Bombay HC tells bldr not to deduct TDS in refund to buyers – Times of India

Mumbai: Bombay high court recently directed a builder to refund amounts to flat buyers without making any deduction of tax at source (TDS).
The high court bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and Milind Jadhav directed that several individuals who between 2015 and 2016 had booked flats in a project at Malad (West) had sought orders for recovery of arrears under a recovery warrant of 2018 passed by MahaRERA against the builders. In March 2021, the builder agreed to pay Rs 2.7 crore in instalments. But in their July 2021 instalment, 10% was deducted as TDS, which the petitioners said was not permissible in law. The buyers’ counsel Subit Chakrabarti said the refund was in the form of compensation or a judgment debt. Senior counsel Zal Andhyarujina for the builders after analyzing the law said they had no objection to paying the deducted amount back to the petitioners.