Section 194B | TDS on Winnings from Lottery, Game Shows, and Puzzles etc.

194B. The person responsible for paying to any person any income by way of winnings from any lottery or crossword puzzle or card game and other game of any sort in an amount exceeding ten thousand rupees shall, at the time of payment thereof, deduct income-tax thereon at the rates in force 

Provided that in a case where the winnings are wholly in kind or partly in cash and partly in kind but the part in cash is not sufficient to meet the liability of deduction of tax in respect of whole of the winnings, the person responsible for paying shall, before releasing the winnings, ensure that tax has been paid in respect of the winnings.

1) Who is responsible to deduct tax u/s 194B?

The person responsible for paying to any person any income by way of winnings from any lottery or crossword puzzle, card game, and other game of any sort in an amount exceeding Rs. 10,000 shall deduct income-tax thereon at the rates in force.

Therefore, no tax is to be deducted where the amount of winning from each lottery, crossword puzzle, card game, etc. does not exceed Rs. 10,000.

Provided that If the winning is wholly in kind or it is partly in kind & partly in cash and the cash balance is not sufficient enough to meet the TDS liabilities, then Payer shall release the prize only if either-

(a) He has collected the amount equivalent to the TDS amount from the payee.

(b) He insists the payee make the payment of TDS on his own & submit the proof to the payer.

2) When to Deduct TDS from winning from Lottery, Card Games, etc. u/s 194B?

At the time of payment of such income.

Where lottery or prize money, etc. is paid in installments, the deduction of tax is to be made at the time of actual payment of each such installment. No Deduction/Expenditure is allowed from such income. No deduction under section 80C or 80D or any other deduction/allowance is allowed from such income.

3) Rate of TDS under Section 194B

Rate of TDS is 30%.

No surcharge and Health & Education Cess shall be added. Hence, TDS shall be deductible at basic rates.

ILLUSTRATION:

A T.V. channel pays Rs. 8 lakh as prize money to the winner of a quiz programme, "Kaun Banega Crorepati"? Whether the T.V. channel is responsible to deduct tax at source on the prize money so distributed?

The prize money so distributed falls within the meaning of "winning from any card game and other game of any sort" and therefore, under section 194B, the person responsible for paying the same, shall at the time of payment; deduct tax at 30% provided prize money exceeds Rs. 10,000.

Considering the above, the T.V. channel is responsible to deduct tax at source on the prize money so distributed under section 194B of the Act.

4) No TDS on Bonus or Commission payable to Lottery Agents

If out of winning amount of lottery, etc., any bonus or commission is paid/payable to lottery agents or sellers of lottery tickets, or sales made by them, no income tax is to be deducted for that amount paid and tax will therefore be deducted after deducting such bonus and commission.

Example:

Mr. M wins a lottery price of Rs. 1,10,000. A sum of Rs. 6,000 is deducted for payment to the lottery agent. Tax will be deducted on Rs. 1,04,000 after allowing bonus/commission paid to the agent.