Aakar Foundry P Ltd, Pune V. Income-Tax Officer (TDS -1), Pune

ITA 544/PUN/2022

• Counselvise Citation: [2022] 104 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 1301 (ITAT-PUNE)
• Duration Of Justice: 2 month(s) 21 day(s)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 09-10-2022
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Allowed
• Bench Allotted: C
• Next Hearing Date: 09-10-2022
• Assessment Year: 2013-2014
• Appeal Filed On: 18-07-2022
• Result in Favour of: Assessee
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Keywords: TDS
• Section: 234E; 200A

Judgement Text

IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL “C” BENCH, PUNE BEFORE SHRI R.S.SYAL, VICE PRESIDENT AND SHRI PARTHA SARATHI CHAUDHURY, JUDICIAL MEMBER Sl. No. ITA No(s). Name of the Appellant Name of Respondent Asst. Year Quar ter Form 1-17 540/PUN/2022 to 556/PUN/2022 Aakar Foundry Private Limited S.No.341/2, Thakar Vasti, Behind NHEC, Somatane Phata, Talegaon Dabhade, Pune – 410506 PAN : AAFCA8836J ITO (TDS-1), Pune 2013-14 2013-14 2013-14 2013-14 2013-14 2013-14 2013-14 2013-14 2013-14 2014-15 2014-15 2014-15 2014-15 2014-15 2015-16 2015-16 2015-16 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 24Q 24Q 24Q 26Q 26Q 26Q 27EQ 27EQ 27EQ 24Q 24Q 24Q 24Q 27EQ 24Q 24Q 24Q Assessee by : Shri Kishor Phadke Revenue by : Shri Piyush Kumar Singh Yadav स ु नवाई की तारीख / Date of Hearing : 10.10.2022 घोषणा की तारीख / Date of Pronouncement : 10.10.2022 आदेश / ORDER PER R.S.SYAL, VP: This batch of 17 appeals arises from different orders passed by the National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi on 30-05-2022. The only issue raised in these appeals is the charging of interest 2 ITA Nos.540 to 556/PUN/2022 Aakar Foundry Pvt. Ltd. A.Yrs. 2013-14 to 2015-16 u/s.234E for the quarters arising in assessment years 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16. 2. Briefly stated, the facts of the case are that the assessee is a Private limited company engaged in the business of infrastructure operations and filed the TDS returns for the respective quarters belatedly. Based on that, the Assessing Officer (AO) levied late fees 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 the rival submissions and perused the relevant material on record. The solitary issue raised in all the appeals is against the confirmation of fee u/s.234E imposed by the AO. The assessment years involved in these 17 appeals are 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16, which shows that the fee u/s.234E has been imposed for the delay in furnishing the statements for quarters 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. 3 ITA Nos.540 to 556/PUN/2022 Aakar Foundry Pvt. Ltd. A.Yrs. 2013-14 to 2015-16 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 that the issue raised in these appeals is covered in favour of the assessee. Following the precedent, we overturn the impugned orders on this sole issue. 5. In the result, all the appeals are allowed. Order pronounced in the Open Court on 10 th of October, 2022. Sd/- Sd/- PARTHA SARATHI CHAUDHURY R.S.SYAL JUDICIAL MEMBER VICE PRESIDENT ऩ ु णे / Pune; ददनाांक / Dated : 10 th October, 2022 GCVSR 4 ITA Nos.540 to 556/PUN/2022 Aakar Foundry Pvt. Ltd. A.Yrs. 2013-14 to 2015-16 आदेश की प्रतिलिपि अग्रेपिि / Copy of the Order forwarded to : 1. अऩीऱाथी / The Appellant. 2. प्रत्यथी / The Respondent. 3. The concerned CIT(Appeals) 4. The concerned Pr.CIT. 5. ववभागीय प्रतततनधध, आयकर अऩीऱीय अधधकरण, “C” ब ें च, ऩ ु णे / DR, ITAT, “C” Bench, Pune. 6. गार्ड फ़ाइऱ / Guard File. // True Copy // आदेशान ु सार / BY ORDER, // True Copy // Senior Private Secretary आयकर अऩीऱीय अधधकरण, ऩ ु णे / ITAT, Pune. Date 1. Draft dictated on 10-10-2022 Sr.PS 2. Draft placed before author 10-10-2022 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.