Circular No. 670 — Instructions to subordinate authorities - Authorisation regarding condonation of delay in

What this is

Circular No. 670 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 26 October 1993. 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 of 12 October 1993 under section 119(2)(b) and sets out how Assessing Officers are to use it. Officers may admit belated refund claims under section 237 where the refund arises from tax deducted or collected at source and advance tax payments and does not exceed Rs. 1 lakh for any assessment year. Prior approval is needed before a belated claim is entertained: from the Commissioner where the refund is Rs. 10,000 or less, and from the Chief Commissioner or Director General where it is above Rs. 10,000 but not above Rs. 1,00,000. Where a Chief Commissioner, Director General, Commissioner or Director finds the four conditions in the section 119(2)(b) order satisfied but still does not regard it as a case of genuine hardship, the application is to be referred to the Board for final decision.

Why it was issued

The Board exercised its power under section 119(2)(b) to let genuine belated refund claims be admitted, and this circular passes the order down with the working instructions.

Who it reaches

Assessees whose refund claims under section 237 were filed late
Persons whose refund arises only from TDS, TCS or advance tax
Assessing Officers admitting belated claims
Commissioners, Chief Commissioners and Directors General giving prior approval

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.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. I am directed to forward herewith the order contained in F. No. 225/208/93/ITA-II, dated 12th October, 1993, passed by the CBDT in exercise of the powers conferred on it under section 119(2)(b) of the Income-tax Act. By virtue of this order the Assessing Officers can admit belated refund claims under section 237 of the Income-tax Act in cases where refunds may arise as a result of tax deducted/collected at source and advance tax payments where the amount of such refund does not exceed Rs. 1 lakh for any assessment year.
2. Board have also decided that in such cases—
(i) where the refund does not exceed Rs. 10,000 for any assessment year the Assessing Officer shall obtain the prior approval of the CIT before entertaining a belated refund claim ; and
(ii) where the refund exceeds Rs. 10,000 but does not exceed Rs. 1,00,000 for any assessment year the Assessing Officer shall obtain the prior approval of CCIT of DGIT before entertaining a belated refund claim.
3. The CCIT/DGIT/CIT, as the case may be, shall ensure that the conditions laid down under Board’s order under section 119(2)(b) referred to above are fulfilled.
4. Where a Chief Commissioner of Income-tax/Director General of Income-tax/Commissioner of Income-tax/Director of Income-tax finds that the four conditions laid down in the order under section 119(2)(b ) dated 12-10-1993 are satisfied but still it is not a case of "genuine hardship", he should refer the belated refund application to the Board for final decision.
5. This order is effective from 1-11-1993 and will apply to all claims of refund pending as on that date and also in respect of all refund claims filed on or after that date.
Circular : No. 670, dated 26-10-1993.

What to watch

The monetary ceiling is Rs. 1 lakh for any assessment year, and the refund must arise from tax deducted or collected at source or advance tax; a claim outside either limb is not covered.
Approval is a precondition, not a formality after the event: the officer must obtain it before entertaining the claim.
Even where the four conditions are met, the authority may still find no genuine hardship, in which case the file goes to the Board rather than being rejected outright.
The order took effect from 1 November 1993 and applied to claims pending on that date and filed thereafter; the monetary limits for condonation under section 119(2)(b) have been revised by later Board orders more than once.

Where you meet it

A refund application filed beyond time for an old year, and the order of the Assessing Officer or Commissioner admitting or refusing to admit it under section 119(2)(b).

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. 671 · Circular No. 669 →

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.