2015 (9) TMI 270 - AT - Income Tax

Disallowance of interest expense u/s 40(a)(ia) - failure to deduct income tax at source and non procurement of Form 15G from the parties within the stipulated time - Held that - Assessee has submitted Form 15G well in the stipulated time-limit along with all the relevant details and disallowance u/s 40(a)(ia) of the Act cannot be made only for topographical error in filling the verification date in duplicate Form 15G filled up by payees. All the original Form 15G were received by the assessee before the end of FY 2007-08 and those have been submitted to the Department before 07-04-2008 and assessee was correct in not making deduction of TDS as per the provision of Sec. 197A (1A) of the Act and as such, reverse the orders of authorities below and delete the disallowance of interest claimed by the assessee. - Decided in favour of assessee.

Summary

Issues involved:
Appeal against disallowance of interest expense under section 40(a)(ia) for failure to deduct income tax at source and non-procurement of Form 15G within stipulated time.

Detailed Analysis:

Issue 1: Disallowance of interest expense under section 40(a)(ia)
- The AO disallowed interest expenses due to failure to deduct TDS and non-procurement of Form 15G within the stipulated time.
- Assessee claimed to have received Form 15G but misplaced them, leading to resubmission after the deadline.
- Ld. CIT(A) confirmed AO's decision, emphasizing that the forms were signed after the closing of the financial year.
- Assessee contended that all Form 15G were submitted before the statutory time limit, with requisite details and assessment year mentioned.
- Tribunal noted that the assessee had the declarations from payees before making interest payments, as required by Sec. 197A.
- Citing precedent, the Tribunal held that failure to submit declarations to the income tax department within the time limit does not imply non-possession of declarations at the time of payment.
- As the assessee had the declarations before making payments, TDS deduction was not required under Sec. 194A, and thus, section 40(a)(ia) was not applicable.
- Tribunal reversed lower authorities' decisions and deleted the disallowance of interest claimed by the assessee, allowing the appeal.

Conclusion:
The Tribunal allowed the appeal, ruling in favor of the assessee regarding the disallowance of interest expense under section 40(a)(ia) due to failure to deduct TDS and non-procurement of Form 15G within the stipulated time. The decision was based on the assessee's possession of declarations before making payments, as required by Sec. 197A, and the absence of grounds for disallowance other than a topographical error in filling the verification date on Form 15G.