Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Nov 19: Over 10,000 Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDOs) of the Government Departments, Public Sector Undertakings, Corporations and Corporate Houses across the State have fallen in the net of the Income Tax Department for either not filing the mandatory Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) statements or filing the same beyond the due date. The department has geared up the process of issuing notices to these defaulting tax deductors in order to realize fine imposed on them for not adhering to the provisions of the Income Tax Act.
As per Section 234E of the Income Tax Act, each and every DDO (tax deductor) is required to file TDS return of salary in Form No.24Q and TDS return other than salary in Form No.26Q. Similarly, the DDOs are required to file TCS return in Form No.27EQ.
For the first quarter (April to June), the TDS/TCS returns are required to be filed by July 15 for non-Government deductors and July 31 for Government deductors. Similarly, the due date for filing of returns by the DDOs for the 2nd quarter (July to September) is October 15 for non-Government deductors and October 31 for Government deductors.
The due date for filing of returns for the third quarter (October to December) is January 15 for non-Government deductors and January 31 for Government deductors and the due date for 4th quarter is May 15.
The Section further states that in case of failure to file the returns within the prescribed time, the DDO shall be liable to pay, by way of fee, a sum of Rs 200 for every day during which the failure continues.
“The Income Tax Department has noticed that more than 10,000 DDOs (around 50% of the total DDOs in Jammu and Kashmir) of the Government Departments, Public Sector Undertakings, Corporations and Corporate Houses across the State have been filing their returns beyond the due date thereby making themselves liable to fine”, reliable sources told EXCELSIOR.
“Moreover, 15% to 20% DDOs are still not filing their TDS statements making them liable for penalty under Section 271H in addition to fine under Section 234E”, they said, adding “Section 271H of the Act can be invoked if the default for filing the return continues for more than one year from the original date for filing of return”. The penalty under Section 271H is minimum Rs 10,000 and maximum of Rs 1 lakh.
Describing these figures as glaring incident of violation of Income Tax Act, sources said, “the Income Tax Department has geared up the process of issuing notices to the defaulting DDOs with the direction to pay the fine, which is their personal liability and will have to be paid from their pockets”.
The defaulting DDOs cannot escape the fine imposed on them by the Income Tax Department for not adhering to Section 234E as there is no provision for any sort of appeal against this fine. In case of several DDOs the fine amount runs in thousands of rupees and all these along with other defaulting DDOs will have to pay the fine at any cost.
According to the sources, the data about defaulting DDOs is generated by Centralized Processing Centre of the Income Tax Department whereby the period of default and amount of fine imposed on them is calculated.
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