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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, “A” BENCH,
Before: SHRI R.S.SYAL & SHRI PARTHA SARATHI CHAUDHURY
आदेश / ORDER
PER BENCH:
This batch of 11 appeals arises from different orders passed by the National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi on 31-08-2021.
The only issue raised in these appeals is the charging of interest u/s.234E for the quarters arising in assessment years 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16.
Briefly stated, the facts of the case are that the assessee is a firm and filed the TDS returns for the respective quarters belatedly. Based on that, the 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 approached the Tribunal.
We have heard the ld. DR and gone through the relevant material on record. There is no appearance on behalf of the assessee despite notice. As such, we are proceeding to dispose of the appeals ex parte qua the assessee but on merits.
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 11 appeals are 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16, which shows 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 interest u/s 234E can be imposed for the 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 20th of September, 2022.