'Tax deduction statutory obligation of authority'

Vijayawada, July 19: Vijayawada Region Income Tax Commissioner R C Pramanik today said it is the statutory obligation of the paying authority to deduct tax at source.

In his address after inaugurating a seminar on 'Deduction of Tax at Source, Mr Pramanik said the officers, at the time of paying pay bills and (other) miscellaneous bills must be careful while when calculating the total income of beneficiary and tax on the income.

He said the bank officials, too, should take care in repayment of deposits of the customers. At the time of maturity of deposits, the officials should calculate the total interest to be paid and tax on interest, he added.

Mr Pramanik alleged that depositors, to avoid paying tax, make their deposits in various instalments. In such cases, all deposits of a person would be taken as a single amount and calculated as the net tax payable, he added.

''The bank officials should take care of payments of deposits, as once the deposit was cleared, tax collection from the depositors, would be a herculean task,'' he alleged.

Mr Pramanik said failure of collection of tax at source would be treated as negligence and such officials would be penalised by the Income Tax department. ''The official CONCERNED should own the responsibility of deduction and remittance of tax within a stipulated period'', he said HE asked bankers to educate the depositors on deduction of tax at source.

Additional Commissioner of Income Tax P B Sekaran and officials from various banks and Government departments participated in the seminar.

UNI