Southern States - Tamil Nadu

PCO operators also in TDS net

By N.Ravi Kumar

CHENNAI APRIL 12. It is the turn of PCO/STD booth operators to get caught in the TDS (Tax Deduction at Source) net of the Income Tax Department.

Many of the 30,000-odd operators under Chennai Telephones have recently received a circular, from their principal, saying TDS on their commission would be levied at 10 per cent with retrospective effect from June 2001 and the dues collected in ten instalments.

``It is a matter of time before the PCO/STD operators of the Tamil Nadu Telecom Circle also receive similar circulars'', BSNL sources say, adding the IT department diktat has to be implemented by all basic telephony service providers.

Though this might not immediately ring the alarm bells, considering the department's emphasis on widening the tax-base, what is causing concern is the inclusion of the booths operated by physically challenged persons in the net.

Many of them have been allotted booths under the erstwhile `A' category PCOs, in which the usage bills are issued every fortnight. Other booths operated by the physically disabled have a two-month billing cycle.

In other words, implementing of the IT department order would tantamount to deducting from their commission the TDS on both the retrospective and current income. The booth operators get 40 paise as commission on each call, which costs the user Rs.1.20.

The timing of the order, according to P.Veeramani, president of the Physically Handicapped Public Telephone Attenders Welfare Association, could not have been worse as the operators are struggling to survive with dwindling revenue, especially after the spread of mobile telephony. Moreover, the physically challenged are entitled to income-tax benefits.

A senior official of Chennai Telephones said, ``we will not deduct TDS for those operators who furnish an exemption certificate''. This, however, is possible only for those filing IT returns.

From the BSNL perspective, implementing the order could be an ordeal as it involves considerable paperwork.

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