An order issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes, as F. No. 225/5/2021-ITA-II, dated 13 March 2024. Issued under section 119.
An order of the Board under section 119 opening a route for successor companies whose scheme of amalgamation, merger or demerger was sanctioned by a High Court, a Tribunal or an Adjudicating Authority before 01.04.2022. Section 170A, which allows a modified return, applies only to orders issued on or after that date, so those companies had no way of putting the effect of the scheme on record. The order supplies a mechanism and a timetable for them.
This is an order of the Board. An order is issued under a power the Act itself gives the Board — most often section 119, which lets it direct its own officers and, in the cases the section names, relax a requirement. Read the enabling words before deciding how far it reaches: the power is administrative, and it cannot rewrite the charge.
The Board allows successor companies to furnish a return with modified particulars for the relevant assessment years where the order of the competent authority was issued after 01.06.2016 but before 01.04.2022. The filing is to be made on the e-filing portal using the existing functionality described as return under section 119(2)(b), after condonation of delay or Court Order. A three-step timetable is laid down. The taxpayer communicates with the jurisdictional assessing officer in the prescribed proforma by 30.04.2024. The assessing officer then verifies, preferably within thirty days, that the return follows from and is limited to the order of the competent authority, and enables the filing through ITBA. The return is then filed electronically by 30.06.2024. No separate application under section 119(2)(b) is required for orders falling in this window.
Section 170A was inserted by the Finance Act, 2022 with effect from 01.04.2022 and gives a successor six months from the reorganisation order to file a modified return. Companies holding an order made before that date fell outside it entirely, even though the Supreme Court had held in Civil Appeal Nos. 9496-99 of 2019 that a successor's return giving effect to a sanctioned arrangement should be accepted. The Board's earlier order of 26.09.2022 had only covered orders issued between 01.04.2022 and 30.09.2022. This order deals with what was left over.
An order to the department. It tells assessing officers to verify and to enable the filing, and it removes the need for them to insist on a separate condonation application. It gives the successor company a practical door but not an enforceable right, and it does not bind the Tribunal or a court, which would decide the acceptability of a modified return on section 170A and on the general law rather than on this order.
Issued 13th March, 2024 and takes effect immediately. It covers reorganisation orders issued after 01.06.2016 and before 01.04.2022. The taxpayer's communication to the assessing officer was due by 30.04.2024 and the electronic filing by 30.06.2024.
Both dates have passed, so the window this order opened is closed and a fresh application would have to be made on its own footing. The relief is confined to returns that follow from and are limited to the competent authority's order; anything wider will not be enabled. The filing is made under a section 119(2)(b) label on the portal, which is a mechanical choice and should not be confused with a condonation order on the merits.
the Board, hereby allows the successor companies to furnish the return with modified particulars ('return') for the relevant assessment year(s)
— the Central Board of Direct Taxes, order F. No. 225/5/2021-ITA-II, 13 March 2024. Read it in the department’s own PDF.
| Under the Income-tax Act, 1961 | Now, in the Income-tax Act, 2025 |
|---|---|
| section 170A | section 314 |
| section 119 | section 239 |
| section 139 | section 2, section 263, section 349 |
The CBDT rejected my condonation application without dealing with my reasons. Can I challenge that?
Can interest under ss.234A, 234B and 234C be waived?
Our amalgamation was sanctioned long after the deadline for a revised return. Must the department accept revised returns filed to give effect to the scheme?
The AO says I sold below market value and wants to tax the difference. Can he do that?
A Board circular supports my reading of the section. Can I hold the Tribunal or the High Court to it, and can a circular settle what a provision means?
I did not tick s.115BAA in the return and filed Form 10-IC late. Can I still get the concessional rate?
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.