Circular No. 33/2016

What this is

Circular No. 33/2016 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 12 September 2016. Its subject is Circular No.33 of 2016.

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

Announces clarifications, in question and answer form, on the Direct Tax Dispute Resolution Scheme, 2016 contained in Chapter X of the Finance Act, 2016, under which a taxpayer in litigation could come forward and settle the dispute. It records that the Direct Tax Dispute Resolution Scheme Rules, 2016 have been notified, that queries were received from stakeholders seeking further clarity on certain provisions, and that the Central Government has considered them and decided to answer them in that form.

Why it was issued

Queries were received from stakeholders seeking further clarity on certain provisions of the Scheme.

Who it reaches

Taxpayers with appeals pending who considered settling under the 2016 Scheme
Designated authorities processing declarations under the Scheme
Advisers who filed or advised on declarations in 2016

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. The reading also stopped short of the end of the document: what is below is the opening, not the whole of it.

Circular No.33 of 2016
F.No.142/11/2016-TPL
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Direct Taxes
(TPL Division)
***
Dated: 12th September, 2016
Clarifications on the Direct Tax Dispute Resolution Scheme, 2016
The Direct Tax Dispute Resolution Scheme, 2016 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Scheme') incorporated as Chapter X of the Finance Act, 2016 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') provides an opportunity to tax payers who are under litigation to come forward and settle the dispute in accordance with the provisions of the Scheme. The Direct Tax Dispute Resolution Scheme Rules, 2016 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Rules') have been notified. In regard to the scheme queries have been received from the stakeholders seeking further clarity on certain provisions of the Scheme. The Central Government has considered the queries and decided to clarify the same in the form of questions and answers as follows.-

What to watch

The text supplied stops at the sentence introducing the questions and answers, so the substance of the clarifications is not in front of me and nothing here should be treated as stating what any particular answer said.
The Scheme itself was open for a limited period in 2016 and is long closed, so the circular has no continuing operation.
Anything relied on from this circular must be taken from the full official text, question by question.
The Rules notified under the Scheme carry their own conditions, which this fragment does not set out.

Where you meet it

Only where an old declaration under the 2016 Scheme, and the finality it gave to an appeal, is in question.

What it names

It mentions. Circular No. 33/2016

← Circular No. 34/2016 · Circular No. DBR. No. Leg. BC. 13/09.07.005/2016-17 →

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.