Category: Others

The CBDT has issued an Office Memorandum dated 14.01.2016 stating that in order to provide relief to the small taxpayers, refunds up to Rs.5,000 and refunds in cases where arrear demand is up to Rs.5,000 may be issued without any adjustment of outstanding arrears under section 245 of the Act during FY 2015-16. It is stated that as on 09.01.2016, there are 64,938 cases of refunds below Rs.5,000 involving Rs.1,148.14 Crore in non-CASS cases for AYs 2013-14 and 2014-15 pending in AST. The CBDT has directed the Assessing Officers to issue these refunds without any adjustment of arrears under Section 245. Similarly, the non-CASS cases for those assessment years where the refund amount is more than Rs.5,000 but the outstanding arrear is Rs. 6,000/- or less have been directed to be processed for issue of refund without any adjustment under Section 245. It is further directed that the above exercise should be completed before 31st January, 2016 and a compliance report be sent to the Member (Revenue).

The “Income Tax Appellate Tribunal” is celebrating its “Platinum Jubilee” at Convention Hall, The Ashok, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi on 24th & 25th January, 2016. President of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal Justice (Retd) Shri Dev Darshan Sud is desirous that all the individuals and institutions who are associated with the ITAT participate in the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations.

AIFTP has announced the release of a publication titled “212 Frequently Asked Questions on Survey – Direct Taxes” by Dr. K. Lakshaman, Member of Legislative Assembly, Hyderabad

The CBDT has issued an advisory in which it is pointed out that instances of huge default of ‘Short Deduction’ have been observed due to wrong quoting of 197 certificate number. The scenario of wrong 197 certificate generally arises when the deductor accepts from deductee a manually issued lower deduction certificate by assessing officer & quotes the same in TDS statements. It is explained that CPC(TDS) has provided the facility of validating the 197 certificate to the deductors and that if the 197 certificate is not valid as per TRACES validation, the deductor should always insist upon an ITD system generated certificate having a unique 10 digit alpha numeric number. The entire procedure for this is explained in the advisory

The CBDT has issued Circular No. 25/2015 dated 31.12.2015 pointing out that pursuant to the judgement of the Delhi High Court in Nalwa Sons Investment Ltd 327 ITR 543 (Delhi) and the substitution of Explanation 4 of section 271 of the Act with prospective effect, it is now a settled position that prior to 1/4/2016, where the income tax payable on the total income as computed under the normal provisions of the Act is less than the tax payable on the book profits u/s 115JB of the Act, then penalty under 271(1)(c) of the Act is not attracted with reference to additions /disallowances made under normal provisions. The CBDT has clarified that in cases prior to 1.4.2016, if any adjustment is made in the income computed for the purpose of MAT, then the levy of penalty u/s 271(1)(c) of the Act, will depend on the nature of adjustment. The above settled position is to be followed in respect of section 115JC of the Act also. The CBDT has accordingly directed that no appeals may henceforth be filed on this ground and appeals already filed, if any, on this issue before various Courts/Tribunals may be withdrawn/not pressed upon

The CBDT has issued a Guidance Note dated 31.12.2015 to explain the manner of ensuring compliance with the reporting requirements provided in Rules 114F to 114H and Form 61B of the Income-tax Rules, 1962 which deal with Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and Common Reporting Standard (CRS)

The CBDT has issued Circular No. 24/2015 dated 31.12.2015 in which it has explained the law relating to recording of satisfaction note by the AO under sections 158BD/153C of the Income-tax Act. The CBDT has drawn attention to the verdict of the Supreme Court in CIT vs. Calcutta Knitwears 362 ITR 673 (SC) in which the stages at which the satisfaction note has to be prepared have been set out. The CBDT has further clarified that even if the AO of the searched person and the “other person” is one and the same, then also he is required to record his satisfaction as has been held by the Courts. The CBDT has also directed that pending litigation with regard to recording of satisfaction note under section 158BD /153C should be withdrawn/not pressed if it does not meet the guidelines laid down by the Apex Court

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has issued a grim press release stating that a high-level IRS officer has been held for alleged corruption

As part of the ‘name and shame’ campaign, the Income Tax department on Wednesday made public a third list of 18 tax defaulters including gold and diamond traders whose dues totalled around Rs 1,150 crore

The CBDT has issued Instruction No. 20/2015 dated 29.12.2015 in which it has issued clarifications on several issues in order to facilitate the conduct of scrutiny assessments in cases selected through Computer Aided Scrutiny Selection (‘CASS’). The CBDT has also stated that as far as the returns selected for scrutiny through CASS-2015 are concerned, two type of cases have been selected for scrutiny in the current Financial Year – one is ‘Limited Scrutiny’ and other is Complete Scrutiny’. The assessees concerned have duly been intimated about their cases falling either in ‘Limited Scrutiny’ or ‘Complete Scrutiny’ through notices issued under section 143(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (‘Act’). The procedure for handling ‘Limited Scrutiny’ cases has been explained in detail by the CBDT.