Delays by tax payers in filing claims for income tax refund are common. Similarly tax filing by some tax payers may have been delayed due to genuine reasons which impacts carry forward and set off of loss.
CBDT has recently issued circular where procedure has been laid down for condoning which means pardoning or forgiving such delays and how to get these processed. Below are the details of this circular which now supersede all earlier circulars in this regard. (this is covered under section 119(2)(b) of the income tax act).
Authority for accepting/rejecting applications
| Where the claims do not exceed Rs 10lakhs | The Principal Commissioners of Income tax/ Commissioners of Income tax (Pr.CsIT/CsIT) |
| Where the claims are more than Rs 10lakhs but do not exceed Rs 50lakhs | The Principal Chief Commissioners of tax/Chief Commissioners of Income tax (Pr.CsIT/CsIT) |
| Where the claims exceed Rs 50lakhs | CBDT |
CBDT has the power to examine any grievance arising out of an order passed or not passed by the authorities mentioned above and issue suitable directions to them for proper implementation of this Circular. However, no review of or appeal against the orders of the authorities listed above will be entertained by the Board.
Time limit for accepting claims
If there is any claim for refund or an application is made for allowing loss it cannot be condoned (or pardoned) after 6 years from the end of the assessment year for which such application/claim is made. This time limit of 6 years is applicable to all the 3 authorities listed above.
If the refund claim is due to a court order, the duration for which the claim was pending due to proceedings in the court shall be ignored for calculating the period of 6 years. This period is ignored only where condonation application has been filed within 6 months from the end of the month of the court’s order or end of financial year – whichever is later.
This limit of six years is applicable to all authorities listed above who have power to condone the delay as per the above prescribed monetary limits, including the Board.
A condonation application should be disposed of within six months from the end of the month in which the application is received by the competent authority, as far as possible.
Other conditions
Any of the above listed authority has the power to direct the jurisdictional assessing officer to scrutinize the case to ensure correctness of claim. The authority shall satisfy itself that the claim is correct and there has been a genuine hardship due to which it was not filed timely.
Any additional or supplementary claims are allowed for condonation where besides the above conditions the following are also met –
- The income of the assessee is not assessable in the hands of any other person under any of the provisions of the Act.
- No interest is paid on belated claims of refund
- The refund has arisen due to excess TDS and/or excess advance tax payment and/or excess payment of self-assessment tax
This is as per CBDT’s circular 9/2015 [F.NO.312/22/2015-OT], DATED 9-6-2015