TDS relief proposal on property sold for recoveries in review

The banks' proposal to exempt the sale of immovable property mortgaged to lenders for the purpose of recovering bad loans through auction from tax deducted at source, or TDS, is currently under consideration by the government.

If the consideration for the transfer of an immovable property is greater than 5 million, Section 194-IA of the Income Tax Act stipulates that TDS must be deducted at a rate of 1 per cent from that amount. Lenders have argued to the government that such sales should not be subject to TDS.

"Banks have argued that this causes a loss of one percent of the property's sale value during recovery." An official who was aware of the discussions stated, "The matter is under consideration." According to the banks, the loan defaulter is claiming a benefit equal to one percent of the property's sale price, citing the TDS, and they want this corrected.

According to the most recent data, scheduled commercial banks have referred 105,000 and 57,331 (provisional) cases under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act for FY 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively. Experts say that this situation, in which the defaulter appears to benefit, is an unintended consequence of the way current laws are written about how seized properties are transferred or sold by financial institutions, such as banks.