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TMI Blog2020 (12) TMI 573X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... were requested. The only plausible reason the names could not be added in the designated fields, was the technical inadequacy of the system. That said, concededly, for the TANs in the said list, the Revenue subsequently has indeed issued certificates.No reason to deny the relief sought for in the present petition. Accordingly, it is declared that the withholding tax certificates issued by the respondents which are the subject matter of the present writ petition shall be effective from 1st April, 2019 for FY 2019-20. The interim orders are made absolute. - W.P.(C) 13496/2019 - - - Dated:- 3-12-2020 - HON BLE MR.JUSTICE MANMOHAN AND HON BLE MR.JUSTICE SANJEEV NARULA Petitioner Through: Mr.Vishal Kalra, Advocate. Respondents Through: Mr. Ruchir Bhatia, Senior Standing Counsel with Ms. Mansie Jain and Ms. Madhura MN, Advocates. SANJEEV NARULA, J. (oral) 1. The Petitioner is a foreign company, incorporated under the laws of the United Kingdom and resident of U.K. under the India-U.K. DTAA. By way of the present writ petition, it seeks a direction for issuance of a lower withholding certificate under Section 197(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 [hereinafter referr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd July, 2019 and 10th July, 2019 for which the certificates were issued on 2nd July, 2019 and 7th August, 2019 respectively. During this period the Petitioner continuously followed up with the officer of the Centralized Processing Cell, TRACES Customer care, explaining the challenges faced. Ultimately, the CPC, taking note of similar representations made by several assessees, resolved the issue in the system. Taking benefit of the upgradation, the Petitioner filed four applications dated 10th July, 2019 for 180 parties. The certificate for the balance 230 parties was issued on 7th August, 2019. The certificate dated 7th August, 2019 mentions all the parties for which the Petitioner sought certificate for, including the date on which such certificates were issued. Mr. Kalra submits that the system generated certificates are valid from the date of issue. Because of the delay in issuance of the certificates, Petitioner was suffering grave hardship and accordingly pursued the Respondents to issue a clarification that no TDS is required to be deducted from payments received for the period of 1st April, 2019 to 12th June, 2019. Respondents have, however, declined to do so. In the absenc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ith the application. The said list has been placed on record. 3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that even in the previous years, the respondent had issued lower withholding tax certificates in respect of the same parties. It appears that the respondents kept upgrading their systems and, as and when the same was done, the petitioner kept making applications for lower withholding tax in respect of the said 337 parties. However, certificates were granted from the date of making of separate applications despite the initial application being made on 18.03.2019. 4. Mr. Bhatia, submits that he has no written instructions and is not in a position to state as to whether, the electronic system initially did not permit making an application in respect of more than three parties. He seeks further time to take instructions in this regard. He states that in view of the impending union budget, four weeks time be granted to file reply. 5. The petitioner has placed on record the lower withholding tax certificate issued in respect of the financial year 2018-19. We find that the parties to whom the lower withholding tax certificates were issued for the financial year 2018- ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... m-13 functionality (for Lower/Nil Deduction Certificate) was deployed on website (TRACES) on 12.11.2018 and has been working properly without any major downtime. Besides, it is to highlight that total 8366 Form-13 were received on website (TRACES) from 12.11.2018 till March, 2019 and all functionalities on website (TRACES) were working to process these requests. The assessee had filed online application on the website on 18.03.2019 vide request no. 5517 with three TANs which are, DELM25694E, DELT04391C, DELA51631G. The Nil Deduction Certificates for the same were issued on 03.06.2019. 2. When the petitioner made an online application on 18.03.2019, only three parties could be inserted as per online format. The taxpayer/deductee can submit the Form No. 13 along with supporting documents electronically in two modes: a) Online mode (For upto 50 TANs) b) Offline Utility mode (For more than 50 TANs) While applying Form-13 a pop-up is flashed on the screen to inform about the mode that can be used by the applicant (screenshot is placed as Annexure-I) for the submission of Form-13. Detailed FAQs ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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