Instructions to subordinate authorities - Authorisation regarding condonation of delay in filing refund claim
Circular No. 446 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 31 December 1985. Its subject is Instructions to subordinate authorities - Authorisation regarding condonation of delay in filing refund claim.
This is a condonation. It lets an authority admit something filed late; it does not make the late filing timely, and it usually carries conditions and an outer limit of its own.
Extends to section 194C the Board's earlier relaxation on belated refund claims. The order of 24-3-1984 under section 119(2)(b), reproduced in the text, let an Income-tax Officer admit a time-barred but otherwise valid refund claim under section 237 where the refund flowed from tax deducted under the salary, interest, dividend, winnings and non-resident provisions and did not exceed Rs. 1,000. That order left out refunds arising from deduction under section 194C, so contractors and sub-contractors got nothing. By an order of 31-12-1985 the Board authorises Income-tax Officers to admit a belated refund claim arising from section 194C deduction too, on the same four conditions: refund for the assessment year not above Rs. 1,000, the returned income not a loss where carry forward is claimed, the claim not supplementary to a completed assessment, and the income not assessable in another person's hands. Effective from 1-1-1986.
The Board acted to avoid hardship to taxpayers, the earlier order having omitted the contractor and sub-contractor cases covered by section 194C.
Instructions to subordinate authorities - Authorisation regarding condonation of delay in filing refund claim
ANNEX - ORDER, DATED 24-3-1984 REFERRED TO IN CLARIFICATION
In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (b) of sub-section (2) of section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, the Central Board of Direct Taxes hereby order that, in all cases an otherwise valid refund claim under section 237 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 is filed by an assessee after the expiry of the statutory time limit as prescribed under section 239 of the Act, the Income-tax Officer, having jurisdiction over the case, may admit the said refund claim and dispose of the same on merits and in accordance with law provided the following conditions are satisfied :
(i) the refund arising as a result of tax deducted at source in respect of the assessment year under the provisions of sections 192, 193, 194, 194A, 194B, 194D and 195 does not exceed Rs. 1,000;
(ii) the returned income is not a loss where the assessee claims the benefit of carry forward of the loss;
(iii) the refund claimed is not supplementary in nature, i.e., a claim for additional amount of refund after the completion of the original assessment for the same assessment year; and
(iv) the income of the assessee is not assessable in the hands of any other person under any provisions of the Act.
2. This order will be effective from April 2, 1984
1. Attention is invited to Board’s Order F. No. 225/105/83-IT (A-II), dated 24-3-1984 whereby the Board, in exercise of the powers conferred by clause (b) of sub-section (2) of section 119 authorised the Income-tax Officers to admit belated refund claims under section 237 in respect of amount up to Rs. 1,000 in cases where refund arose as a result of tax deducted at source under sections 192 to 194, section 194A, and section 195 provided the conditions laid down in the said order were fulfilled. This order was effective from 2-4-1984. The order, however, did not cover cases where refunds arose as a result of tax deducted at source under section 194C, i.e., the cases of contractors and sub-contractors.
2. With a view to avoiding hardship to the taxpayers, the Board vide their Order F. No. 225/105/83-IT (A-II), dated 31-12-1985 have further authorised the ITOs to admit a belated application/claim for refund in cases where refund arises as a result of tax deducted at source under section 194C provided the following conditions are satisfied :
(i) the amount of refund arising as a result of tax deducted at source under the provisions of section 194C, in respect of the assessment year, does not exceed Rs. 1,000;
(ii) the returned income is not a loss where the assessee claims benefit of carry forward and set off of loss;
(iii) the refund claim is not supplementary in nature, e.g., a claim for additional amount of refund after the completion of the original assessment for the same assessment year; and
(iv) the income of the assessee is not assessable in the hands of any other person under any provisions of the Act.
3. This order will be effective from 1-1-1986.
Circular : No. 446 [F. No. 225/105/83-IT (A-II)], dated 31-12-1985.
When a small refund claim is returned as barred by section 239 and the assessee asks the Assessing Officer to admit it all the same.
A sub-contractor suffers Rs. 900 of section 194C deduction in a year, files his refund claim after the section 239 limit, has no loss to carry forward and had no earlier assessment for that year. From 1-1-1986 the Income-tax Officer may admit and decide the claim on merits.
Source: the Income Tax Department’s own published text — its page for this instrument.