A long awaited clarification regarding tds on service tax on rent payment u/s 194-I has been Issued by the CBDT. Details about the issue is given hereunder
- Rent is to be deducted by all person on payment of rent except huf and individual who's sales is less than limit specified in section 44AB(tax audit)(40 lacs for business 10lac for professionals)
- Rent means any payment by whatever name called, under any lease, sub-lease, tenancy or any other agreement or arrangement for the use of
- (a) land; or
- (b) building (including factory building); or
- (c) land appurtenant to a building (including factory building); or
- (d) machinery; or
- (e) plant; or
- (f) equipment; or
- (g) furniture; or
- (h) fittings,
- section is applicable even in case of payee is owner or not.
- Rate of tds is
- For use of any machinery or plant or equipment:10%
- For other assets :in case of
- Payee is Individual or Huf:15%
- other case:20%
- Tax is deductible only if amount of rent paid is more than 12oooo
what was the issue
- whether the service tax paid on rent of immovable property to landlord is to included while deducting tax at source.
"Service tax paid by the tenant doesn't partake the nature of income of the landlord."
- By this the CBDT has indirectly fixed a relation between Income and TDS whether it has been fixed intentionally or unintentionally,but this clue/wording can be used for other tds provisions by the assessee in his defense while not deducting tds on reimbursement of taxes so we can draw a conclusion that if person is getting mere reimbursement of taxes than tds should not be deducted.
- For calculating the amount of 120000 now service tax amount should be excluded ,suppose if a person pay rent of rs 108000 to payee and 12.5% service tax on rent i.e 13500.in this case though total amount paid is 121500 but tds is not deductible after clarification as rent amount is only 108000 and less than 120000 prescribed in the section 194-I
- Though the clarification has been issued for the section 194 -I only but ratio of the clarification can be applied in the case of 194-J also as in the case of section 194 -J also"Service tax paid by the client doesn't partake the nature of income of the professional"and "The professional only acts as a collecting agency for Government for collection of service tax."hence the tax should be deducted only on the amount of fees u/s 194 -J without including the service tax in it.
full text of the circular is given below
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Clarification on deduction of tax at source (TDS) on service tax component on rental income under section 194-I of the Income-tax Act
CIRCULAR NO. 4/2008, DATED 28-4-2008
Representations/letters have been received in the Board seeking clarification as to whether TDS provisions under section 194-I of the Income-tax Act will be applicable on the gross rental amount payable (inclusive of service tax) or net rental amount payable (exclusive of service tax).
2. The matter has been examined by the Board. As per the provisions of 194-I, tax is deductible at source on income by way rent paid to any resident. Further rent has been defined in 194-I as
rent means any payment, by whatever name called, under any lease, sub-lease, tenancy or any other agreement or arrangement for the use of (either separately or together) any,-
(a) land; or
(b) building (including factory building); or
(c) land appurtenant to a building (including factory building); or
(d) machinery; or
(e) plant; or
(f) equipment; or
(g) furniture; or
(h) fittings,
whether or not any or all of the above are owned by the payee;
3. Service tax paid by the tenant doesn't partake the nature of income of the landlord. The landlord only acts as a collecting agency for Government for collection of service tax. Therefore it has been decided that tax deduction at source (TDS) under sections 194-I of Income-tax Act would be required to be made on the amount of rent paid/payable without including the service tax.
4. These instructions may be brought to the notice of all officers working in your region for strict compliance.
5. These instructions should also be brought to the notice of the officers responsible for conducting internal audit and adherence to these should be checked by the auditing parties.
[F.No.275/73/2007-IT(B)]
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