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Judgment
These assessee’s eight appeals for Assessment Years 2013-14 to 2015-16, arise against the C IT(A)/NFAC, Delhi’s DIN & order No. IT BA/N FAC/S/250/2025–26/1078336180(1), 1078336910(1), 1078337447(1), 1078336545(1), 1078337083(1), 1078337314(1), 1078337730(1) & 10788337975(1) dated 10.07.2 025, in proceedings u/s 200A of the Inco me Tax Act, 1961 (in short “the Act”), respectively.
Cases called twice . None appears at the assessee’s behest. We accordingly proceeded ex-parte against the assessee/appellant.
The Revenue vehemently argues during the course of hearing that both the lear ned lo wer authorities have rightly levied the late filing fee herein forming subject matter of adjudicatio n in all these e ight appeals on account of the fact that the assessee/deductor had committed the corresponding default in belated filing/upholding of the prescrib ed statement under sectio n 200 read with se ction 200A(c) r.w.s. 234E of the Act.
We no tice in this factual backdrop that the statutory amendment herein i.e. u/s 200A(c) of the Act, stipulating computat ion u/s 234E, came to be inserted by the Finance (No .2) Act, 2015 w.e.f. 01 .06.2015 which has been held as having prospective effect o nly in Sri Rujula Inte rnational Vs. PCIT (2024) 167 taxmann.com 367 (Madras)as und er:
“1 . The Writ P etition has bee n filed challengi ng the impugned Demand Intimati on Letter s, dated 28.03.2019, pass ed b y t he thi rd r espondent and to quas h t he same.
2.The learned couns el appeari ng o n ei ther side would submit that the Judgment of this Court report ed i n 2023 (10) TMI 1141 [ M/s. True Blue Voice I ndia Private L td., and a nother Vs. the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax -TDS, Chennai and ot hers] would sq uarely apply to t he facts of t he present case.
3.The relevant portion of the s aid Judgment is extracted below:-
"10.There is no dispute on the as pect of validity of the S ecti on 234E of t he Ac t. The only issue that has to be decided in the pr esent c as e is as t o whet her t he late fee can be impo sed under S ecti on 234E of the Act, whil e proc essing the statement of TDS under Secti on 200A of the Act f or the subj ec t assessment years?
11.On c onsi dering the submissions o f bot h the lear ned couns el and whil e readi ng Secti on 234E of t he Act, it appears that t he D epartment/respondents can impose the late fee for t he circumstances menti oned under Secti on234E of the Act with effect from 01.07.2012, but not when they pr ocess t he TDS under Secti on 200A of the Act. In the Finance Bill, 2015, Secti on 200A(1)(c ) of the Act was introduced, which reads as follows :
"200A. Processi ng of stat ements of tax deducte d at source.—
(1 ) .... .............. ....
(a).
(b)................... .... .
(c ) the fee, if any, s hall be computed i n acc ordanc e with the pr ovi sions of s ecti on 234E;"
12.Fur ther, the obj ects a nd reaso ns for intr oduction of S ec ti on 200A(1)(c) of t he Act are as follows:
"Ra tiona lization of provisions relating to Tax Deductio n a t Source (TDS) and Tax Collec tion a t Sourc e (TCS)
Under Chapter XV II-B of the Act, a person is req uired to deduct t ax on ce rtai n specifi ed payment at t he specified rate if the payme nt exceeds t he specifi ed thr eshol d. The person deducti ng tax ('t he deductor') is required to file a quar terly Tax D educti on at Sourc e (TDS) stateme nt c ontaining the details of d eduction of tax made duri ng the quarter by t he prescri bed due dat e. Similarly, under Chapter XVII-BB of the Act, a person is r equi red to collect tax on certai n specified rec eipts at the specifi ed rates . The person c ollecti ng tax ('the collect or') also is requir ed to file a quarte rly Tax Collecti on at Source (TCS ) stat ement cont ai ni ng the details of c ollectio n of tax made duri ng the quart er by the prescribed due date. In ord er t o provide effective dete rrence agai ns t delay in furnishing of TDS/TCS s tatement, the Fi nance Act, 2012 ins ert ed section 234E in t he Act to provi de for levy of fee for late furnishi ng of TDS/TCS sta teme nt. The l evy o f fee under secti on 234E of the Act has pro ved to be an effective t ool in impr oving the complianc e i n respec t of timely s ubmis sio n of TDS/TCS state ment by t he deductor or collector.
Fi nance (No.2) Ac t, 2009 inserted sectio n 200A in the Act which provides for pr ocessi ng of TDS statements for determi ni ng the amount pay able orrefundable to the ded uct or. However, as secti on 243E was i ns ert ed after the i ns ertio n of s ecti on 200A in the Act, t he existing provisions of section 200A of the Act does not provide f or determinati on of fee payabl e under section 234E of the Act at the time of processing of TDS stat ements. It is, ther efor e, proposed t o amend t he provisions of s ecti on 200A of the Ac t so as to enable computa tion of fee payabl e under secti on 234E of the Act at the time of pr oc essi ng of TDS stat ement under section 200A of t he Act.
C urrently, the provisions of sub-sec ti on (3) of sec ti on 200 of the Ac t enabl e the deduct or to fur nish TDS correcti on st atement and co nseq uently, s ection 200A of t he Act allows proc essi ng of the TDS correction stat ement. However, currently, there does not exist any provisi on for allowi ng a collecto r to file cor recti on stat ement in respect of TCS stateme nt whic h has been furnished. It is, t herefore, proposed to amend t he provisions o f section 206C of the Act so as to allow the c ollector to f urnish TCS corr ecti o n stat ement.
