Letters: Taxing task

Indira Rajaraman (“Tedious TDS,” July 2) has raised an important point about tax deduction at source (TDS). I have had an account with the State Bank of India since 1985. Till recently the bank deducted income tax from the interest on fixed deposits at the time such interest was credited to the savings bank account. In the case of non-recurring FDRs the pro rata interest for the year was calculated and tax deducted. Some four years ago, our branch accounts were computerised. Even so the above procedure was followed for TDS from interest. Then the software programme was centralised and the new centralised programme changed this. The programme calculates interest on a daily basis and TDS is done for interest on all FDRs at the end of the financial year whether the interest was payable on that date or not. Since this caused inconvenience for me in maintaining my personal tax accounts I explained my difficulty to the bank officials and requested calculations on the old basis. They understood the problem but said they are helpless because this was a centralised programme.

B P R Vithal, Hyderabad

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