The assessee was a securitisation trust formed to secure a pool of loan receivables from an originator, AMPL. The assessee-trust paid Rs. 1,88,67,795 to AMPL under the head “excess interest spread” without deducting tax at source under section 194LBC of the Act. The AO held the trust liable for default under section 201(1) and 201(1A) of the Act, which was confirmed by the CIT(A). On appeal, the Tribunal held that the liability to deduct tax at source under section 194LBC arose only where income was payable to an “investor”, defined under section 115TCA as a holder of any securitised debt instrument or securities or security receipts issued by the securitisation trust; since the originator, AMPL, had met the minimum retention requirement through a permissible alternative and did not hold any pass-through certificates or securitised debt instrument of the trust, it could not be regarded as an “investor”, and consequently the conditions of section 194LBC were not attracted. It was further held that the assessee had filed Form 26A as additional evidence before the Tribunal establishing that AMPL had discharged its tax liability on the excess interest spread, and in any event, since there was no liability to deduct tax at source in the first place, the filing of Form 26A was rendered academic. Accordingly, the assessee could not be treated as “assessee-in-default” and the entire demand and interest levied by the AO was deleted. (AY. 2018-19)