C urrently, t here do es not exist any provision i n t he Act to enable proc essing of theTCS statement file d by the c ollector as available for processing of TDS stat ement. As the mechanism of TCS statement is similar t o TDS stat ement, it is proposed to i ns ert a provision i n the Act f or proc essi ng of TCS statements on the line o f existing provisions for processi ng of TDS stat ement co ntai ned i n s ection 200A of t he Act. The prop osed pr ovision shall also incorp orate t he mechanis m for computation of fee p ayable under section 234E of the Act."
13.A readi ng of the above makes it cl ear that si nc e no mec hanism was available f or det ermi nation of la te fee payabl e under Section 234E of the Act at the time of pr ocessi ng TDS stat ements. Thus it was propos ed to amend t he provisions of Section 200A of t he Ac t, so as to e nabl e t he co mputati on of fee payabl e under Secti on 234E of the Act at the time of processi ng of TDS statement under S ecti on 200A of the Act. Thus , the said sub -Sectio n 200A(1)(c) o f the Act wa s came to be i ns erted with effect from 01.0 6.2015.
14.Now the dispute is wit h regard to the ass essme nt ye ars 2012- 1 3, 2013-14, 2014-15 and t he applicability of S ecti on 200A(1)(c) of the Act f or rel evant assessment years. There is no dispute on t he aspect that the TDS stat ement was filed under Section 200A of the Act and the r espo ndent had als o issued the i ntimation under Secti on 200A of the Act , which means the respondents ha ve process ed the returns under Sec tion 200A of t he Ac t. When the responde nt had star ted t o process the retur ns of the petitio ner under Secti on 200A of the Act, obvi ously they have to follow t he r equi rements unde r Section 200A of the Act . Secti on 200A(1)(c) of the Act was introd uced with effect from 01.06.2015. A readi ng of t he objects and reasons of t he s ame makes it clear that si nce no mechanis m was available, S ec tion 200A(1)(c) of t he Act was i ntrod uced for i mposing late fee for the delay in fi ling statement of TDS . The refore, from t he intr oducti on of t he said Sub-Secti on it is clear that prior to the sam e, though Sectio n 234E of t he Act was intr oduced wi th effec t from 01.07.2012, t he Authoriti es were not empowered to impos e the late f ee whil e proc essing the statement of TDS under Secti on 200A of the Act .
15.The l ear ned counsel for the res pondent advanc ed his arguments on the aspect of the imposition of l ate fee by applyi ng Secti on 200A(1)(c ) of the Act retros pectively. This Co ur t is not i n agr eement wi th the sai d s ubmissi ons of the respondent. Si nce, the re was no provision for imposi ng the late fee under Secti on 234E of the Act while fil ing and p rocessi ng t he TDS returns under Secti on 200A of the Act, cl ause (c ) to S ub-S ection(1 ) to Section 200A was introduc ed wi th effect from 01.07.2012. The refore, the afores aid submissi on made by the learned counsel for t he res pondent is rejected by this Court.
16.Fur ther it was stated by the r espondent t hat they hav e no power t o waive the late fee and o nly the Commissi o ner o f Income Tax is empowered to pass t he revise d order by proper applicati on of provision of Secti on 264C of t he Act.
17.In vi ew of t he above, it is made clear that t he res pondent had impos ed the late fee only under Secti on 234E of the Act for the assessment years 2012-2013, 2013-2014, 2015-2015. However, Section 200A(1)(c) of the Act was not i ntroduced duri ng t he said assessment years. In the absence of any provisions under Secti on 200A of the Act, when t hey hav e proc essed the appli cati on f or TDS under Section 200A, no late fee can be imposed und er S ection 234E. He nce, in such vi ew of the matt er , t his C ourt feels tha t the impugned orders are liable to be set aside.
18.Accordi ngly, the impugned orders dat ed 24.09.2021 are set aside and the Department i s directed to c onsider the re pl y o f the petiti oner dat ed 16.04.2019 as a revision application, which was ea rlier considered as a waiver a pplication, and pass appr opriate orders by taki ng i nto c onsi deration of t he order pas sed by this Court wi thi n a period of ei ght weeks from the date of receipt of co py of this order. "
4.In t he pres ent case, the r espondent had imposed the late fee only under S ecti on 234E of the Act for the assessment years 2012-2013, 2013- 2014. However , Secti on 200A of t he Act was not introduce d duri ng t he said assessment years and it was introduc ed only with effect from 01.06.2015.Therefore, i n the absence of any provisions under Secti on 200A of the Act, t he res pondents ought no t to have impo sed late fee under Secti on 234E while proc essi ng the appl icati ons for TDS under S ecti on 200A. He nce, i n s uch view of the matter , this Court is of the opi ni on that the impugne d Demand Inti mation Le tters are liabl e to be set aside.
5.Accordi ngly, t he impugned dema nd Intimati on Letters dat ed 28.03.2019 are set aside and the Writ Petition stands disposed of. No costs. ”
We adopt the above detailed discussio n mutatis mutandis to delete the impugned late filing fee u/s 200A r.w.s 234 E of the Act, in the A.Y s. 2013-14 to 2015-16 before us, in very terms.
Same order will follow in ITA Nos. 5546 to 5552/Del/2025.
These assessee’ s eight appeals ITA No s. 5 545 to 5552/Del/2025 are allowed in above terms. A copy of this common order be placed in the respective case files.