Circular No. 274

796. Requirement of filing of Form ITNS 224 not compulsory along with income-tax return

What this is

Circular No. 274 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 28 June 1980. Its subject is 796. Requirement of filing of Form ITNS 224 not compulsory along with income-tax return.

What it does

Tells officers that Form ITNS 224 is not compulsory and that a return is not incomplete for want of it. The form had been attached to the return for 1980-81 for assessees to fill in, so that the Income-tax Officer could quickly sort returns into summary or scrutiny assessment and take up pending miscellaneous matters. Returns without the form are to continue to be received at the counters.

Why it was issued

A number of associations had reported that Income-tax Officers were refusing to accept returns unless Form ITNS 224 was filed with them.

Who it reaches

Assessees filing returns for 1980-81 without Form ITNS 224
Counter staff receiving returns
Income-tax Officers treating such returns as defective

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.

796. Requirement of filing of Form ITNS 224 not compulsory along with income-tax return
References have been received from a number of associations that the Income-tax Officers are not accepting the returns without Form ITNS 224. This form was attached along with the return for 1980-81 to be filled by the assessees to enable the Income-tax Officer to quickly segregate the return into summary assessment or scrutiny assessment and to attend to pending miscellaneous matters. However, filing of this form is not compulsory. You are, therefore, requested to inform all the officers in your charge that if this form is not filled in, the return cannot be said to be incomplete. Such returns, may, therefore, continue to be received at the counters.
Circular : No. 274 [F. No. 220/22/80-IT(A-II)], dated 28-6-1980.

What to watch

The form was an internal sorting aid, not a statutory requirement, so its absence is not a defect in the return.
It speaks to the return form of 1980-81; the form itself no longer forms part of the return.
The circular does not excuse any other enclosure that the return itself requires.

Where you meet it

Only in old matters where a 1980-81 return was refused at the counter or treated as incomplete for want of the form.

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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.