Circular No. 625 — Clarification regarding discontinuance of Form No. 16B

What this is

Circular No. 625 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 12 February 1992. Its subject is Clarification regarding discontinuance of Form No. 16B.

This is a clarification. The Board is stating how it reads a provision. That reading binds the department; it does not bind a court, and where the section says otherwise the section wins.

What it does

Extends by three months the period during which the old unified Form No. 16 may be used in place of Form No. 16B. Circular No. 607 dated 4 July 1991 had allowed TDS certificates in the old unified Form No. 16 to be accepted until 31 December 1991. On review the Board decides that certificates issued up to 31 March 1992 in the old Form No. 16 will continue to be accepted by Assessing Officers in lieu of Form No. 16B. The old form is good only for those categories of deduction for which Form No. 16B is presently prescribed; both forms remain in force and a deductor may use either till 31 March 1992. Certificates issued after 31 March 1992 in the old Form No. 16 will not be accepted.

Why it was issued

The Board reviewed the position after the 31 December 1991 date under Circular No. 607 and decided to allow further time for deductors to move to the new form.

Who it reaches

Deductors still issuing certificates on the old unified Form No. 16
Payees claiming credit on such certificates for that period
Assessing Officers deciding whether to accept a certificate as valid proof of deduction

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.

Clarification regarding discontinuance of Form No. 16B

1. Reference is invited to Board’s Circular No. 607, dated 4-7-1991 conveying Board’s decision that the TDS certificates issued by tax deductors in the old (unified) Form No. 16 would continue to be accepted by the Income-tax Department in lieu of the new Form No. 16B, till 31-12-1991.
2. The position in this regard was recently reviewed by the Board and it has been decided that the TDS certificates issued up to 31st March, 1992 in the old (unified) Form No. 16 will continue to be accepted by the Assessing Officers, in lieu of Form No. 16B.
3. It may be clarified that the unified Form No. 16 shall be accepted only for those categories of TDS for which the new Form No. 16B is prescribed at present. Form No. 16B shall also remain in force along with the old (uniform) Form No. 16 and the tax deductors can use either of the two forms till 31-3-1992. TDS certificates issued after 31-3-1992 will not be accepted in the aforesaid Form No. 16.

Circular : No. 625, dated 12-2-1992.

What to watch

The concession has a hard cut-off of 31 March 1992, and the circular itself says certificates issued after it in the old form will not be accepted.
The old form served only for the categories of deduction for which Form No. 16B was then prescribed; it was no substitute across the board.
The date that matters is the date the certificate was issued, not the date of the deduction or of the payment.
Both this form and Form No. 16B have long since been superseded, as the text's own dates show.

Where you meet it

Where credit for tax deducted in that period is refused because the certificate produced is on a form the department says was no longer valid.

What it names

Forms it names. Form No. 16, Form No. 16B

← Circular No. 627 · Circular No. 626 →

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.