Circular No. 339

What it does

Tells deductors that the Finance Bill, 1982 proposes no change to the Part II rates for deduction under section 194BB from winnings from horse races for the financial year 1982-83, so deduction is to continue at the rates already communicated by Circular No. 301 dated 29-4-1981 for 1981-82. The exception is where the rates in Sub-Paragraph I of Paragraph A of Part III of the First Schedule apply, in which case those rates, which the Bill does propose to change, govern; a copy is annexed. The circular adds that it is only an aid to deductors and that the Finance Act of the relevant year must be consulted where there is a difference of opinion.

Why it was issued

It is the annual instruction to book-makers and race course licensees on the section 194BB rates for the coming year.

Who it reaches

Book-makers and licensed race course operators deducting under section 194BB
Winners of horse race prizes, resident and non-resident
Racing clubs administering payouts in 1982-83

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 Act	Now
s.194BB	s.393

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.

FINANCIAL YEAR 1982-83
1762. Instructions for deduction of tax at source from winnings from horse races during financial year 1982-83 at the rates specified in Part II of First Schedule to Finance Act, 1982
1. I am directed to invite a reference to Board’s Circular No. 301 [F. No. 275/11/81-IT(B)], dated 29-4-1981, on the above subject, wherein the rates at which deduction of tax under section 194BB to be made during the financial year 1981-82 from winnings from horse races were communicated.
2. The Finance Bill, 1982 does not propose any change in the rates for deduction of tax at source from such income for the financial year 1982-83 in Part II of the First Schedule thereof. However, some changes have been proposed in Sub-Paragraph I of Paragraph A of Part III of the First Schedule to the said Finance Bill, a copy of which is annexed. The tax should, therefore, continue to be deducted at source during the financial year 1982-83, at the rates intimated in the Board’s Circular referred to in para 1 above except where the rates prescribed in Sub-Paragraph I of Paragraph A of Part III of the First Schedule are applicable.
3. These instructions are issued only with a view to helping the persons responsible for making deductions of tax under this provision of the Income-tax Act. The Finance Act of the relevant year through which the changes in the tax structure are made should always be referred to for any difference of opinion.
Circular: No. 339 [F. No. 275/18/82-IT(B)], dated 6-5-1982.

What to watch

The rates are those for financial year 1982-83 and carry over from the previous year's circular; they say nothing about any later year.
The circular is written on the Finance Bill, 1982 as introduced, so the Act as passed had to be checked.
The carve-out for the Part III Sub-Paragraph I rates is the limb most easily missed.
The Board itself disclaims the circular as non-exhaustive and points to the Finance Act.

Where you meet it

On an old section 201 demand against a race club for short deduction from winnings.

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. 661 — Section 194B l Winnings from Lottery or Crossword Puzzle 16 September 1993
Circular No. 631 — Financial Year 1992-93 20 August 1992
Circular No. 616 — Financial Year 1991-92 22 November 1991
Circular No. 467 — Instructions for deduction of tax at source from winnings from lottery or crossword puzzle or horse race during financia 21 August 1986
Circular No. 425 — Financial Year 1985-86 24 July 1985
Circular No. 389 — Financial Year 1984-85 4 August 1984

← Circular No. 341 · Circular No. 340 →

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.

What this is