Question of Law: “Whether the High Court was right in holding that the moment there is remittance the obligation to deduct tax at source (TAS) arises? Whether merely on account of such remittance to the non-resident abroad by an Indian company per se, could it be said that income chargeable to tax under the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short "I.T. Act") arises in India?”
The Hon’ble Court held that:
“A person paying interest or any other sum to a non-resident is not liable to deduct tax if such sum is not chargeable to tax under the I.T. Act…The application of Section 195(2) pre-supposes that the person responsible for making the payment to the non-resident is in no doubt that tax is payable in respect of some part of the amount to be remitted to a non-resident but is not sure as to what should be the portion so taxable or is not sure as to the amount of tax to be deducted. In such a situation, he is required to make an application to the ITO(TDS) for determining the amount. It is only when these conditions are satisfied and an application is made to the ITO(TDS) that the question of making an order under Section 195(2) will arise.”
“Section 195(1) uses the expression "sum chargeable under the provisions of the Act." We need to give weightage to those words. Further, Section 195 uses the word `payer' and not the word "assessee". The payer is not an assessee. The payer becomes an assessee-in-default only when he fails to fulfill the statutory obligation under Section 195(1). If the payment does not contain the element of income the payer cannot be made liable. He cannot be declared to be an assessee-in-default.”
No comments:
Post a Comment