HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
The Commissioner of Income-tax
v.
Smt. Sonal Bansal
M.M Kumar, J.
IT Appeal No. 412 of 2007
December 17, 2007
Section 199, read with section 203 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 -
Deduction of tax at source - Credit for tax deducted - Whether any deduction
made of tax at source and paid to Central Government is required to be treated
as payment of tax on behalf of owner of security - Held, yes -
Assessee-secondary purchaser had purchased deep discount bonds 1997 of IDBI @
of Rs. 9700 each from ‘V’ who had originally purchased same @ of Rs. 5500 - On
26-6-2002, assessee had duly filed return declaring income of Rs. 1,07,140 and
claimed credit of TDS of Rs. 91,800 in return that was deducted by IDBI on
interest income of Rs. 9 lakh which was paid by bank to assessee and in return,
she declared interest income at Rs. 60,000 only - Assessing Officer, however,
allowing credit of TDS of Rs. 6120, disallowed claim to tune of Rs. 91,800 at
interest income of Rs. 9 lakhs in terms of section 199 - On appeal,
Commissioner (Appeals) allowed entire credit relying on circular No. 2 of 2002
dated 15-2-2002 by holding that entire TDS benefit was to be given to holder of
bond at time of maturity and that credit was not to be available to other persons
because TDS certificate could not be issued in anyone else’s name - Further,
Tribunal upheld same - Whether Tribunal had rightly interpreted words ‘owner of
property’ or ‘of unit-holder’ to mean that assessee-secondary purchaser was
entitled to benefit, and as whole case was covered by virtue of expression or
owner of property or unit holder which were added in section 199 with effect
from 1-4-1997, therefore, Tribunal was justified in allowing full credit of TDS
to assessee in view of said circular - Held, yes
Circulars and Notifications :
Circular No. 2 of 2002, dated 15-2-2002.
The assessee-secondary purchaser had purchased deep discount bonds 1997 of IDBI @ of Rs. 9700 each from ‘V’ who had originally purchased the same @ Rs.5500. Thereafter, on 26-6-2002, the assessee had duly filed return declaring her income of Rs. 1,07,140 and claimed credit of TDS of Rs. 91,800 in the return of income that was deducted by IDBI on interest income of Rs. 9 lakhs which was paid by the bank to the assessee. In her return, she declared interest income at Rs. 60,000 only. The Assessing Officer, however, allowed her credit for TDS of Rs. 6120 and claim to the tune of Rs. 91,800 at the interest income of Rs. 9 lakhs was not allowed in terms of section 199. On appeal, the Commissioner (Appeals) allowed the entire credit relying on circular No. 2 of 2002 by holding that the entire TDS benefit was to be given to the holder of the bond at the time of maturity and that the credit was not to be available to other person because the TDS certificate could not be issued in anyone else’s name. Further, the Tribunal upheld the order of the Commissioner (Appeals).
On second appeal:
A perusal of the provisions of section 199 shows that any deduction made
of tax at source and paid to the Central Government is required to be treated
as payment of tax on behalf of the person from whose income the deduction was
made. However, with effect from 1-4-1997 amendments were introduced by Finance
Act, 1996 which resulted into addition of
words ‘depositor’ or ‘owner of property’ or ‘owner of security’ or ‘unit
holder’ as the case may be. Therefore, it has to be accepted that any deduction
made of tax at source and paid to the Central Government is required to be
treated as payment of tax on behalf of ‘owner of security’ or ‘unit holder’. In
the instant case, it was obviously the assessee-secondary purchaser who was
owner of security and therefore, tax deducted at source has to be regarded as
payment made on her behalf. Moreover, certificate under section 203 had also
been issued to assessee-secondary purchaser.
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Thus, in view of above, the appeal was to be dismissed. [