AI OCR 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2020 (5) TMI 210
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..... 01.06.2015 in the provisions of section 200A of the Act. 3. Brief facts common in all these appeals are that the appellant was required to file the statement of tax deducted at source for the respective quarter but failed to do so within the due date prescribed in the law for filing such quarterly TDS returns. As per the provisions of section 234E of the Act, fee for default in furnishing the statement is leviable if the statement of TDS are not delivered within the time prescribed in sub-section (3) of section 200 or the proviso to sub-section (3) of section 206C of the Act. 4. The revenue authorities have levied the late fees for default in furnishing the statement in the processing of statement of tax deducted at source prepared u/s 200A of the Act. Against the levy of late fee u/s 234E in the statement processed u/s 200A of the Act, appeal was preferred by the assessee(s) for respective quarters for the respective assessment years before Ld. CIT(A) pleading that before the amendment was brought in by the Finance Act, 2015 w.e.f. 01.06.2015,the revenue authorities were not having the power to levy the late fees u/s 234E of the Act in the statement processed u/s 200A of the A....
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....er placed reliance on the decisions of I.T.A.T., Indore Bench in the case of State Bank of India, Genda Chowk and others dated 13.11.2018and M/s. Madhya Pradesh Power Transmission Ltd. & others in ITA Nos.740/Ind/2017 & others, order dated 20.12.2018, Bhupesh Kumar J. Sanghvi& others in ITANo.15/Ind/2018 & others, order dated 22.01.2019 and Indore School of Social Work & others in ITANo.117 of 2019 and others, order dated 20.02.2020wherein the similar issue has been adjudicated and decided in favour of the assessee. 9. Per contra Ld. Departmental Representative (DR) failed to controvert the submissions made by Ld. Counsels for the assessees. 10. We have heard the rival contentions and perused the record placed before us and carefully gone through various judgments referred and relied by the Ld. Counsels for above captioned assessees. The common issue raised in all these bunches of appeals is that whether the ld. CIT(A) was justified in confirming the levy of late fee u/s 234E of the Act in the statement of tax deducted at source processed u/s 200A of the Act,even when the amendment brought in the Finance Act 2015 w.e.f. 01.06.2015 paved the way for levying the fee u/s 234E of the....
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....sue involved in this appeal is as to whether late filing fee u/s 234E of the IT Act has rightly been charged in the intimation dated 10.11.2013 issued u/s 200A of the Act while processing the TDS returns/statement, the enabling clause (c) having been inserted in the section w.e.f. 01.06.2015. Before 01.06.2015, there was no enabling provision in the Act u/s 200A for raising demand in respect of levy of fee u/s 234E. As such, as per the assessee, in respect of TDS statement filed for a period prior to 01.06.2015, no late fee could be levied in the intimation issued u/s 200A of the Act. 3. Heard. The ld. CIT(A), while deciding the matter against the assessee, has placed reliance on 'Rajesh Kaurani vs. UOI', 83 Taxmann.com 137 (Guj), wherein, it has been held that section 200A of the Act is a machinery provision providing the mechanism for processing a statement of deduction of tax at source and for making adjustments. The ld. CIT(A) has held that this decision was I.T.A No. 442/Agra/2017 & S.A. No. 01/Agra/2018 delivered after considering numerous ITAT/High Court decisions and so, this decision in 'Rajesh Kaurani' (supra) holds the field. 4. We do not find the vie....
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....Ghaziabad', order dated 15.09.2016, in ITA No.378/ASR/2015, for A.Y. 2012-13, I.T.A No. 442/Agra/2017 & S.A. No. 01/Agra/2018 the grievance of the assessee is accepted as justified. The order under appeal is reversed. The levy of the fee is cancelled." 12. Similarly Coordinate Jaipur Bench in the case of M/s. Mentor India Ltd. (supra) took the same view favouring the assessee observing as follows: "6. Now the assessee is in appeal before us. In ITA No. 438/JP/2016, the only effective ground is against confirmation of late filing fee of Rs. 48,402/'; charged by the A.O. U/s 234E of the Act. In this regard, the Ld. AR of the assessee has reiterated the arguments as made in the written submissions and has further submitted that the issue is no more res-integra. He placed reliance on the decision of the ITAT, Ahmadabad decision in the case of Perfect Cropscience Pvt. Ltd. Vs DCIT in ITA No. 2957 to 2963/Ahd/2015 and the decision of the Hon'ble Karnataka High Court in the case of FatherajSinghvi&ors. Vs Union of India &Drs. (2016) 289 CTR (Kar) 602. 7. On the contrary, the Id DR has opposed the submissions and supported the orders of the authorities below. She relied....
