Circular No. 628 — Clarification regarding penalty under section 271B for failure to comply with provisions o

What this is

Circular No. 628 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 6 March 1992. Its subject is Clarification regarding penalty under section 271B for failure to comply with provisions of section 44AB for assessment year 1985-86.

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

Withdraws Circular No. 582, dated 23-10-1990. That circular had said that no penalty under section 271B would be imposed for assessment year 1985-86 where the audit report under section 44AB read with rule 6G had been obtained by 30th September, 1985, dropping the second condition the Board had originally imposed by Circular No. 422, dated 19-6-1985, namely that self-assessment tax under section 140A had also been paid within the normal period under section 139(1). With the withdrawal, the concession stated in Circular No. 582 no longer stands.

Why it was issued

The Board reconsidered the matter in consultation with the Ministry of Law.

Who it reaches

Assessees facing section 271B penalty for assessment year 1985-86
Persons who obtained the section 44AB audit report by 30th September, 1985 but paid self-assessment tax late
Assessing Officers with pending 271B proceedings for that year

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.44AB	s.2, s.58, s.63
s.139	s.2, s.263, s.349
s.140A	s.266
s.271B	s.446

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 penalty under section 271B for failure to comply with provisions of section 44AB for assessment year 1985-86
1. The Board had vide Circular No. 422, dated 19-6-1985 (see Clarification 2) decided that the penalty proceedings under section 271B of the Income-tax Act, 1961, for failure to comply with the provisions of section 44AB should not be initiated for assessment year 1985-86, in cases where :
(i) the Audit Report prescribed under section 44AB read with rule 6G has been obtained by 30th September, 1985; and
(ii) the self-assessment tax under section 140A of the Act has been paid within the normal period prescribed under section 139(1) of the Act for filing return of income.
Subsequently, on receipt of representations, the matter was reconsidered and Circular No. 582 was issued on 23-10-1990 clarifying that no penalty would be imposed for the assessment year 1985-86 under section 271B in cases where the audit report prescribed under section 44AB read with rule 6G had been obtained by 30th September, 1985.
2. The matter has been reconsidered by the Board in consultation with the Ministry of Law and it has been decided to withdraw the Circular No. 582, dated 23-10-1990. [Clarification 1].
Circular : No. 628, dated 6-3-1992.

What to watch

The withdrawal is of Circular No. 582 alone; the circular does not say in terms what becomes of Circular No. 422, dated 19-6-1985, and its two conditions.
Everything here is confined to assessment year 1985-86, the first year of section 44AB.
A withdrawal of a concessional circular of this kind is spent as a live matter; it is of use now only in reading an old penalty file for that year.

Where you meet it

In an old penalty order or appeal under section 271B for assessment year 1985-86 where the assessee relies on Circular No. 582.

What it names

Rules it names. Rule 6G of the Income-tax Rules, 1962. The 1962 Rules were replaced by the Income-tax Rules, 2026, which renumbered nearly everything: a rule number quoted here almost never means the same rule today.

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.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. 2/2025 — Extension of due date for filing of form no. 56F under the income tax act 1961 18 February 2025
Circular No. 18/2023 — Circular No. 1 g of 2023 20 October 2023
Circular No. 5/2021 — Order under section 119 of the income tax act 1961 25 March 2021
Circular No. 19/2020 — Condonation of delay under section 119 2 b of the income tax act 1961 in filing of form no. 10BB for assessment year 201 3 November 2020
Circular No. 10/2020 — Order under section 119 of the income tax act 1961 regarding reporting requirement under clause 30C and clause 44 of the 24 April 2020

← Circular No. 629 · Circular No. 627 →

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.