Matching TDS data is big issue for Assessee and Department

Matching TDS data is big issue for Assessee and Department

Tax deducted at source (TDS) has become a problematic issue with the income tax department as in more than 50% TDS refund cases it is facing an uphill task in matching the data provided in the assessee’s income tax returns with the TDS deductor’s information available with the NSDL.

And the mismatch is resulting in the assessee running from pillar to post to get back the refund due to him from the department.

“It’s a pan-India problem; the government wants the system should be fully computerized so that things are streamlined,” said Jamshedpur commissariat DCIT (TDS) S M S Tauheed recently.

According to outgoing commissioner of income-tax (CIT) K Sarkar, who has been transferred to Ahmedabad, said the department is faced with mismatch of TDS data in around 50% of cases.

Asked about the number of TDS refund mismatch cases pertaining to 2008-09 which had so far come to light in the Jamshedpur commissariat the DCIT (TDS) said it was more than 3,000.

The Jamshedpur commissariat has a income tax payers’ base of around 1.35 lakh.

To combat the mismatch factor better, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has, like last year, come up with amendments in TDS rules even this year with effect from April 1, 2010, while NSDL too has introduced procedures for correcting TDS detail at a later stage, so that the assessee got back his TDS refund early.

Citing a case where a TDS certificate for Rs 18 lakh related to a local company’s managing director had flaws in it resulting in mismatch, Sarkar said the onus of issuing an error-free TDS certificate should in every case be on the TDS deductor for whose negligence the assessee has often been seen to suffer by way of not receiving the refund from the department.

According to Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce & Industry general secretary Suresh Sonthalia, a sizeable number of TDS refund cases were lying with the Jamshedpur income-tax commissariat and with the department sending out notices to the assessees for the previous year 2008-09 regarding the mismatch found, efforts were on to resolve the problems.