Railways, banks, university under scrutiny for TDS default

Nagpur, Feb 26 (UNI) The offices of the Central Railway, South East Central Railway, several nationalised banks and Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University here are under scrutiny from the Income Tax department for alleged violation of the provisions of the rules governing tax deduction at source (TDS) from payments disbursed.

This was revealed by Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (CCIT) Vidarbha Region D V Dharmik here yesterday.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Dharmik said these institutions had failed to deduct income tax at source from payments made to various individuals and firms for various purposes. ''For example, RTMNU did not deduct tax from the remuneration paid to examiners for the work related to examinations like valuation of answer books. The examiners are all lecturers holding regular jobs. The remuneration will, therefore, attract IT,'' he said.

''The disbursing officials of these organisations are perhaps not aware of the provisions of the TDS rules,'' Mr Dharmik remarked.

The IT Department was now scrutinising the records of these organisations to evaluate the amount of money disbursed without deducting tax at source, he said, adding that it is difficult to quantify the amount disbursed or the tax liability since a scrutiny was on.

The department could initiate action against the payer as well as the payee to recover tax on such payments, he clarified.

Meanwhile, the Advance Tax collection in Vidarbha for the current fiscal had touched Rs 1,400 crore as on February 25. This showed an increase of 21 per cent over the previous year during the same period, he added.

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