Is Sitting Fee Paid to Director Taxed as Salary or Income From Other Sources ?

Sitting fees received by the director on attending the board meeting is taxable under which head . If on sitting fees t d s has been deducted under 194J ie professional will it be taxed under salary or other source.

Alka Gaglani, Mumbai

There has to be employer & employee relationship for treating a receipt by a person from from another person as salary.

Sitting fee is received by a  director  for attending  meeting of the Board, or a committee thereof, attended by him.

By virtue of sub-section (2) of Section 198 of the Companies Act, such sitting fee paid to directors shall not be reckoned for the purpose of calculating Directors Remuneration.In fact ,Rule 10-B of Companies (Central Governments) General Rules and Forms, 1956 provides that companies having a paid-up capital and free reserves of Rs. 10 crores or above or companies having a turnover of Rs. 50 crores or above can pay sitting fees not exceeding Rs. 20,000 and other companies can pay sitting fees up to Rs. 10,000.

Therefore the sitting fee received by a director has to be taxed under the head “income from other source “ and not salary.

There is no provision for TDS on sitting fees payment and certainly not u/s 194J of the I T Act