Section 234E of Income Tax Act, 1961— In the instant case, assessee challenged the levy of fee u/s 234E by submitting that the provisions of levy of late filing fees u/s 234E of the Act as introduced w.e.f. 01/07/2012 could not be read in isolation and were required to be read with the mechanism and the mode provided for its enforcement which was governed by Sec. 200A of the Act. The amendment in Sec. 200A(1) dealing with levy and computation of late fees was introduced only w.e.f. 01/06/2015 and the same were to apply prospectively and hence, no late filing fees was applicable for any period prior to 01/06/2015.

Held that— we find that the provisions of Section 234E, as inserted by Finance Act 2012 w.e.f. 01/07/2012, envisages levy of fees @ Rs. 200/- for every day of default on the part of the assessee to deliver the statement of TDS within the time prescribed u/s 200(3) or Section 206C(3). Section 200A deal with processing of statements of tax deducted at source. A clause (c) has been inserted into this Section by Finance Act, 2015 with effect from 01/06/2015 which provide that the fees, if any, shall be computed in accordance with the provisions of Section 234E.

The levy of fees u/s 234E for any period prior to 01/06/2015 would not be sustainable in the eyes of law. We order so.[NATIONAL LAMINATE CORPORATION VERSUS ITO-CPC (TDS) UTTAR PRADESH][2019] 20 ITCD Online (13) [ITAT MUMBAI]