BANK OF INDIA, NAGPUR V. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX (TDS), CIRICLE-1, NAGPUR

ITA 290/NAG/2022

AI Insights

The case involves the Bank of India, which appealed against the late fee imposed under section 234E of the Income-tax Act for a TDS return filed belatedly for the quarter of the assessment year 2014-15. The fee was initially levied by the Assessing Officer and upheld by the CIT(A). The Tribunal's decision was based on the interpretation of section 200A, particularly clause (c), which was amended by the Finance Act, 2015, effective from June 1, 2015. The Tribunal referenced decisions from the Kerala High Court, which affirmed that the imposition of such fees prior to this date was not permissible.

• Counselvise Citation: [2023] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 301432 (ITAT-NAGPUR)
• Duration Of Justice: 10 month(s) 19 day(s)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 24-07-2023
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Allowed
• Bench Allotted: DB
• Next Hearing Date: 23-07-2023
• Assessment Year: 2014-2015
• Appeal Filed On: 05-09-2022
• Other Referred Cases: Olari Little Flower Kuries Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Union of India and others, Jiji Varghese VS. ITO(TDS) & Ors.
• Laws Referred To: Income-tax Act, 1961
• Result in Favour of: Assessee
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Keywords: TDS
• Section: 234E; 200A

Judgement Text

IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL, NAGPUR BENCH (At e- Court, Pune) BEFORE SHRI R.S.SYAL, VICE PRESIDENT AND SHRI S.S.VISWANETHRA RAVI, JUDICIAL MEMBER Sl. No. ITA No. Name of the Applicant Name of Respondent Asst. Year Quar ter Form 1 290/NAG/2022 Bank of India, Nagpur Zonal Office, 3 rd Floor, CSD Dept., Kingsways, Nagpur – 440 001 Maharashtra PAN : AAACB0472C DCIT (TDS), Circle-1, Nagpur 2014-15 Q2 26Q Assessee by : Shri Pratik Sadrani & Shri Hardik Chordia Revenue by : Shri Amol Khairnar स ु नवाई क तार ख / Date of Hearing : 24.07.2023 घोषणा क तार ख / Date of Pronouncement : 25.07.2023 आदेश / ORDER PER R.S.SYAL, VP: This appeal by the assessee arises from the order passed by the National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi on 07-12-2021. The only issue raised in this appeal is against the charging of interest u/s.234E for the quarter of the assessment year 2014-15. 2. Briefly stated, the facts of the case are that the assessee is a Nationalised Bank and filed the TDS return for the captioned quarter belatedly. Based on that, the Assessing Officer (AO) levied late fees 2 ITA No.290/Nag/2022 Bank of India u/s.234E of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter also called `the Act’). The assessee approached the ld. CIT(A) but without success. Aggrieved thereby, the assessee has approached the Tribunal. 3. We have heard both the sides and gone through the relevant material on record. The solitary issue raised in this appeal is against the confirmation of fee u/s.234E imposed by the AO. The assessment year involved in this appeal is 2014-15, which shows that the fee u/s.234E has been imposed for the delay in furnishing the statement for quarter prior to 01-06-2015. 4. Section 200A deals with processing of statements of tax deducted at source. Clause (c) of section 200A(1) was inserted by the Finance Act 2015 w.e.f. 01-06-2015 providing for the levy of fee u/s.234E of the Act. In that view of the matter, such fee u/s.234E can be levied only for the default committed after 01-06-2015 and not prior to that. The Hon’ble Kerala High Court in Olari Little Flower Kuries Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Union of India and others (2022) 440 ITR 26 (Kerala) has affirmed the non-imposition of fee for the period prior to 01-06-2015. Similar view has been taken in Jiji Varghese VS. ITO(TDS) & Ors. (2022) 443 ITR 267 (Ker) holding that no interest u/s 234E can be imposed for the periods of the respective A.Ys. prior to June 1, 2015. Thus, it is seen 3 ITA No.290/Nag/2022 Bank of India that the issue raised in this appeal is covered in favour of the assessee. Following the precedent, we overturn the impugned order on this sole issue. 5. In the result, the appeal is allowed. Order pronounced in the Open Court on 25 th July, 2023. Sd/- Sd/- (S.S. VISWANETHRA RAVI) (R.S.SYAL) JUDICIAL MEMBER VICE PRESIDENT प ु णे / Pune; दनांक / Dated : 25 th July, 2023 Satish आदेश क त ल प अ े षत / Copy of the Order forwarded to : 1. अपीलाथ / The Appellant. 2. यथ / The Respondent. 3. The concerned CIT. 4. वभागीय !त!न"ध, आयकर अपील य अ"धकरण, “नागप ु र” ब & च, / DR, ITAT, “Nagpur” Bench 5. गाड) फ़ाइल / Guard File. // True Copy // आदेशान ु सार / BY ORDER, // True Copy // Senior Private Secretary आयकर अपील य अ"धकरण, प ु णे / ITAT, Pune 4 ITA No.290/Nag/2022 Bank of India * Date 1. Draft dictated on 24-07-2023 Sr.PS 2. Draft placed before author 25-07-2023 Sr.PS 3. Draft proposed & placed before the second member JM 4. Draft discussed/approved by Second Member. JM 5. Approved Draft comes to the Sr.PS/PS Sr.PS 6. Kept for pronouncement on Sr.PS 7. Date of uploading order Sr.PS 8. File sent to the Bench Clerk Sr.PS 9. Date on which file goes to the Head Clerk 10. Date on which file goes to the A.R. 11. Date of dispatch of Order.