Amended and updated notes on section 204 of Income Tax Act 1961 as amended by the Finance Act 2022 and Income-tax Rules, 1962. Detail discussion on provisions and rules related to Meaning of “person responsible for paying”.
Chapter XVII (Sections 190 to 234G) of the Income Tax Act 1961 deals with the provisions related to collection and recovery of tax. Section 204 of IT Act 1961 provides for Meaning of “person responsible for paying”.
Recently, we have discussed in detail section 203A (Tax deduction and collection account number) of IT Act 1961. Today, we learn the provisions of section 204 of Income-tax Act 1961. The amended provision of section 204 is effective for financial year 2022-23 relevant to the assessment year 2023-24.
In this article, you will learn detail of the provisions of section 204 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 Bare Act read with the Income-tax Rules, 1962 as provided by Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India.
Section-204: Meaning of “person responsible for paying”
For the purposes of the foregoing provisions of this Chapter and section 285, the expression “person responsible for paying” means—
(i) in the case of payments of income chargeable under the head “Salaries”, other than payments by the Central Government or the Government of a State, the employer himself or, if the employer is a company, the company itself, including the principal officer thereof;
(ii) in the case of payments of income chargeable under the head “Interest on securities”, other than payments made by or on behalf of the Central Government or the Government of a State, the local authority, corporation or company, including the principal officer thereof;
(iia) in the case of any sum payable to a non-resident Indian, being any sum representing consideration for the transfer by him of any foreign exchange asset, which is not a short-term capital asset, the authorised person responsible for remitting such sum to the non-resident Indian or for crediting such sum to his Non-resident (External) Account maintained in accordance with the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (42 of 1999), and any rules made thereunder;
(iib) in the case of furnishing of information relating to payment to a non-resident, not being a company, or to a foreign company, of any sum, whether or not chargeable under the provisions of this Act, the payer himself, or, if the payer is a company, the company itself including the principal officer thereof;
(iii) in the case of credit, or, as the case may be, payment of any other sum chargeable under the provisions of this Act, the payer himself, or, if the payer is a company, the company itself including the principal officer thereof;
(iv) in the case of credit, or as the case may be, payment of any sum chargeable under the provisions of this Act made by or on behalf of the Central Government or the Government of a State, the drawing and disbursing officer or any other person, by whatever name called, responsible for crediting, or as the case may be, paying such sum;
(v) in the case of a person not resident in India, the person himself or any person authorised by such person or the agent of such person in India including any person treated as an agent under section 163.
[Clause(v) of section 204 has been inserted w.e.f. 01.04.2020 by the Income Tax Act 2020]
Explanation: For the purposes of this section,—
(a) “non-resident Indian” and “foreign exchange asset” shall have the meanings assigned to them in Chapter XII-A;
(b) “authorised person” shall have the meaning assigned to it in clause (c) of section 2 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (42 of 1999).