Rule 37J — the law in short
What the courts have decided on section Rule 37J, in one screen. Read this first; open an entry when you need the facts, the reasoning and the source.
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M/s Sri Jayabharath Timber Depot v ITO (TDS), Tirunelveli
ITATHelps departmentValidity unconfirmed
I produced the buyers' Form 27C during the assessment, and later a Form 27BA from an accountant. The officer says both are too late. Is he right?
On this order, yes. The Chennai Tribunal read s.206C(1A) with s.206C(1B) and held that the seller must either collect TCS at the time of sale or obtain the Form 27C declaration and file a copy with the Commissioner by the seventh day of the month next following the month of receipt, so that a Form 27C produced for the first time during assessment proceedings is not within a reasonable time. It also rejected the alternative plea under the first proviso to s.206C(6A), holding that a Form 27BA obtained on 24 April 2021 — seven years after the end of the relevant assessment years — came too late for the immunity, and dismissed both appeals.
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Statutory position — s.206C(6A) first proviso, Form 27BA, and the two interest rates in s.206C(7) from 1 April 2025
CBDT Circulars & InstructionsCuts both ways
I did not collect TCS but my buyer has filed his return and paid the tax. Am I still an assessee in default, and what interest do I owe?
The first proviso to s.206C(6A) says a person responsible for collecting tax under sub-section (1) or sub-section (1C) who fails to collect is not to be deemed an assessee in default if the buyer or licensee or lessee has furnished his return of income under s.139, has taken the amount into account in computing income in that return, and has paid the tax due on the income declared — and the collector furnishes a certificate to that effect from an accountant in the prescribed form. Rule 37J prescribes that certificate as Form 27BA, to be furnished to the Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or his authorised person in the procedures, formats and standards that officer specifies.
Listed strongest first: Supreme Court, then High Court, then Tribunal, then CBDT. Nothing here has yet been read in full by a chartered accountant — open an entry to see where it came from.