Dy. Manager (Taxation)
289 Points
Joined October 2010
In section 201 of the Income-tax Act, for sub-section (1A), the following sub-section shall be substituted with effect from the 1st day of July, 2010, namely:—
“(1A) Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (1), if any such person, principal officer or company as is referred to in that sub-section does not deduct the whole or any part of the tax or after deducting fails to pay the tax as required by or under this Act, he or it shall be liable to pay simple interest,—
(i) at one per cent. for every month or part of a month on the amount of such tax from the date on which such tax was deductible to the date on which such tax is deducted; and
(ii) at one and one-half per cent. for every month or part of a month on the amount of such taxfrom the date on which such tax was deducted to the date on which such tax is actually paid, and such interest shall be paid before furnishing the statement in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (3) of section 200.”.
After studying the provision of Sec 201 (1A) (ii), I am of the opinion that interest for non depositing the TDS after deduction thereof, will be charged @ 1.5% from the date of deduction to the date of actual payment of tax. hence the period for charging interest includes the month of deduction as well as month of payment. This provision has been introduced With a view to discourage the practice of delaying the deposit of tax after deduction.
From the study of your problem, it seems that Tax was deducted timly (i.e. in April) but deposited in December. Hence the interest should be charged for 9 months (April to Dec) @ 1.5%. i.e. Rs. 472.50