Income Tax Appellate Tribunal - Ahmedabad
Flint Pharma (P) Ltd. vs Asstt. Cit on 12 October, 2000
Equivalent citations: [2002]82ITD342(AHD)
ORDER
This is an appeal by the assessee against the order passed by the learned Commissioner (Appeals)-III, Baroda. The ground taken by the assessee is as under :
"The learned Commissioner (Appeals) has erred in upholding the action of the assessing officer in rejecting the application under section 154 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, whereby the appellant was held not entitled to interest under section 244A of the Income Tax Act. He ought to have held that the appellant was entitled to such a claim."
2. Briefly the facts are that at the time of processing the return under section 143(1)(a) dated 29-7-1992 a demand of Rs. 15,875 was created against the assessee after adjusting advance tax paid of Rs. 22,350 only. After receipt of this intimation, the assessee moved an application under section 154 on 1-9-1992 requesting that inadvertently the assessee had paid advance tax of Rs. 1,24,908 alongwith TDS in respect of interest payments to seven creditors amounting to Rs. 44,101, totalling Rs. 1,69,009 through Challan No. 2 which was the challan meant for payment of tax deducted at source and that challan was submitted alongwith the annual return of TDS in Form No. 26A. Accordingly, it was prayed that instead of the demand raised by the assessing officer amounting to Rs. 15,875 the assessee was entitled to refund of Rs. 1,09,033 alongwith interest for which the assessee prayed for rectification order to be passed. The assessing officer, however, rejected the prayer of the assessee on the ground that it had made payment of Rs. 1,69,009 in challan meant for TDS over which only Income Tax Officer TDS has control and only Income Tax Officer TDS has power to refund the excess payment of TDS, if any. He accordingly rejected the application of the assessee for treating the amount paid on account of advance tax in the TDS challan as the payment of advance tax vide order dated 17-9-1992.
3. The assessee appealed to the Commissioner (Appeals) and the learned Commissioner (Appeals) required the assessing officer to verify the contention of the assessee from Income Tax Officer TDS who certified that in fact the assessee had made advance tax payment of Rs. 1,24,908 on a challan for TDS and thereafter the assessing officer ordered a refund of Rs. 1,24,908 but refused to grant any interest under section 244A. The Commissioner (Appeals), however, observed that the repayment of refund to the assessee has been delayed due to the fault of the assessee who used a wrong challan. He accordingly held that the assessee is not entitled to any interest under section 244A.
4. Aggrieved with the order of the Commissioner (Appeals), the assessee has filed this appeal. It was submitted by the learned Authorised Representative of the assessee that the payment of advance tax by the assessee in Challan No. 2 which is meant for TDS has been found to be correct by the assessing officer after making reference to the Income Tax Officer TDS. It was submitted that since the money has been paid into government account over and above the tax which is due from the assessee, the assessee is entitled to interest on the excess payment of tax. Merely because the advance tax has been paid in a Form meant for TDS, the assessee cannot be denied interest due on the excess payment of advance tax. It was submitted that the forms meant for payment of TDS, advance tax or for that matter any other tax, are non-statutory forms and these are meant for the convenience of the tax payers. Simply because the payment of advance tax has been made in a wrong challan, will not deprive the assessee of interest which is legally due to him on the excess payment which is permissible under section 244A. He accordingly submitted that the Departmental Authorities were not justified in denying the claim of interest on the excess amount of advance tax paid by the assessee though in a form meant for TDS.
5. The learned Departmental Representative supported the order of the Commissioner (Appeals) and submitted that the delay in adjustment of advance tax paid by the assessee on a form meant for TDS was wholly on account of fault of the assessee and the Departmental Authorities were justified in denying the interest claimed by the assessee under section 244A.
6. I have considered the rival submissions. Section 244A of the Act reads as under :
244A. (1) (Where refund of any amount becomes due to the assessee under this Act), he shall, subject to the provisions of this section, be entitled to receive, in addition to the said amount, simple interest thereon calculated in the following manner, namely :
(a) where the refund is out of any tax (collected at source under section 206C or) paid by way of advance tax or treated as paid under section 199, during the financial year immediately preceding the assessment year, such interest shall be calculated at the rate of one per cent for every month or part of a month comprised in the period from the 1st day of April of the assessment year to the date on which the refund is granted :
Provided that no interest shall be payable if the amount of refund is less than ten per cent of the tax as determined (under sub-section (1) of section 143 or) on regular assessment;
(b) in any other case, such interest shall be calculated at the rate of one per cent for every month or part of a month comprised in the period or periods from the date or, as the case may be, dates of payment of the tax or penalty to the date on which the refund is granted.
6.1 A perusal of the above clearly indicates that the assessee is entitled to interest on refund which became due to the assessee after adjusting the demand raised against the assessee by way of assessment. No statutory form has been prescribed for the payment of tax. Form in Challan No. 1 meant for advance tax and Challan No. 2 meant for TDS are all non-statutory forms which are meant for the convenience of the taxpayers. Neither in the Income Tax Act nor in the Rules framed under the Income Tax Rules any statutory form has been prescribed for the payment of different types of taxes like advance tax, TDS or payment of regular demand or even of self assessment tax under section 140A. All the forms supplied by the department for payment of various types of taxes are non-statutory forms and these are meant only for the convenience of the tax payers. In this view of the matter, I am of the opinion that since admittedly the payment of Rs. 1,24,908 on account of advance tax was made by the assessee on 9-4-1990 in Challan No. 2 alongwith the payment of TDS of Rs. 44,101 totalling Rs. 1,69,009, the assessee is entitled to refund alongwith interest under section 244A and the Departmental Authorities were not justified in denying the claim of the assessee. The assessing officer is accordingly directed to allow interest to the assessee under section 244A.
7. In the result, the appeal is allowed.