Circular No. 521 — Instructions to subordinate authorities - Authorisation regarding condonation of delay in

What this is

Circular No. 521 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 17 August 1988. 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.

What it does

Circulates the Board's order under section 119(2)(b) of 17th August 1988 authorising the Income-tax Officer to admit belated refund claims under section 237 that arise from excess advance tax paid, effective from 1st August 1988. The authority is limited to claims of not more than Rs. 10,000 for an assessment year and is subject to four conditions: the refund from excess advance tax under section 208 must not exceed Rs. 10,000; the returned income must not be a loss where carry forward of the loss is claimed; the claim must not be supplementary, that is, an additional refund sought after the original assessment for the same year is complete; and the income must not be assessable in another person's hands.

Why it was issued

To avoid genuine hardship to taxpayers whose refund claims from excess advance tax had become time-barred.

Who it reaches

Assessees who paid excess advance tax and missed the refund claim period
Income-tax Officers admitting belated section 237 claims
Assessees claiming carry forward of a returned loss, who are excluded
Persons whose income is clubbed in another's hands, who are excluded

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.119	s.239
s.208	s.404
s.237	s.431

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.

Instructions to subordinate authorities - Authorisation regarding condonation of delay in filing refund claim

1. Attention is invited to Board’s order under section 119(2)(b) of the Income-tax Act [F.No. 225/201/87-IT(A-II), dated 17-8-1988 whereby the Board, in exercise of the powers conferred by clause (b ) of sub-section (2) of section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, have authorised the Income-tax Officer to admit belated refund claims under section 237 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 arising as a result of excess advance tax paid.
2. With a view to avoid genuine hardship to the taxpayers, Assessing Officers have now been authorised to admit belated refund claims in respect of amounts up to Rs. 10,000 provided the conditions laid down in the said order are fulfilled. These conditions are as follows :—
(i) the refund arising as a result of excess advance tax payment in respect of assessment year under the provisions of section 208 of the Income-tax Act, does not exceed Rs. 10,000;
(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.
3. This order will be effective from 1-8-1988.
Circular : No. 521, dated 17-8-1988.

What to watch

The Rs. 10,000 ceiling and the four conditions are cumulative; a claim failing any one of them has to go higher up under section 119(2)(b).
A supplementary claim after the original assessment is closed is outside this delegation altogether.
It only lets the officer admit the claim; the refund still has to be established on merits.
The monetary limits for condoning delay under section 119(2)(b) have been revised by later Board orders, so this figure speaks for its own time.

Where you meet it

In an application to condone delay in filing a return or refund claim under section 237, and where a refund is refused as time-barred.

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. 6/2026 — Condonation of delay in filing Form No. 10AB electronically for approval under clause(ii) of the first proviso to sectio 2 July 2026
Circular No. 2/2026 — Order under section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 for extension of timeline for issuance of tax deducted at source (TD 25 March 2026
Circular No.15/2025 — Extension of timelines for filing of various reports of audit and income tax returns ITRS for the assessment year 2025 2 29 October 2025
Circular No. 10/2025 — Relaxation of time limit for processing of returns of income filed electronically which were incorrectly invalidated by 28 July 2025
Circular No. 7/2025 — Relaxation of time limit for processing of valid returns of income filed electronically pursuant to order u/s 119(2)(b) 25 June 2025
Circular No. 6/2025 — Extension of due date for furnishing return of income for the Assessment Year 2025-26 27 May 2025

← Circular No. 522 · Circular No. 520 →

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.