Circular No. 4/2024

Ex post facto extension of due date for filing form no. 26QE which was required to be filed during the period 01.07.2022 to 28.02.2023 pertaining to f.y. 2022 23

What this is

Circular No. 4/2024 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 7 March 2024. Its subject is Ex post facto extension of due date for filing form no. 26QE which was required to be filed during the period 01.07.2022 to 28.02.2023 pertaining to f.y. 2022 23.

This is an extension of time. It moves a date that the Act or the Rules otherwise fix, and it does so only for the compliance and the period it names — not for anything else that happens to fall due at the same time.

What it does

Extends, after the event, the date for filing Form No. 26QE for tax deducted on the transfer of virtual digital assets during 1 July 2022 to 28 February 2023, that is financial year 2022-23. The new date is 30 May 2023. Fee under section 234E and interest under section 201(1A)(ii) charged in those cases for the period up to 30 May 2023 stand waived. The Board records that this is a one-time exception.

Why it was issued

Form No. 26QE was not available on the system for deductions made between 1 July 2022 and 31 January 2023, so deductors could not file or pay in time; those deducting between 1 February and 28 February 2023 had insufficient time once it was available.

Who it reaches

Specified persons who deducted tax on payments for transfer of virtual digital assets in financial year 2022-23
Buyers of crypto assets from resident sellers who were not required to obtain a TAN
Deductors already served with a fee under section 234E or interest for late payment

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.119	s.239
s.201	s.2, s.398
s.234E	s.427

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.

F. No. 275/01/2023-IT(B)
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Direct Taxes
Circular No. 04/2024
New Delhi. the 071h March, 2024
Sub: Ex-post facto extension of due date for filing Form No. 26QE which was
required to be filed during the period 01.07.2022 to 28.02.2023 (pertaining
to F.Y. 2022-23) - reg.

As per section 1945 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as "the
Act"), any person responsible for paying to any resident person any sum by way of
consideration for the transfer of a virtual digital asset is required to deduct an amount
equal to 1% of such sum as income tax thereon. Further, as per sub-rule (40) of rule
31A, a 'specified person' is required to report such deductions in a challan-cum-statement electronically in Form No. 26QE within thirty days from the end of the month
in which such deduction is made.

2. It has come to the notice of the Central Board of Direct Taxes ('the Board') that
specified persons who deducted tax under section 1945 of the Act during the period
from 01 .07.2022 to 31 .01 .2023, could not file Form No. 26QE and pay corresponding
TDS on or before the due date, due to unavailability of Form No. 26QE. This has
resulted in consequential levy of fee under section 234E and interest under clause (ii)
of sub-section (1A) of section 201 of the Act. Further, the specified persons who
deducted tax under section 1945 during the period from 01 .02.2023 to 28.02.2023
had insufficient time to file Form No. 26QE and pay corresponding TDS thereon.

3. In order to address the grievances of such specified persons and in exercise
of the powers conferred under section 119(2)(a) of the Act, the Board has decided
to, ex-post facto, extend the due date of filing of Form No. 26QE for specified persons
who deducted tax under section 1945 but failed to file Form No. 26QE. The due date
is hereby extended to 30.05.2023 in those cases where the tax was deducted by
specified persons under section 1945 of the Act durin9 the period from 01 .07.2022 to
28.02.2023. Fee levied under section 234E and/or interest charged under section
201(1A)(ii) of the Act in such cases for the period upto 30.05.2023, shall be waived.

4. It is clarified that the above extension is a one-time exception in view of the
circumstances referred to above.

5. Hindi version shall follow.

Copy to:- (Sunil Kumar) Under Secretary to Government of India
1. PS to FM/OSD to FM/PS to MoS (R)/OSD to MoS(R)
2. PPS to Secretary (Revenue)
3. The Chairman, CBDT & all Members, CBDT
4. All Pr.CCsIT, CCsIT/Pr.DGsIT/DGsIT.
5. All Joint Secretaries/CslT, CBDT.
6. Pro Commissioner of Income-tax (Media & TP) and official Spokesperson, CBDT,
New Delhi.
7. ADG (PR,P&P) for necessary action.
8. JCIT, Database Cell, with a request to upload the order on the website
www.irsofficersonline.gov.in.
9. Web Manager, 0/0 DGIT(Systems) with request to upload on the departmental
website of incometaxindia.gov.in.
10. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, IP Estate, New Delhi
11 . All Chambers of Commerce.
12. The Guard File.

What to watch

The relief is bounded at both ends: only deductions made between 1 July 2022 and 28 February 2023, and only the fee and interest for the period up to 30 May 2023.
Interest for any period after 30 May 2023 is untouched, so a Form No. 26QE filed later still carries a charge for the excess period.
The Board expressly calls this a one-time exception, so it is no precedent for later defaults.
Where a fee has already been paid, recovering it needs a rectification or correction on the traces record; the circular waives the levy but does not itself reverse an entry.

Where you meet it

In a TDS default intimation for financial year 2022-23 showing a late-filing fee under section 234E on Form No. 26QE, or in interest raised under section 201(1A)(ii) for delayed deposit.

An example

Ours, not the Board’s: a worked case built from the rule the instrument sets, to show how it falls out.

A buyer deducts one per cent on a virtual digital asset purchase in September 2022 but cannot file Form No. 26QE because the form is not live, and files it on 20 May 2023. The fee under section 234E and the section 201(1A)(ii) interest computed for that stretch fall away, because the filing is within the extended date of 30 May 2023.

What it names

Forms it names. Form No. 26QE

Rules it names. Rule 31A 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. 04/2024

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. 6/2026 — Condonation of delay in filing Form No. 10AB electronically for approval under clause(ii) of the first proviso to sectio 2 July 2026
Circular No. 2/2026 — Order under section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 for extension of timeline for issuance of tax deducted at source (TD 25 March 2026
Circular No.15/2025 — Extension of timelines for filing of various reports of audit and income tax returns ITRS for the assessment year 2025 2 29 October 2025
Circular No. 10/2025 — Relaxation of time limit for processing of returns of income filed electronically which were incorrectly invalidated by 28 July 2025
Circular No. 7/2025 — Relaxation of time limit for processing of valid returns of income filed electronically pursuant to order u/s 119(2)(b) 25 June 2025
Circular No. 6/2025 — Extension of due date for furnishing return of income for the Assessment Year 2025-26 27 May 2025

← Circular No. 5/2024 · Circular No. 3/2024 →

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.