200A of the Act can be filed because intimation is deemed to be an order passed under the Act. Such an order can be modified / rectified / amended by A.O. 4. The assessee craves for liberty to amend, modify and add any grounds of appeal and file additional eviden....
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....umble understanding, this appeal requires adjudication on a very short legal issue, within a narrow compass of material facts, we are proceeding to dispose of this appeal on merits. 5. We may produce, for ready reference, section 234E of the Act, which was inserted by the Finance Act 2012 and was brought into effect from 1st July 2012. This statutory provision is as follows: 234E. Fee for defaults in furnishing statements (1) Without prejudice to the provisions of the Act, where a person fails to deliver or cause to be delivered a statement within the time prescribed in sub-section (3) of section 200 or the proviso to subsection (3) of section 206C, he shall be liable to pay, by way of fee, a sum of two hundred rupees for every day during which the failure continues. (2) The amount of fee referred to in sub-section (1) shall not exceed the amount of tax deductible or collectible, as the case may be. (3) The amount of fee referred to in sub-section (1) shall be paid before delivering or causing to be delivered a statement in accordance with subsection (3) of section 200 or the proviso to subsection (3) of section 206C. (4) The provisions of this section shall apply to a ....
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.... scheme for centralised processing of statements of tax deducted 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) against any amount paid under section 200 or section 201 or section 234E and any amount paid otherwise by way of tax or interest or fee; (e) an intimation shall be prepared or generated and sent to the deductor specifying the sum determined to be payable by, or the amount of refund due to, him under clause (d); and (f) the amount of refund due to the deductor in pursuance of the dete....
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....tion 200A, raising a demand or directing a refund to the tax deductor, can only be passed within one year from the end of the financial year within which the related TDS statement is filed, and as the related TDS statement was filed on 19th February 2014, such a levy could only have been made at best within 31st March 2015. That time has already elapsed and the defect is thus not curable even at this stage. In view of these discussions, as also bearing in mind entirety of the case, the impugned levy of fees under section 234 E is unsustainable in law. We, therefore, uphold the grievance of the assessee and delete the impugned levy of fee under section 234E of the Act. The assessee gets the relief accordingly." 6. When the above judicial precedent was brought to the notice of the ld. Departmental Representative, he did not have much to say except to place his reliance on the orders of the authorities below. He fairly did not dispute that the provisions accepting levy of late filing fees under section 234E have indeed been brought to the statute w.e.f. 1st June, 2015 and the impugned order was passed much before that date. 7. In view of the above discussions and bearing in mind e....