TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (11) TMI 96
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.... 1. Ground, The Ld. AO has erred in the facts and law of the case in applying the harshest provisions of section 234E against the assessee, without any conclusive evidence with him, making the additions of penalty and interest is not tenable in being based on conjectures and surmises and hypothetical basis is biased, pro-revenue and is a result of mere conjectures and surmises which is not tenable in law. 2. Ground The appellant craves leave to add to or amend or vary the aforesaid grounds before disposal of the appeal. 3. The solitary issue in the present appeal relates to levy of fees for late filing of TDS return in terms of the provisions of Section 234E of the Act amounting to Rs. 25,000/- and the levy of interest thereon ....
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....0A of the Act, no fees could be imposed u/s 234E of the Act while processing the TDS statements/returns u/s 200A of the Act. Copy of the judgment was placed before us and our attention was drawn to para 3 of the order where the contention of the petitioner that while processing the statements of the TDS u/s 200A of the Act, the authority had no power to impose late fees u/s 234E of the Act for AYs 2012-13 to 2014-15 since Section 200A(1)(c) of the Act was introduced only with effect from 01.06.2015, which empowered the AOto levy fees. The contents of the said submissions of the assessee at para 3 of the order are as under:- .... 3. The case of the petitioner is that when the petitioner had processed the statement of TDS un....
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................. (c) the fee, if any, shall be computed in accordance with the provisions of section 234E;" 12. Further, the objects and reasons for introduction of Section 200A(1)(c) of the Act are as follows: "Rationalisation of provisions relating to Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) and Tax Collection at Source (TCS) Under Chapter XVII-B of the Act, a person is required to deduct tax on certain specified payment at the specified rate if the payment exceeds the specified threshold. The person deducting tax ('the deductor') is required to file a quarterly Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) statement containing the details of deduction of tax made during the quarter by the prescribed due date. Similarly, under Chapt....
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....uctor to furnish TDS correction statement and consequently, section 200A of the Act allows processing of the TDS correction statement. However, currently, there does not exist any provision for allowing a collector to file correction statement in respect of TCS statement which has been furnished. It is, therefore, proposed to amend the provisions of section 206C of the Act so as to allow the collector to furnish TCS correction statement. Currently, there does not exist any provision in the Act to enable processing of the TCS statement filed by the collector as available for processing of TDS statement. As the mechanism of TCS statement is similar to TDS statement, it is proposed to insert a provision in the Act for processing of TCS stateme....
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.... same makes it clear that since no mechanism was available, Section 200A(1)(c) of the Act was introduced for imposing late fee for the delay in filing statement of TDS. Therefore, from the introduction of the said Sub-Section it is clear that prior to the same, though Section 234E of the Act was introduced with effect from 01.07.2012, the Authorities were not empowered to impose the late fee while processing the statement of TDS under Section 200A of the Act. 15. The learned counsel for the respondent advanced his arguments on the aspect of the imposition of late fee by applying Section 200A(1)(c) of the Act retrospectively. This Court is not in agreement with the said submissions of the respondent. Since, there was no provision fo....
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....ht weeks from the date of receipt of copy of this order. 19. With the above directions, these writ petitions are disposed of. Consequently, the connected miscellaneous petitions are also closed. ....... 7. Having noted so, we find that the Ld. CIT(A) had held the provisions applicable noting that the processing was done after 01.06.2015 when the provisions of Section 200A(1)(c) of the Act were very much there on the statute. We do not find any merit in the reasoning adopted by the Ld. CIT(A) since the Hon'ble Madras High Court has clearly held that for AYs 2012-13 to 2014-15, the provisions of Section 234E of the Act were held not applicable even when the returns were processed after 01-06-2015, i.e. on 24-09-21. In the....