True Blue Voice India Private Limited Vs Chief CIT-TDS (Madras High Court)
Summary: The writ petitions challenged the impugned orders dated 24.09.2021 passed by the first respondent and sought a direction to the third respondent to delete the levy of fee under Section 234E of the Income Tax Act for the period up to 01.06.2015.
The petitioner submitted that Section 200A of the Act governs processing of statements of Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) and that it had filed TDS statements for assessment years 2012-2013, 2013-2014, 2014-2015 and the first quarter of 2015-2016. According to the petitioner, Section 200A(1)(c), which enabled computation of fee under Section 234E while processing TDS statements, was introduced only with effect from 01.06.2015, although Section 234E itself had been introduced with effect from 01.07.2012.
The petitioner contended that, in the absence of Section 200A(1)(c) during the relevant period, the Department had no authority to impose late fee under Section 234E while processing TDS statements under Section 200A. The petitioner further submitted that its reply dated 16.04.2019 had been treated as a waiver application and rejected without properly considering its submissions.
The respondents, on the other hand, contended that Section 234E had been introduced with effect from 01.07.2012 and that the amendment to Section 200A(1)(c) enabled the Department to impose the late fee while processing TDS statements. Reliance was placed on, among others, Qatalys Software Technologies Private Limited vs. Union of India, Biswajit Das vs. Union of India, Dr. Amrit Lal Mangal vs. Union of India and Rajesh Kourani vs. Union of India.
