Divisional Forest Officer, Bageshwar vs Assessee

Divisional Forest Officer, ITO (TDS), Champawat Forest Division, Haldwani. Champawat. PAN: MRTD00958G ITA Nos.6019 to 6022 & 6024 to 6044/Del/2013

ITA Nos.6036 to 6039/Del/2013 Assessment Years : 2008-09 to 2011-12

Divisional Forest Officer, Vs. ITO (TDS), Nainital Forest Division, Haldwani. Nainital. PAN: MRTD01106A

ITA Nos.6040 to 6044/Del/2013 Assessment Years : 2008-09 to 2012-13

Divisional Forest Officer, Vs. ITO (TDS), Pithoragarh Forest Division, Haldwani. Pithoragarh. PAN: MRTP01354D

(Respondent) (Appellant) Assessee By : Shri V.P. Gupta, Advocate Department By : Smt. Parwinder Kaur, Sr. DR

Date of Hearing : 10.04.2015 Date of Pronouncement : 13.04.2015

ORDER

PER BENCH :

These appeals by the assesses are directed against the orders

passed by the CIT(A), Dehradun, on various dates in relation to

2 ITA Nos.6019 to 6022 & 6024 to 6044/Del/2013

assessment years 2008-09 to 2012-13. The solitary issue raised in

these appeals through various grounds is against the sustenance of

demand against the assessee u/ss 206C(6) and 206C(7) of the

Income-tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter also called `the Act').

2. Briefly stated, the facts of these cases are that the assessees, all

of which are Government undertakings, sold Lisa during the

relevant financial years to buyers u/s 206C(1) of the Act. The

Income-tax Officer (TDS) observed that tax was required to be

collected at source, which the assessee did not collect. On being

called upon to explain as to why they be not deemed to be assessees

in default for such non-collection of tax at source in terms of section

206C(6A), they stated that all the Lisa purchasers were

manufacturers and Form no. 27Cs were obtained from them. The

assessees furnished such forms, which were admittedly not collected

by them from the buyers at the time of receipt of sale consideration

or debiting their accounts, whichever is earlier. The ITO (TDS)

3 ITA Nos.6019 to 6022 & 6024 to 6044/Del/2013

held that in view of the assessees not collecting tax at source, in the

absence of receipt of such forms from the respective buyers, at the

time of sale of the goods, they committed default as per section

206C, for which they were liable to be treated as assessees in

default. The amount of short collection of tax at source and the

consequential interest was determined and the assessees were

declared as in default for the said amounts. The ld. CIT(A) upheld

the orders passed by the ITO (TDS).

3. We have heard the rival submissions and perused the relevant

material on record. All these appeals came to be heard along with an

appeal in ITA No.6023/Del/2013 involving identical issue. In fact,

both the sides argued the appeal as aforesaid and adopted the same

arguments for the instant appeals. We have passed a separate

detailed order in the aforesaid appeal by holding that since the

assessee failed to collect tax at source from the buyers without

receipt of Form no. 27Cs at the time of debiting their accounts or

4 ITA Nos.6019 to 6022 & 6024 to 6044/Del/2013

receiving the amounts, whichever is earlier, there can be no escape

from the consequences flowing from such default. However, the

matter has been restored to the file of the ITO (TDS) for examining

the contention of the assessee that the buyers had included the

income from the instant purchase transactions in their total income

and filed returns u/s 139 of the Act after paying tax due thereon. It

has been further held that if the assessee fails to specifically prove

this position, then, the Officer would be fully entitled to treat it as

assessee in default in terms of section 206C. As regards the liability

of interest u/s 206C(7), it has been held that the same would be

fastened on the assessee from the date on which it was required to

collect tax at source up to the date on which the amount of tax was

paid by the buyers.

4. As the facts and circumstances of the instant appeals are mutatis

mutandis similar to the aforesaid appeal, we set aside the impugned

orders and send the matter back to the file of ITO (TDS) for

5 ITA Nos.6019 to 6022 & 6024 to 6044/Del/2013

deciding the issue afresh in the light of our directions given our

order in ITA No.6023/Del/2013

5. In the result, the appeals are allowed for statistical purposes.

The order pronounced in the open court on 13.04.2015.

Sd/- Sd/-

[C.M. GARG] [R.S. SYAL] JUDICIAL MEMBER ACCOUNTANT MEMBER

Dated, 13th April, 2015. dk Copy forwarded to: 1. Appellant 2. Respondent 3. CIT 4. CIT (A) 5. DR, ITAT

AR, ITAT, NEW DELHI.

6