I-T detects Rs 470 crore TDS default by airline, real estate, hotel cos in Delhi

The Income Tax Department has detected about Rs 470 crore TDS (tax deducted at source) default by some big Delhi-based corporate houses after surveys were conducted against them recently, officials said.

The department's TDS wing in Delhi has launched a special monitoring of private companies and government organisations in order to ensure that due taxes are deducted under this direct taxes category in the last quarter of this financial year that ends on March 31.

TDS contributes to over 40 per cent of collection under the direct taxes category.

Officials said the national capital-based TDS wing recently visited the premises of a budget hotels and guest houses aggregator firm and found it had allegedly not deducted tax (TDS) on about Rs 280 crore payments that were made on rentals over a seven-year period.

Similarly, an airlines company was found defaulting on Rs 115 crore TDS payments and some firms involved in the real estate sector were in a default of Rs 75 crore.

The realty groups were also charged with wrong deduction of taxes by applying wrong rates of TDS and hence deducting taxes at lower rates, they said.

Officials did not disclose the identity of the firms.

In two other cases, the officials said, defaulting entities have been convicted by local courts in the Delhi region on charges of wrong deduction or default of TDS.

In the first case, a fine of Rs 6 lakh was imposed while in the second, a six month imprisonment was accompanied with Rs five lakh fine.

As per rules, tax collected or deducted at source shall be paid to the credit of the central government within seven days from the end of the month in which the deduction is made.

The I-T department has begun conducting an increased number of surveys (visiting business premises of a company for audit checks) to check violations like non-remittance of TDS deducted, non-filing of returns and deductions made at a lower rate after it was seen that the deductors were defaulting on these payments.