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Case lawCirculars1977 › Circular No. 223
CBDT circular 15 June 1977

Circular No. 223

Section 133 l Power to Call for Information

What this is

Circular No. 223 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 15 June 1977. Its subject is Section 133 l Power to Call for Information.

What it does

Raises from Rs. 400 to Rs. 1,000 the payment above which an assessee must attach the statement of rent, interest, commission, royalty, brokerage or annuity payments to his return. Section 133(4) lets the Income-tax Officer, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner or the Inspecting Assistant Commissioner call for a statement of names and addresses of persons paid such sums, other than annuity taxable as salary, above Rs. 400, with particulars of the payments, and Annexures H, I and K to return Form Nos. 1, 2 and 3A carried that requirement. Pending amendment of the forms, the Board directs that furnishing statements of payments exceeding Rs. 1,000 will be sufficient compliance with those Annexures read with rule 12 and section 133(4). A press note to the same effect had already been issued and is annexed.

Why it was issued

Representations were received pointing to the hardship of the mandatory statement for every payment above Rs. 400.

Who it reaches

The provisions it speaks to

Left, the provision of the Income-tax Act, 1961 as the instrument itself names it. Right, the section of the Income-tax Act, 2025 that the department’s own concordance maps it to — which is where the same ground is now covered.
Under the 1961 ActNow
s.133s.252, s.261

The instrument, as the Board published it

The words below are the department’s own, reproduced from its published text. Where the department’s copy carried a publisher’s notes after the instrument, those are not reproduced.

SECTION 133 l POWER TO CALL FOR INFORMATION
788. Requirement of furnishing statement of payment along with return of income - Limit raised to Rs. 1,000 - Mode of compliance under sub-section (4)
1. Under section 133(4), the Income-tax Officer, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner, or the Inspecting Assistant Commissioner may, for the purposes of this Act, require any assessee to fur­nish a statement of the names and addresses of all persons to whom he has paid in any previous year rent, interest, commission, royalty or brokerage, or any annuity, not being annuity taxable under the head "Salaries" amounting to more than four hundred rupees, together with particulars of all such payments made.
2. To give effect to the above provision, the return of income Form Nos. 1, 2 and 3A require, vide item Nos. 3, 6 and 3 of Annexures H, I and K, respectively, the attachment of separate statements showing payments of the type mentioned above and exceeding Rs. 400.
3. Representations have been received by the Board pointing out the hardships being caused by the mandatory requirement of fur­nishing statements of the above-mentioned types of payments in excess of Rs. 400. It is proposed to amend the relevant forms of the returns of income so as to rise the limit of Rs. 400 to Rs. 1,000.
4. Pending amendment of the said forms, the Board have decided that it will be sufficient compliance of the requirements of the above referred Annexures to the forms pre­scribed under rule 12 of the Income-tax Rules, read with section 133(4), if the assessees furnish statements of payments exceeding Rs. 1,000. A Press Note [printed here as Annex] to this effect has already been issued.
Circular: No. 223 [F. No. 220/13/77-IT(A-II], dated 15-6-1977.
ANNEX - PRESS NOTE REFERRED TO IN CLARIFICATION
Under section 133(4), the Income-tax Officer, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner or the Inspecting Assistant Commissioner may, for the purposes of this Act, require any assessee to fur­nish a statement of the names and addresses of all persons to whom he has paid in any previous year rent, interest, commission, royalty or brokerage, or any annuity, not being any annuity taxable under the head "Salaries" amounting to more than four hundred rupees, together with particulars of all such payments made.
To give effect to the above provision, the return of income Form Nos. 1, 2 and 3A require, vide item Nos. 3, 6 and 3 of Annexures H, I and K, respectively, the attachment of separate statements showing payments of the type mentioned above and exceeding Rs. 400.
It has now been decided by the Government that it would be sufficient compliance of the requirements of the above referred items of the Annexures to the returns of income, if an assessee attaches with the return of income, statements showing particulars of payments exceeding Rs. 1,000.

What to watch

Where you meet it

In an old dispute over a return treated as defective for want of the annexure of payments, or on a section 133(4) requisition.

What it names

Rules it names. Rule 12 of the Income-tax Rules, 1962. The 1962 Rules were replaced by the Income-tax Rules, 2026, which renumbered nearly everything: a rule number quoted here almost never means the same rule today.

On the same provision

Other instruments in this library that name the same provision of the 1961 Act. They are not necessarily still operative, and a later one may have replaced an earlier one without saying so.

← Circular No. 224  ·  Circular No. 222 →

A circular binds the department, not you and not a court. The Board issues a circular to its own officers. An assessee may hold the department to a circular that helps him; the department cannot hold an assessee to one that hurts him, and the Tribunal and the courts decide the law for themselves.

Source: the Income Tax Department’s own published text — its page for this instrument.