Circular No. 608

Valuation of agricultural land comprised in tea, coffee, rubber and cardamom - Guidelines therefor

What this is

Circular No. 608 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 25 July 1991. Its subject is Valuation of agricultural land comprised in tea, coffee, rubber and cardamom - Guidelines therefor.

What it does

Makes the coffee plantation valuation guidelines national. Circular No. 357 dated 26 March 1983 had prescribed guidelines for valuing land comprised in a coffee plantation, but was applied only to the Karnataka charge. On review the Board decides that the procedure laid down for valuation of coffee plantations will apply to coffee plantations all over the country.

Why it was issued

The scope of the earlier circular was reviewed, the confinement of a valuation method to one charge having no basis once the method was accepted.

Who it reaches

Owners of coffee plantations outside the Karnataka charge
Valuation Officers and Assessing Officers valuing plantation land
Assessees whose plantation land is being valued in charges that had no guideline

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.

Valuation of agricultural land comprised in tea, coffee, rubber and cardamom - Guidelines therefor

1. Circular No. 357 dated 26-3-1983 prescribing guidelines for valuation of land comprised in coffee plantation, was made applicable only to the Karnataka Charge.
2. The scope of this circular has since been reviewed and it is decided that the procedure laid down for the valuation of coffee plantations will apply in respect of coffee plantations all over country.
Circular: No. 608, dated 25-7-1991.

What to watch

It extends only the coffee plantation procedure; the subject line also speaks of tea, rubber and cardamom, but the operative paragraph deals with coffee alone.
The content of the guidelines is not reproduced here — they are in Circular No. 357 dated 26 March 1983, which must be read with this one.
This is a valuation direction, and reaches wealth-tax and other valuation work rather than the computation of income.
No date of effect is stated, so the circular speaks from its own date of 25 July 1991.

Where you meet it

In a valuation report or a wealth-tax assessment where the value of plantation land is disputed.

← Circular No. 609 · Circular No. 607 →

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.