Case law › Circulars › 2012 › Circular No. Office Order [F. NO. 19-AD(ATD)/2012], dated 13-12-2012

CBDT circular 13 December 2012

Circular No. Office Order [F. NO. 19-AD(ATD)/2012], dated 13-12-2012

Instructions Regarding e-payment of ITAT Fees

What this is

Circular No. Office Order [F. NO. 19-AD(ATD)/2012], dated 13-12-2012 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 13 December 2012. Its subject is Instructions Regarding e-payment of ITAT Fees.

What it does

Directs that where Tribunal fees are paid electronically, the challan must be counter-signed by the bank manager concerned or attested by the authorised representative or the assessee himself. A remittance of Tribunal fees that does not comply is not to be treated as valid.

Why it was issued

The order gives no reason; it is issued as an administrative instruction on the manner of evidencing electronic payment of Tribunal fees.

Who it reaches

Appellants filing appeals before the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal
Advocates, chartered accountants and authorised representatives paying fees online
Tribunal registry staff scrutinising appeal memos

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 Regarding e-payment of ITAT Fees
OFFICE ORDER [F. No. 19-Ad(ATD)/2012], dated 13-12-2012
Advocates/Chartered Accountant/Authorized Representative and assessees are hereby informed that in case of E-Payment of Tribunal Fees the respective Challans are to be counter signed by the concerned bank manager or attested by the authorized Representatives or assessees themselves. In case of non compliance of these instructions the remittent of Tribunal fees will not be treated valid.
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What to watch

This is an office order of the Appellate Tribunal's administration, not a circular of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, so it is not Board authority and binds no income-tax authority.
The consequence stated is severe: non-compliance means the fee is not treated as validly remitted, which can put the appeal itself at risk of a defect notice.
Attestation by the representative or the assessee is offered as an alternative to the bank manager's counter-signature, so the bank need not be approached.
The order is dated 2012 and speaks to the e-payment practice of that time; the Tribunal's current filing requirements should be checked separately.

Where you meet it

At the Tribunal registry, on a defect memo objecting that the appeal fee challan filed with the memorandum of appeal is not attested.

← PRESS RELEASE, DATED 14-12-2012 · Press Release, dated 29-11-2012 →

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.