Taxing issues at the bank

I had placed a Fixed Deposit with Bank of Baroda, Bandra (W) Branch, Mumbai, through the Bur Dubai office in early 2009, which was prematurely encashed by me in June 2011.

I have received three Form 16A (Tax Deduction at Source) Certificates from the Bandra branch for the periods April 1, 2009, to March 31, 2010; April 1, 2010, to March 31, 2011; and April 1, 2011, to June 30, 2011.

I have just recently been informed by my tax consultant that the Income Tax office is in the process of finalising my assessments and will not allow the tax deducted at source by Bank of Baroda since the bank has not uploaded this in the Tax System (NDSL).

I met the manager at the Bank of Baroda Customer Service Centre in Karama on March 10, 2012, but she was unhelpful and told me that there was nothing that she could do, and that I would have to sort this out directly with the Bandra branch.

Accordingly, I sent an e-mail to Bank of Baroda, Bandra branch, on March 11 but there has been no acknowledgement or action taken. I therefore asked my friend to go and meet the manager of the Bandra branch personally to follow up. I also spoke to the manager of the branch, who assured me that he would give the necessary instructions to have the upload done immediately. However, regretfully this was still not done.

My friend visited the bank again on March 16. The branch manager was on leave so he met his superior, who said that this was handled by the branch manager and he would check the status with him when he returned from leave. The status was as under:

Period of TDS — April 1, 2009, to March 31, 2010: TDS credit as per certificates provided is Rs90,418 (Dh6,244); TDS credit as per Form 26AS (i.e. TDS Report of Income Tax department) is Nil.

Period of TDS — April 1, 2010, to March 31, 2011: TDS credit as per certificates provided is Rs95,790; TDS credit as per Form 26AS (i.e. TDS Report of Income Tax department) is Rs48,051.

Period of TDS — April 1, 2011, to June 30, 2011: TDS credit as per certificates provided is Rs11,814; TDS credit as per Form 26AS (i.e. TDS Report of Income Tax department) is Nil.

Since the amounts that I stand to lose are fairly significant and I am not getting any cooperation or action by the bank I would request Gulf News to please take up this matter directly with Bank of Baroda in Dubai to have this sorted out at the earliest.

Dubai

The management of Bank of Baroda responds:

Since the tax is deducted at India and TDS certificate is issued in India. It can be rectified from the originating branch only, that is, Bandra with the following options:

1. The revision in form number 26AS may be requested by the branch.

2. The branch can issue a separate certificate mentioning the deduction and non-inclusion in electronic submission to Income Tax authorities where it must be lying in unaccounted head, and income tax authorities can verify it at their end and thereafter can allow deductions.

Mr Noor Al Deen responds:

Thank you Gulf News for your prompt action.

What the chief manager is saying is that I am on my own and have to sort this matter out directly with the bank's Bandra branch. As to how the management expects me to do this as an Non Resident Indian (NRI) is something that I have not been able to figure out. Not only am I suffering a financial loss due to the bank not uploading the tax deducted in the NDSL, but I am now being told that it is left to me to sort it out with their branch in Mumbai.

The management of Bank of Baroda responds:

We have taken up the matter with our NRI cell at our corporate office in Mumbai and they have instructed the branch to resolve the issue immediately. The mail address of the cell is nri.bcc@bankofbaroda.com.

Mr Noor Al Deen responds:

I wish to inform Gulf News that despite the numerous e-mails, personal follow ups and the advice from the chief manager in Dubai, there has been no action or even an acknowledgement by Bank of Baroda to upload the tax deducted by them at source from the interest on my Fixed Deposit with them into the NDSL (Income Tax Authorities) system.I also checked the NDSL website and the tax deduction credits for the periods April 1, 2009, to March 31, 2010, and April 1, 2010, to March 31, 2011, are still not uploaded.

I stand to lose a significant amount since the Income Tax Authorities will not give me the tax credit if the tax deducted has not been uploaded in their system. I shall seek the necessary legal advice as to how to take suitable action against the bank for my loss.

Bank of Baroda responds:

We have, again, taken up the matter with the concerned authorities in India to resolve the matter at the earliest.

Mr Noor Al Deen responds:

I am pleased to inform Gulf News that Bank of Baroda uploaded all the tax deduction information on the Income Tax Website yesterday (April 2).

I would like to thank Gulf News for the assistance. It was because of Gulf News that I got my problem resolved.

Bank of Baroda responds:

We forward here with the mail received from our Bandra Branch confirming therein that the issue is resolved to the satisfaction of the customer: "The issue has been resolved to the best of the customer and treat the matter as closed."

Editor's note:  If you have similar consumer complaints and wish to raise them with the newspaper, email us at readers@gulfnews.com