British Airways PLC Vs ITO & Ors. (Delhi High Court)
The limited grievance of the petitioner raised in this petition is that the withholding tax certificate issued to the petitioner has been made effective from the date of issue and not from the beginning of the financial year i.e. 01.04.2019. For example, it is pointed out that one of the certificates placed at page 61 of the record has been made effective from 13.06.2019 whereas the same had been applied for financial year 2019-20. Counsel for the petitioner states that for other jurisdictions, necessary clarifications have been issued by the respondents themselves.
The petitioner has placed on record the lower withholding tax certificate issued in respect of the financial year 2018-19. We find that the parties to whom the lower withholding tax certificates were issued for the financial year 2018-19 are the same. In a matter like the present one, time is of the essence since the petitioner is being subjected to higher deduction of tax at source by the parties which are transacting in business, while its claim is for lower withholding tax. The petitioner is a well-established business enterprise. Though, the lower withholding tax certificates have been issued in respect of all the parties, the dispute remains with regard to the date from which the certificates should take effect since the petitioner claims that it had made the application on 18.03.2019 for the financial year 2019-20. In respect of all the parties, we are inclined to direct as an interim measure that the said certificates issued to the petitioner would be effective for the entire financial year of 2019-2020, subject to further orders.
