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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, “A” BENCH,
Before: SHRI R.S.SYAL & SHRI S.S.VISWANETHRA RAVI
आदेश / ORDER
PER BENCH:
This batch of three appeals arises from different orders passed by
the National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi on 18-11-2021
and 23-11-2021. The only issue raised in these appeals is the charging
of fee u/s.234E for the assessment years 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-
16.
Briefly stated, the facts of the case are that the assessee filed the
TDS returns for the respective quarters belatedly. Based on that, the
2 Exponential Engineering Pvt. Ltd. A.Yrs. 2013-14, 2014-15 & 2015-16
Assessing Officer (AO) levied late fees u/s.234E of the Income-tax
Act, 1961 (hereinafter also called `the Act’). The assessee approached
the ld. CIT(A) but without success. Aggrieved thereby, the assessee has
come up before the Tribunal.
We have heard both the sides and gone through the relevant
material on record. The solitary issue raised in all the appeals is
against the confirmation of fee u/s.234E imposed by the AO. The
assessment years involved in these three appeals are 2013-14, 2014-15
and 2015-16, which show that the fee u/s.234E has been imposed for
the delay in furnishing the statements for quarters prior to 01-06-2015.
Section 200A deals with processing of statements of tax deducted
at source. Clause (c) of section 200A(1) was inserted by the Finance
Act 2015 w.e.f. 01-06-2015 providing for the levy of fee u/s.234E of
the Act. In that view of the matter, such fee u/s.234E can be levied
only for the default committed after 01-06-2015 and not prior to that.
The Hon’ble Kerala High Court in Olari Little Flower Kuries Pvt. Ltd.
Vs. Union of India and others (2022) 440 ITR 26 (Kerala) has affirmed
the non-imposition of fee for the period prior to 01-06-2015. Similar
view has been taken in Jiji Varghese VS. ITO(TDS) & Ors. (2022) 443
ITR 267 (Ker) holding that no fee u/s 234E can be imposed for the
3 Exponential Engineering Pvt. Ltd. A.Yrs. 2013-14, 2014-15 & 2015-16
periods of the respective A.Ys. prior to June 1, 2015. Thus, it is seen
that the issue raised in these appeals is covered in favour of the
assessee. Following the precedent, we overturn the impugned orders
on this sole issue.
In the result, all the appeals are allowed.
Order pronounced in the Open Court on 23rd day of September, 2022.
Sd/- Sd/- S.S.VISWANETHRA RAVI R.S.SYAL JUDICIAL MEMBER VICE PRESIDENT
पुणे / Pune; �दनांक / Dated : 23rd September, 2022 Satish
आदेश क� ��त�ल�प अ�े�षत / Copy of the Order forwarded to : अपीलाथ# / The Appellant. 1. $%यथ# / The Respondent. 2. 3. The concerned CIT(Appeals) 4. The concerned CIT. &वभागीय $)त)न�ध, आयकर अपील�य अ�धकरण, “A” ब�च, 5. पुणे / DR, ITAT, “A” Bench, Pune. गाड- फ़ाइल / Guard File. 6. // True Copy // आदेशानुसार / BY ORDER, // True Copy // Senior Private Secretary आयकर अपील�य अ�धकरण, पुणे / ITAT, Pune.
4 Exponential Engineering Pvt. Ltd. A.Yrs. 2013-14, 2014-15 & 2015-16
Date 1. Draft dictated on 23-09-2022 Sr.PS 2. Draft placed before author 23-09-2022 Sr.PS 3. Draft proposed & placed JM before the second member 4. Draft discussed/approved JM by Second Member. 5. Approved Draft comes to Sr.PS the Sr.PS/PS 6. Kept for pronouncement on Sr.PS 7. Date of uploading order Sr.PS 8. File sent to the Bench Clerk Sr.PS 9. Date on which file goes to the Head Clerk 10. Date on which file goes to the A.R. 11. Date of dispatch of Order. *