Employees of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have recently been issued tax demand notices by the Income Tax Department over discrepancies in their Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) claims. On September 9, many employees across different departments received intimations under Section 143(1) of the Income Tax Act, indicating that there was no record of the full TDS amount for the fourth quarter of FY24. As a result, they were asked to pay the unrecorded amount, along with applicable interest and charges.
These preliminary assessments which are scrutiny of the income tax return have led to the issue of demand notice in the amount of Rs 50000 to Rs 1.45 lakh. A few employees have mentioned that the TDS data was not syncing with the income tax portal for some days & had to be entered manually. It has resulted in a delay in the processing of tax refunds among other inconveniences.
In turn, TCS has provided assurance to its employees to the effect that the tax authorities are expected to reprocess the returns. Meanwhile, in an internal mailing, the company has assured its employees that the disparities existing between Form 26AS issued by the Income Tax Department and Form 16 Part A issued by the TCS will be addressed shortly. To all the employees who received the tax notices, they are encouraged not to pay the demand amounts as they will be issued with a rectification intimation in the near future.
The incident is expected to be a temporary glitch, and the TDS discrepancies should be rectified without financial consequences for TCS employees.
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