Saturday 7 December 2013

TDS On Purchase Of Immovable Property Effective 1st June, 2013 - A Guide

Any person purchasing immovable property ( other than rural agricultural land) of Rs. 50 lac or more is required to deduct tax @1% from the payment made to seller. This new rule (Section 194IA of the Income Tax Act) introduced in the budget this year, is applicable from June1, 2013. 
Responsibility of the Purchaser of the Immovable Property:
Step-1  –   Deduct TDS 
(i) Deduct tax @1% from the payment made to the seller.
(ii)  Collect the permanent Account Number (PAN) of the seller and verify the same with the Original PAN card.
Step-2        Online filling of statement at www.tin.nsdl.com
(i) It is mandatory to furnish the PAN of seller as well as the purchaser while providing the information regarding the sale transaction in the online from (From No.26QB).
(ii) Please insure that there is no error in quoting the PAN or other details in filling online form 26QB.
Step-3         Depositing the tax deducted
(i)   Deposit the tax deducted through e-payment only, either at the time of filling of Form 26QB or subsequent to it, e-payment can be made using electronic payment facility at any authorized bank, including self net banking facility.
(ii)   In case, the payment of tax deducted is made subsequent to the filling of Form 26QB,pay tax using electronic payment facility at any authorised bank within 7 days after online filling of statement at www.tdscpc.gov.in
(iii)  If there is a delay beyond 7 days in payment of tax, the statement filed online would be treated as “Invalid”. In that case Form 26QB,will need to be filed again.
 Step-4           Issue of TDS Certificate
(i)  Download TDS certificate from TRACES(www.tdscpc.gov.in)
Responsibility of the Seller of the Immovable Property
(i) Provide your PAN to the Purchaser for furnishing information regarding TDS to  the Income Tax Department.
(ii) Verify deposit of taxes deducted by the Purchaser in your Form 26AS Annual Tax Statement.
TAN NOT REQUIRED (ONLY PAN NO TAN)
TAN of the deductor is not required for the payment and reporting of the Tax deducted under this section and PAN allocated to the deductor shall be used for  payment and reporting of TDS made under this section.
To whom and what does this apply to?   
  • All persons buying immovable property from a resident Indian have to deduct the tax.
  • This applies on purchase of all kinds of real estate such as Land, Building, Land along with Building/flat.
  •  It applies to property bought in a resale and also on purchases from builders. The  only exception is if you are buying agricultural land.
  • The seller needs to be a resident of India, and could be either individual, partnership, company or other person mentioned in tax laws.
  • If you are buying immovable property from a non-resident seller, the tax deduction rules are different.
  • Payment to non- resident sellers would continue to be governed under provisions of section 195 of the Income- tax 1961 as before. 
  When should the tax be deducted?      
  • If you maintain books of accounts, the tax should be deducted at the time of paying the seller or crediting his account, whichever is earlier.
  • If you do not maintain books of accounts (most individual buyers would come in this category) you need to deduct the tax at the time of paying the seller.
By when and how should the tax be deposited with the Government?       
The buyer needs to deposit the amount within seven days from the end of the month in which the tax is deducted.  So ,if you deducted tax in August 2013,you need to deposit it with the Government by  September 7.  The deposit needs to be done electronically using Form 26QB. This will have details such as name, address and permanent account number (PAN) of the buyer and seller. In case the seller does not furnish his PAN, tax will have to be deducted at 20 percent.
Does the buyer need to give any certificate to the seller?
Yes, the buyer has to give tax deducted at source (TDS) certificate to the seller within 15 days from the due date for depositing the tax deducted. So, if you deduct tax in August and deposit it by September 7,you need to issue the TDS certificate by September 22. This should be issued in Form 16B which can be downloaded electronically from the Web site of the income tax Department.
If a buyer pays for the property in installments, should he deduct tax with each  installment?
Yes. In such cases, tax has to be deducted at the time of payment of each installment.

An article by - CA ARPIT GUPTA 

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