The credit of TDS to be given for the assessment year in which invoices are raised
In terms of Rule 37BA(3)(i) benefit of TDS is to be given for assessment year for which corresponding income is assessable, therefore, where the assessee raised invoice on ‘A’ in March 2011, the benefit of TDS had to be allowed in the assessment year 2011-12 even though the tax on invoice amount was deposited by ‘A’ in April 2011. So, in no case TDS credit can be given in other assessment years.
Assessee to reconcile income vis-à-vis TDS credit
Total freight collected by the assessee was Rs.30.53 crores and that the assessee paid freight to shipping companies at Rs.25.56 crores thus resulting in a balance of Rs.4.97 crores as gross income in its Profit and Loss Account, which was not disputed by the Assessing Officer.
The Assessing Officer did not allow full TDS credit of Rs.76,16,380/- to the assessee, as in the opinion of the Assessing Officer, since the assessee had not accounted for the entire gross receipts of Rs.30.53 crores it was not entitled to claim the full TDS credit of Rs.76,16,380/- and the Assessing Officer restricted the TDS credit to Rs.12,37,993/-
Even in various appeals TDS credit was not allowed as it is the responsibility of the assessee to reconcile TDS credit with income exposed to tax. The onus is on the assessee to make proper reconciliation of the differences between the receipts as per TDS certificates and that of as per Profit and Loss Account lay relevant evidence/material in support of its contentions/explanation.
No denial of TDS even in the absence of Form 16A (TDS certificates)
The Gujarat High Court in the case of Sumit Devendra Rajani v. Asstt. CIT [2014] 49 taxmann.com 31 (Gujarat), involving the assessment year 2010-11, held that “where the deductor having deducted TDS, issued Form No. 16A, credit of the same cannot be denied to the assessee-deductee solely on the ground that such credit does not appear on the ITD system of the department and/or the same does not match with the ITD system of the department.”
Any receipts do not become taxable just because TDS is deducted from it
Income and chargeability are two separate terms defined under the Act under 2(24) of the Act and Sec 4 of the Act respectively. Every transaction has to be tested separately as per the definition in the Act and then only the provisions of Chapter XVII- B of the Act can be applied.
If a Fixed Deposit is made by an assessee in the process of setting up a new project as security for opening an L/C for import of Plant and Machinery, then interest on such Fixed Deposit does not constitute income but is liable to be netted off against the cost of setting up of the project. In such cases, the interest on Fixed Deposit does not constitute income under the charging provisions of Section 4 of the Act. In such cases however the Revenue cannot claim the interest to be chargeable to tax under section 4 of the Act even if the Bank deducts tax on such interest income under section 194A of the Act by taking recourse to Sec. 198 of the Act.
