TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2018 (12) TMI 1818
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....educted tax from the remuneration it paid to the doctors and remitted the tax so deducted to the Department, as per Section 200(1) of the Act. Later, the petitioner submitted the returns or statements with the details, as required under Section 200(3) of the Act. 2. As per Section 200(3) read with Rule 31A of the Income Tax Rules 1952, a deductor must file a return or statement on the TDS. Accordingly, the hospital filed returns in the two assessment years for four quarters: the Exts.P1 to P4. The authorities processed the returns under Section 200A of the Act and demanded from the hospital late filing fee under Section 234E of the Act. 3. Aggrieved, the petitioner has filed this writ petition seeking these reliefs: i) Call f....
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....Heard Sri D. S. Sreekumaran, the learned counsel for the petitioner, Sri Christopher Abraham, the learned Standing Counsel for the TDS and Smt.C.G.Preetha, the learned Central Government Counsel, besides perusing the records. Discussion: 6. Indeed, the facts are not in dispute. The petitioner submitted quarterly returns for the assessment years 2012-2013 and 2013-2014. After processing them, the assessing officer issued the Exts.P1 to P4 intimations, requiring the petitioner to pay the late fee. The petitioner has assailed that. To put the issue in perspective, we need to examine the statutory provisions. To begin with, Section 200A before 1.6.2015 stood as follows: 200A. Processing of statements of tax deducted at source. ....
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....nancial year in which the statement is filed. Explanation. For the purpose of this sub section, "an incorrect claim apparent from any information in the statement" shall mean a claim, on the basis of an entry, in the statement" (i) of an item, which is inconsistent with another entry of the same or some other item in such statement; (ii) in respect of rate of deduction of tax at source, where such rate is not in accordance with the provisions of this Act; (2) For the purposes of processing of statements under sub section (1) the Board may make a 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 requ....
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.... for the period before 01.06.2015 could not be sustained. Fatheraj in fact observes: 14. We may now deal with the contentions raised by the learned counsel for the appellants. The first contention for assailing the legality and validity of the intimation under section 200A was that, the provision of section 200A(1)(c), (d) and (f) have come into force only with effect from 1.6.2015 and hence, there was no authority or competence or jurisdiction on the part of the concerned Officer or the Department to compute and determine the fee under section 234E in respect of the assessment year of the earlier period and the return filed for the said respective assessment years namely all assessment years and the returns prior to 1.6.2015. It w....
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....d computing besides other, fee payable under section 234E for late filing of the statements". 11. There is a cleavage in judicial opinion. But I am afraid, elaborate as the judgment may be in Rajesh Kourani, it does not seem to have considered the Circular No.19 of 2015, which in para 47.3 clarifies: "47.3 Finance (No.2) Act, 2009 inserted section 200A in the Income-tax Act which provides for processing of TDS statements for determining the amount payable or refundable to the deductor. However, as section 243E was inserted after the insertion of section 200A of the Income-tax Act, the existing provisions of section 200A of the Income Tax Act did not provide for determination of fee payable under Section 234E of the Income Tax Ac....