Satwant Singh Sanghera Vs ACIT (Delhi High Court)
Delhi High Court held that TDS deducted by the employer and not deposited cannot be demanded from the employee. Thus, order demanding the TDS amount is liable to be set aside.
Facts- The petitioner states that he was employed as a Co-Pilot with respondent no.2 (Kingfisher Airlines Ltd.) from 01.04.2008 till 15.12.2011. During the course of his employment, respondent no.2 had deducted Tax at Source (TDS) from the petitioner’s salary.
The petitioner filed his return of income tax for the AYs 2009-10 and 2011-12. Respondent no.2 deducted an aggregate amount of ₹11,07,970/- from the salary paid to the petitioner. TDS deducted by respondent no.2 was duly reflected in Form 16A issued by respondent no.2. The petitioner thus claims that he is not liable to pay tax, which had been deducted by respondent no.2 from his remuneration.
The petitioner has filed the present petition, inter alia, impugning the intimation dated 10.01.2019 u/s. 245 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and notice dated 09.11.2023 informing the petitioner of the outstanding demand aggregating ₹11,07,970/- along with interest.
Conclusion- Held that the said issue is covered in favour of the petitioner by the earlier decision of the Coordinate Bench of this Court in Sanjay Sudan v. The Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax & Another. Thus, the impugned notices and order are set aside in respect of the adjustment of demands pertaining to the AY 2009-10; 201011; and AY 2011-12 as stated in the tabular statement set out in the intimation dated 10.01.2019. The Revenue shall pass the necessary consequential orders and process the refund of the amounts due if already adjusted.
