Circular No. 536

What it does

Carries forward, for the financial year 1990-91, the deduction instructions for winnings under sections 194B and 194BB that had been issued for 1989-90 by Circular No. 536 dated 6 July 1989. The Finance Act, 1990 proposed no change in the rates of tax or surcharge for deduction under those sections, so the earlier circular continues to govern. That circular explains the rates, the duty of the person paying winnings from lotteries, crossword puzzles and horse races to deduct, and the liability for failing to pay the deducted tax to the Central Government within time or to furnish the annual return.

Why it was issued

The Board issues an annual instruction on the deduction rates for these sections, and had nothing new to communicate for 1990-91 beyond the fact that the rates were unchanged.

Who it reaches

Lottery organisers and State lottery departments
Race clubs paying winnings from horse races
Organisers of crossword puzzle competitions

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.194B	s.393, s.402

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 1990-91
1738. Instructions for deduction of tax at source from winnings from lottery, crossword puzzles or horse races - Rates of tax applicable during the financial year 1990-91
1. Reference is invited to this department’s Circular No. 536, dated 6-7-1989 on the above subject wherein the rates at which deduction of tax under sections 194B and 194BB to be made during the financial year 1989-90, from winnings from lotteries or crossword puzzles or horse races were communicated.
2. The Finance Act, 1990 does not propose any change in the rates of tax and surcharge applicable in the matter of deduction of tax at source under sections 194B and 194BB of the Income-tax Act, 1961.
3. The aforesaid Circular explains the rate of tax and surcharge applicable in the matter of deduction of tax at source under sections 194B and 194BB in the case of winnings from lotteries, crossword puzzles and horse races. It also explains the duties devolving upon the persons responsible for paying any income of the nature of winnings from lotteries, crossword puzzles and horse races to deduct tax on the amount and also the liability to which such persons will be exposed in the case of failure to pay tax so deducted to the credit of the Central Government within the stipulated time, failure to furnish the annual return, etc. The instructions contained in the aforesaid Circular will be applicable during the current financial year also.
Circular : No. 569, dated 27-7-1990.

What to watch

The circular carries the rates for one financial year only, 1990-91, and does not itself state them; it points back to Circular No. 536 dated 6 July 1989.
The text supplied signs off as Circular No. 569 dated 27 July 1990, which is not the number under which it reaches you; check the citation before relying on it.
The obligations it preserves are the earlier circular's, including the annual return requirement of that time.

Where you meet it

An old TDS default proceeding on lottery or race winnings for the financial year 1990-91, where the applicable rate has to be traced back through the annual circulars.

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. 569 — Financial Year 1990-91 27 July 1990
Circular No. 515 — Financial Year 1988-89 31 May 1988
Circular No. 507 — Financial Year 1987-88 23 February 1988

← Circular No. 537 · Circular No. 535 →

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