14 December 2012
Sir, Our company is conducting a survey amongst car owners of a specific brand and we would be offering cash prizes to 23 randomly selected respondents of the survey. There would be 1 mega prize of Rs. 2.5 Lakhs, 2 runner up prize of 1 lakh each and 20 prizes of 15,000 each.
Please let me know the TDS applicable on the prize money. 194B is a bit confusing as the participants are not required to pay in order to participate nor they do require any specific skills other than ownership of a specific brand of car to answer the surveys.
S/194B states The person responsible for paying to any person any income by way of winnings from any lottery or crossword puzzle [or card game and other game of any sort] in an amount exceeding [ten thousand rupees] shall, at the time of payment thereof, deduct income-tax thereon at the rates in force.
So here the ambit of other game of any sort is very wide and all lucky draw falls under iys ambit and liable for TDS.