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2015 (10) TMI 1006 - AT - Income TaxComputation of interest under section 201(1A) - what is the connotation of ‘every month or part thereof’ appearing in Section 201(1A)- does it mean a calendar month or part thereof, or does it mean a ‘period of one month’ or part thereof? - Held that:- What is to be seen is the gap of time between the point of time when tax ought to have been deducted at source vis-ŕ-vis the point of time when the tax was actually deducted, and it is in this context that connotation of expression ‘month’ is to be examined. Now, if one has to compute the months as per the British calendar, the period from 21st October to 3rd November, as taken in the first example, is less than a month because it is only when the same date comes in the next month, the period of one month can be said to have elapsed. Similarly, the period of 21st March to 18th March of the subsequent year, as per the British calendar, is less than 12 months since the period of twelve months has not elapsed in between these two dates. Coming to the case in hand, the period of time gap between 16th November 2010 to 14th December 2012 is less than 25 months because, on 14th December 2012, the period of 25 months has not elapsed from 16th November, 2010. The period which is elapsed between these two dates is 24 months and 28 days. Going by the provisions of the General Clauses Act, therefore, the period of time between 16th November 2010 to 14th December 2012 is less than 25 months, and, accordingly, interest under section 201(1A) could not have been levied for a period of more than 25 months. As a matter of fact, as evident from the discussions the expression ‘month’ refers to “a month reckoned according to the British calendar”. “A month as per the British calendar” and “a month reckoned (emphasis supplied by me) as per British calendar” are not the same thing and cannot be used interchangeably. While former refers to a calendar month by itself, the latter refers to a period of time which qualified to be treated as a ‘month’. The subtle distinction between the scope of these two expressions cannot be ignored. Thus uphold the grievance of the assessee that, on the facts of this case, interest under section 201(1A) could not have been charged for more than 25 months. The Assessing Officer is, accordingly, directed to recompute the interest under section 201(1A) in the light of my observations above. - Decided in favour of assessee
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