Gokul distributors Vs ITO (ITAT Pune)
Section 234E Fee Cannot Travel Back Through a Machinery Provision: No Levy u/s 200A for TDS Period Before 01-06-2015
The Pune Bench of the ITAT has held that late-filing fee u/s 234E could not be computed and demanded through an intimation u/s 200A for TDS statements relating to a period before 01-06-2015. Following the Karnataka High Court’s decision in Fatehraj Singhvi v. Union of India, the Tribunal deleted late fees of ₹12,078 & ₹6,000 levied for delayed filing of Forms 26Q for the second and fourth quarters of FY 2012-13.
The assessee, M/s Gokul Distributors, filed its quarterly TDS statements in Form No. 26Q for Q2 & Q4 of FY 2012-13 after the prescribed time. It subsequently filed correction statements. While processing the statements and passing intimations u/s 154 read with section 200A on 21-08-2021, the Department levied late fees u/s 234E amounting to ₹12,078 for Q2 and ₹6,000 for Q4.
The assessee challenged the levy before the CIT(A), contending that although section 234E had been introduced earlier, the statutory power enabling computation of such fee while processing a TDS statement u/s 200A was inserted only with effect from 01-06-2015. Since the impugned TDS statements related to FY 2012-13, the fee could not be raised through the processing mechanism u/s 200A.
