Home Case Index All Cases Income Tax Income Tax + AT Income Tax - 2017 (11) TMI AT This
Forgot password New User/ Regiser ⇒ Register to get Live Demo
2017 (11) TMI 631 - AT - Income TaxTDS u/s 194H - TDS liability on commission paid to the distributor - applicability of section 201(1) and consequent interest u/s 201(1A) - whether assessee has furnished basic details in discharging its primary onus to show that assessee can no longer be considered as defaulter and interest can only be charged till date of payment, if any, by the distributors - Held that:- We are of the opinion that expecting assessee to obtain a certificate in Form 26A, at this juncture, is not practicable. At the time of filing of its returns, the issue of applicability of section 194H, on payments received by the assessee in the form of discount was under challenge and there are few decisions in favour of the assessee holding that the amounts received from the distributors by the assessee cannot be treated as commission, but, it has to be treated as discounts since the relationship between the distributor and the assessee is on ‘principal to principal’ basis. Thus, at the relevant point of time, the assessee has not obtained minute details from the distributors, since the assessee was under bonafide impression that it could not be treated as a defaulter u/s 201(1) of the Act. ITAT Hyderabad Bench in the case of Idea Cellular Ltd.(2009 (2) TMI 246 - ITAT HYDERABAD-B) had taken a view in favour of the assessee. This aspect has to be taken into consideration while considering as to whether the material filed before the AO is sufficient to prove that the assessee cannot be treated as a defaulter, u/s 201(1A) of the Act. Expecting the assessee to file a certificate of CA at this juncture creates “force majeure” situation, as held by the Hon’ble Madras High Court in the case of S. Hastimal Vs. CIT, [1962 (12) TMI 60 - MADRAS HIGH COURT] wherein observed that assessee cannot be put on the neck, after a lapse of more than 10 years, to furnish details beyond a particular point. Assessee having furnished the basic details i.e. list of declarations collected from the concerned distributors for the above AYs along with turnover and income-tax returns filed by them, it should be treated as sufficient compliance and interest should not have been charged u/s 201(1A) of the Act from the dates when the recipients have filed returns.
|