S. 40(a)(ia): The obligation to deduct TDS is only with respect to "income". As amounts paid as "reimbursement of expenses" do not have the character of income, there is no obligation to deduct TDS

The AO disallowed the amount of Rs. 19,69,83,236/- as deduction for the reason that the assessee deducted TDS only on the service charges paid by it to M/s DLF Land Ltd. According to the AO, TDS ought to have been deducted under the amount paid by the assessee towards reimbursement expenses to M/s DLF Land Ltd. On appeal by the department to the High Court HELD dismissing the appeal:

(i) The assessee has correctly relied upon Industrial Engineering Projects Pvt. Ltd. A Division Bench of this Court in that case specifically held that “reimbursement of expenses can, under no circumstances, be regarded as revenue receipt” and therefore, it is not liable to income tax. The Court relied upon the Supreme Court’s decision in CIT v. Tejaji Farasram Kharawalla Ltd., [1968] 67 ITR 95 (SC), where the Court had held that it is only the amount that exceeds the expenditure incurred by the agent that would be liable to tax. More recently, this Court in Fortis Health Care Ltd. (supra) has also held that amount received towards reimbursement of expenses is not taxable under the Act.

(ii) In arriving at the aforesaid conclusion, this Court derives support from the Gujarat High Court?s decision in Commissioner of Income Tax-III v. Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Co. Ltd. (in Tax Appeal No. 315 of 2013, decided on 25.06.2013), where the facts were similar to those in the present case. The Court therein rejected the revenue?s contention that non-deduction of TDS on reimbursement expenses would lead to disallowance of such reimbursement expenditure. The Court noted that the payee therein had already deducted tax on the various payments made by it to third parties (such as towards transport charges and other charges). Since the payments made by the assessee therein were only for the reimbursement of expenses incurred by the payee on behalf of the assessee, the Court held that no TDS was required to be deducted by the assessee. A special leave petition preferred by the revenue against the High Court?s decision was dismissed by the Supreme Court on 17.01.2014 (in SLC CC No. 175 of 2014). This court is also supported in its reasoning by the text of Section 194C (TDS for “work”) and Section 194J (TDS of income from “professional services”- the latter expression defined expansively by Section 194J (3) Explanation (a)). Neither provision obliges the person making the payment to deduct anything from contractual payments such as those made for reimbursement of expenses, other than what is defined as “income”. The law thus obliges only amounts which fulfil the character of “income” to be subject to TDS in such cases; for other payments towards expenses, the deduction to those entitled (to be made by the payeee) the obligation to carry out TDS is upon the recipient or payee of the amounts.