TDS Deductor cannot be held liable as ‘assessee in default’ if department has not proved that tax could not be recovered from the recipient of income.

TDS Deductor cannot be held liable as ‘assessee in default’ if department has not proved that tax could not be recovered from the recipient of income.

Assesse, a public sector bank could not deduct tax on interest on deposit made thus held assessee in default u/s 201/210(IA), however ITAT Agra held that Assessee cannot be held liable unless department has discharged that tax could not be recovered from recipient of income or recipient has also failed to pay tax directly.

Crdeit for TDS cannot be denied on the ground of discrepancy in Form 26AS filed by the deductor.

It is common problem faced by Income tax payers that they get demand notice along with penalty (sometime) for the grounds on which they don't have any control like :-

(i) TDS Deductor has committed some mistake while filing his TDS Return consequently figure shown in assessee ITR does not match with figure provided by the deductor to the department, or

(ii) Data given in ITR does not match with data of department because nodal agency ( NSDL or bank collecting Tax) not updated their files in time or not uploaded correctly.

In the situation , Income Tax payer either get demand notice or some time not getting refund for which he is very much eligible.

Last year, Honourable Delhi High Court in a Public Interest Litigation in Court On its Own Motion vs. Commissioner of Income Tax, 2013 (352) ITR 273 took it seriously and the Court noticed that:-