Circular No. 12/2006

What it does

Relaxes the compulsory e-filing of corporate returns for one class of filer. Notification S.O. No. 1163(E) dated 24 July 2006 had notified the new Form No. 1 for companies for assessment year 2006-07, and Circular No. 9/2006 dated 10 October 2006 had said e-filing was mandatory for all corporate taxpayers after 24 July 2006. This circular says it will not be mandatory for agents of non-residents, within the meaning of section 160(1)(a), to furnish the non-resident's return in Form No. 1 electronically for assessment year 2006-07.

Why it was issued

It was brought to the Board's notice that agents of non-residents could not e-file, because the software worked on a one assessee-one PAN-one return basis, while a non-resident may have several agents for different transactions and one person in India may be agent for several non-residents.

Who it reaches

Agents of non-residents under section 160(1)(a) filing returns as representative assessees
Non-resident companies assessed through an Indian agent for assessment year 2006-07
Assessing Officers receiving paper Form No. 1 from such agents

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.160	s.303

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.

NEW RETURN FORM NO. 1 FOR COMPANIES FOR ASSESSMENT YEAR 2006-07 – FURNISHING OF RETURN BY REPRESENTATIVE ASSESSEES OF NON-RESIDENTS

CIRCULAR NO. 12/2006, DATED 27-11-2006

The Central Board of Direct Taxes, vide Notification S.O. No. 1163(E), dated 24-7-2006, inter alia, notified a new return from (Form No. 1) for companies for assessment year 2006-07. It was provided in the Form, and later explained in the Circular No. 9/2006 dated 10-10-2006 that it is mandatory for all corporate taxpayers to electronically furnish the return for assessment year 2006-07 after 24-7-2006.

2. It has been brought to the notice of the Board that the agents of non-residents, within the meaning of section 160(1)(a) of the Income-tax Act, are facing difficulties in electronically furnishing the returns of non-residents. This is because of the reason that there may be more than one agent for a non-resident in India for different transactions or a person in India may be an agent of more than one non-resident. Such situations are not covered by the existing software which functions on the principle of one assessee – one PAN – one return. Accordingly, it has been decided by the Board that it will not be mandatory for agents of non-residents, within the meaning of section 160(1)(a) of the Income-tax Act, to electronically furnish the returns of non-residents in Form No. 1 for assessment year 2006-07.

[F. No. 133/38/2006-TPL]

What to watch

The relaxation is expressly confined to assessment year 2006-07 and to agents within section 160(1)(a); no other corporate filer is let off.
It removes only the compulsion to file electronically — the return itself was still due in Form No. 1.
The return-form and e-filing regime it works on has since been replaced many times over, as the text itself shows by tying everything to the 24 July 2006 notification.
A representative assessee outside section 160(1)(a) cannot take shelter under this circular.

Where you meet it

Where an old assessment year 2006-07 record of a non-resident is questioned for a paper return, or a return is treated as invalid for not having been e-filed.

What it names

Forms it names. Form No. 1

It mentions. Circular No. 12/2006, Circular No. 9/2006

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. 4/2019 — Clarification regarding liability and status of Official Assignees under the Income tax Act 28 January 2019
Circular No. 6/2012 — Central Board of Direct Taxes 3 August 2012
Press Release, dated 31-7-2012 — Relaxation from compulsory e-filing of return of income for assessment year 2012-13 for representative assessEes of non- 31 July 2012
Circular No. 8/2008 — 8/2008 dated 22 09 2008 22 September 2008

← Circular No. 13/2006 · Circular No. 11/2006 →

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.

What this is