An instruction issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes, as F. No. V-270135/2/2016-SO(Nat.Com), dated 17 August 2016.
A communication of the Department of Revenue, signed by the Director (National Committee), on the winding up of section 35AC of the Income-tax Act. It recalls that the section allows a deduction, in computing business income, of amounts paid to a public sector company, a local authority or an association or institution approved by the National Committee for carrying out an eligible project or scheme, and that sub-section (7) of section 35AC bars the deduction for any assessment year commencing on or after 1 April 2018. On that footing it states the two cut-offs that follow.
This is an instruction to the department's own officers. It tells them how to do something — which cases to take up, what to check, how to record it. It is an internal direction, and its whole force runs downwards inside the department.
It clarifies, first, that the benefit of the deduction under section 35AC is available only up to the previous year ending 31.03.2017, that is assessment year 2017-18, in respect of payments made to an association or institution already approved by the National Committee for carrying out an eligible project or scheme. Second, it directs that requests received after 31.12.2016 for the grant, modification or extension of approval up to 31.03.2017 under section 35AC shall not be considered or entertained by the National Committee. The document is circulated to the Chairperson and Members of the Board, to all Pr. Chief Commissioners and Pr. Directors General, and to the web manager for posting on the departmental website.
Sub-section (7) had shut the door on the deduction prospectively, but two practical questions were left. Donors and approved institutions needed to know how long a payment would still earn the deduction, and the National Committee needed a point beyond which it would stop processing applications for approval, since an approval granted late in the day would be of no use to anyone. This communication answers both, some four and a half months before the earlier of the two dates.
It binds the National Committee and the departmental officers to whom it is circulated. It does not bind the assessee, and it does not bind a court or the Tribunal. What actually denies the deduction is sub-section (7) of section 35AC, not this communication; the communication only states the Department's reading of it and fixes an administrative cut-off for approval applications.
Dated 17 August 2016. Requests to the National Committee for grant, modification or extension of approval up to 31.03.2017 had to be received by 31.12.2016. Payments continue to earn the deduction only up to the previous year ending 31.03.2017, being assessment year 2017-18, and no deduction is allowed for any assessment year commencing on or after 1 April 2018.
Keep the two dates apart: 31.12.2016 is the last date to approach the National Committee, 31.03.2017 the last date for the payment itself. The clarification speaks of payments to an institution already approved, so a taxpayer who paid on the strength of an approval that was still awaited is on weak ground. And an administrative cut-off cannot enlarge or cut down sub-section (7), which is where the bar actually sits.
the benefit of deduction under section 35 AC of the Income-tax Act is available only upto previous year ending 31.03.2017 (Assessment Year 2017-18)
— the Central Board of Direct Taxes, instruction F. No. V-270135/2/2016-SO(Nat.Com), 17 August 2016. Read it in the department’s own PDF.
| Under the Income-tax Act, 1961 | Now, in the Income-tax Act, 2025 |
|---|---|
| section 35AC | no counterpart recorded |
What here is the Board’s and what is ours. The document is the Central Board of Direct Taxes’ own. Its number, its date and the words quoted above are reproduced from the Board’s own PDF, which is here. Everything else on this page is ours: the plain-English account of what the document is and what it does, the reading of which provision it turns on, the note on what to watch, and the choice of cases. Where our account and the document part, the document governs.
An order of the Board binds the department, not you and not a court. The Board writes to its own officers. An assessee may hold the department to an order or an instruction 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. This is the most common mistake made with this material, and it is worth making twice: a direction of the Board is not a section of the Act.
What we could not settle. The date line is run together in the scan as "Datedi7"August, 2016" and the F. No. as "F, No. V-270135/2/2016-SO(Nat.Com)"; the day is read as 17 August 2016, which agrees with the Department's listing. The first entry of the distribution list is missing from the scan, the list starting at item 2. The document does not state the provision under which it is issued.