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....f vires of Section 234E of the Act. The Hon'ble Karnataka High Court in the case of FatherajSinghvi&ors. Vs Union of India &Ors. (supra) has held that the demand U/s 200A for computation and intimation for the payment of fee U/s 234E could not be made in purported exercise of power U/s 200A for the period of the respective assessment years prior to 1st June, 2015. When the intimation of the demand notices U/s 200A is held to be without authority of law so far as it relates to computation and demand of fee U/s 234E, the question of further scrutiny for testing the constitutional validity of Section 234E would be rendered as an academic exercise. We find that the Hon'ble Jurisdictional High Court in the case of DundlodShikshan Geeta Star Hotels & Resorts Pvt. Ltd. Vs. DCIT Sansthan Vs. Union of India (supra) has also considered the decision of the Hon'ble Bombay High Court in the case of RashmikantKundalia Vs. Union of India (2015) 229 Taxman 596 wherein the Hon'ble High Court has decided the nature of demand. The Hon'ble High Court has held that Section 234E of the Act is not punitive in nature but a fee which is a fixed charge for the extra service which the dep....
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....contended that in the absence of enabling provisions u/s 200A of the Act, such levy of late fee is not valid relying on Group of SBI and Ors. The decisions in the cases of 'CIT vs. Vatika Township Pvt. Ltd. (2014) 367 ITR 466 (SC), 'SudarshanGoyalvs DCIT (TDS)' ITA No.442/Agr/2017 and FatehrajSinghviVs. UOI (2016) 289 CTR 0602 (Karn) (HC). The decisions relied on by the Ld. DR are distinguishable on facts, as the issue involved in those cases pertains to interest u/s 201(1) and 201(1A) on the amount of TDS whereas in the present cases the issue were pertains to liability of late fee u/s 234E of the Act for delay in filing TDS statement which was inserted from 01.06.2015. 10. On similar facts, we have decided the same issue in the assessee's own case 'SudershanGoyal vs. DCIT (TDS)', in ITA No. 442/Agra/2017 dtd. 09.04.2018 authored by one of us (the Ld. J.M.). The relevant part of the order is reproduced as follows: "3. Heard. The ld. CIT(A), while deciding the matter against the assessee, has placed reliance on 'Rajesh Kaurani vs. UOI', 83 Taxmann.com 137 (Guj), wherein, it has been held that section 200A of the Act is a machinery provision pro....
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....6. In view of the above, respectfully following 'Shri FatehrajSinghvi and Others' (supra), 'Sibia Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. vs. DCIT (TDS)', order dated 09.06.2015 passed in ITA No.90/ASR/2015, for A.Y.2013-14, by the Amritsar Bench of the Tribunal, and 'Shri Kaur Chand Jain vs. DCIT, CPC (TDS) Ghaziabad', order dated 15.09.2016, in ITA No.378/ASR/2015, for A.Y. 2012-13, the grievance of the assessee is accepted as justified. The order under appeal is reversed. The levy of the fee is cancelled." 11. In the above view, respectfully following 'Shri FatehrajSinghvi and Ors' (Supra), 'Sibia Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. Vs. DCIT (Supra), 'Shri Kaur Chand Jain vs. DCIT', (Supra), and our own finding in the case of 'SudershanGoyal' (Supra), we accept the grievance of the assessees as genuine. Accordingly, the orders of the CIT(A) are reversed and the fee so levied under section 234E of the Act is cancelled." 14. We, therefore, respectfully following the above referred decision of the Coordinate Bench consistently holding that in the intimation prepared u/s 200A of the Act up to 31st May 2015, the late filing fee u/s 234E of Act cannot be charged ....