Circular No. 744

Clarification regarding filing of returns in respect of tax deducted at source from salary of employees of company working at its headquarters or in other branches

What this is

Circular No. 744 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 6 May 1996. Its subject is Clarification regarding filing of returns in respect of tax deducted at source from salary of employees of company working at its headquarters or in other branches.

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 to all tax deduction at source returns filed under rule 37, as required by section 206, the single-office rule that Circular No. 719 dated 22 August 1995 had laid down for salary TDS returns. Where the head office or a branch office is already filing the return, no other Assessing Officer may insist that the assessee file the same return with him; where no return is being filed, the Assessing Officer having jurisdiction under rule 36A may act to enforce compliance.

Why it was issued

The Board had already settled the position for salary TDS returns in Circular No. 719 and decided to apply the same procedure to the other TDS returns.

Who it reaches

Companies with a head office and branches deducting tax at source
Branch offices asked to file duplicate TDS returns
Assessing Officers holding TDS jurisdiction under rule 36A

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.206	no counterpart recorded

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 filing of returns in respect of tax deducted at source from salary of employees of company working at its headquarters or in other branches
.
1. Board’s Circular No. 719 [F. No. 275/206/95-IT(B)], dated 22-8-1995 states that where the head office or the branch office is already filing the returns under section 206, no other Assessing Officer shall require the assessee to file such return with him. Where, however, the return is not being filed, the Assessing Officer having jurisdiction in terms of rule 36A of Income-tax Rules may proceed so as to enforce compliance to the provisions relating to deduction of tax at source from "Salary".
2. It has been decided to extend this procedure to all other TDS returns filed under rule 37, as required under section 206 of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Circular : No. 744, dated 6-5-1996.

What to watch

The protection applies only where a return is in fact being filed by the head office or branch; silence invites the rule 36A officer to step in.
It builds on Circular No. 719 dated 22 August 1995, which must be read with it.
This is a pre-electronic filing measure: paper TDS returns under section 206 and rule 37 have since given way to quarterly electronic statements.

Where you meet it

A notice from a branch's Assessing Officer demanding a TDS return already filed centrally by the head office.

What it names

Rules it names. Rule 36A, 37 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.

Press Release, dated 26-12-2012 — Frequently Asked Tax Questions by Qualified Foreign Investors (QFIs)1 26 December 2012
Notification No. 209 — A notification under section 206 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 11 August 2006
Notification No. 179 — A notification under section 139A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 30 June 2005
Circular No. 4/2005 — 4/2005 dated 06 04 2005 27 June 2005
Circular No. 8/2003 — Filing of returns relating to Tax Deduction at Source on computer media 19 September 2003
Notification No. 205 — Following Scheme for electronic filing of return of tax deducted at source specified under section 139A 26 August 2003

← Circular No. 743 · Circular No. 742 →

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.