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Case law › Circulars › 2016 › Circular No. 19/2016
CBDT circular 25 May 2016

Circular No. 19/2016

- Central Board of Direct Taxes

What this is

Circular No. 19/2016 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 25 May 2016. Its subject is - Central Board of Direct Taxes.

What it does

Fixes where a declaration under the Income Declaration Scheme, 2016 is to be filed. Rule 4 of the Income Declaration Scheme Rules, 2016 requires a declaration of income, or of income in the form of investment in an asset, under section 183 of the Scheme to be made to the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner having jurisdiction over the declarant. The Board clarifies that the officer meant is the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner who exercises jurisdiction over the declarant under section 120 of the Income-tax Act as notified by the Board from time to time, and that he is the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner referred to in section 186 of the Scheme. The circular lists the gazette notifications on section 120 jurisdiction to which the reader is to look.

Why it was issued

The Scheme, introduced by the Finance Act, 2016, gave persons who had not paid full taxes a chance to declare undisclosed income, and the officer to whom the declaration goes had to be identified.

Who it reaches

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 ActNow
s.3s.3
s.186no counterpart recorded

The instrument, as the Board published it

The department publishes this one only as a PDF, so the words below were read out of that PDF by machine. That reading can carry its own mistakes — a misread number, a broken line. Check the signed document before you rely on a figure in it.

Circular No.19/2016
F.No I87 / 10 / 2016.ITA.I
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
- Central Board of Direct Taxes
(Income-Tax)
New Delhi, the 25th May,2016
Income Declaration Scheme, 2016, introduced vide Finance Act, 2016 (28 of 2016), provides an opportunity to persons who have not paid full taxes in the past to come forward and declare their undisclosed income. Rule 4 of the Income Declaration Scheme Rules, 2016 provides that a declaration of income or income in the form of investment in any asset u/s 183 shall be made in the prescribed manner to the Principal Commissioner or the Commissioner who exercises jurisdiction over the declarant.
2. It is, therefore, clarified that the jurisdictional Principal Commissioner or the Commissioner, as the case may be, who exercises jurisdiction u/s 120 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, as notified by CBDT from time to time over such declarant, shall be the Principal Commissioner or the Commissioner as referred to in section 186 of the Income Declaration Scheme 2016 to whom declaration under 183 of that Scheme is to be made.
Note: Notifications of the Government of India, Central Board of Direct Taxes, pertaining to the jurisdiction u/s 120 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part-II, Section 3, Sub-section (ii)- S.O. 2752 (E) dated 22.10.2014, S.O. 2754 (E) dated 22.10.2014, S.O.2814 (E) dated 03.11.2014, S.O.2885 (E) dated 12.11.2014, S.O.3244 (E) dated 19.12.2014, S.O.2911 (E) dated 13.11.2014, S.O.2922 (E) dated 15.11.2014, S.O. 2915 (E) dated 13.11.2014, S.O. 3911 (E) dated 16.12.2014, S.O. 355 (E) dated 05.02.2015, S.O. 2812 (E) dated 13.10.2015.

'41'- DEIPSHIKHA SHARMA
Director to the Government of India
1. The Chairperson and Members, CBDT.
2. All Joint Secretaries/ CsIT, CBDT.
3. OSD to Revenue Secretary
4. All Principal Commissioners of Income-Tax & all Directors General of Income-Tax with the request to bring to notice of all officers.
5. The Pr. DGIT (Training), NADT; Nagpur
6. The Pr. DGIT (Systems), ARA Centre, Jhandewalan Extension, New Delhi.
7. The Pr. DGIT (Vigilance), New Delhi.
8. The ADG (PR, PP & OL), Mayur Bhawan, New Delhi for printing in the quarterly tax bulletin and for circulation as per mailing list.
9. Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
10. ADG-4 (Systems) for uploading on ITD website.
11. Data Base Cell for uploading on www.irsofficersonline.gov.in
12. The Guard File.

What to watch

Where you meet it

When lodging a declaration under the Scheme, or where a declaration is questioned as filed before the wrong officer.

What it names

Rules it names. Rule 4 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.

It mentions. Circular No. 19/2016

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. 20/2016  ·  Circular No. 18/2016 →

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.