NEW
RETURN FORMS FOR ASSESSMENT YEAR 2009-10 MATTERS CONNECTED THERETO
CIRCULAR
NO. 03 / 2009
DATED
The Central Board of Direct Taxes have, vide notification S.O. No.866 (E) dated 27th, March, notified the following new forms for Assessment Year 2009-10 :-
(i) ITR-1 return of income for individuals having income from
salary/ pension/ family pension and not having any other income except income by
way of interest chargeable to income-tax under the head Income from other sources;
(ii) ITR-2 return of income for Individuals and Hindu Undivided
Families (HUFs) not having any income under the head Profits or gains of business
or profession;
(iii) ITR-3 return of income for Individuals and HUFs being
partners in firms and not carrying out business or profession under any proprietorship;
(iv) ITR-4 return of income for individual and HUFs having
proprietory business or profession;
(v) ITR-5 combined form for return of income and fringe benefits
for Firms/ Association of Persons / Body of Individuals;
(vi) ITR-6 combined form for return of income and fringe benefits
for companies (other than companies claiming exemption under section 11;
(vii) ITR-7 combined form for return of income and fringe benefits
for persons including companies required to furnish return under section 139(4A)
or section 139(4B) or section 139(4C) or section 139(4D);
(viii) ITR-8 stand alone form for return of fringe benefits
for persons who are not required to furnish return of income but are required to
furnish return of fringe benefits.
The above return forms are available at http//www.incometaxindia.gov.in.
2. Rule 12 of the Income Tax Rules,
1962 (hereinafter referred to as the said rule) provides for the form and the
manner in which the income tax return is required to be furnished.
3. Sub-rule (3) of the said rule provides that return of income/
fringe benefits can be furnished in any of the following manners:-
(i)
furnishing the return in a paper form;
(ii)
furnishing the return electronically under digital signature;
(iii)
transmitting the data in the return electronically and thereafter submitting
the verification of the return in Form ITR-V;
(iv) furnishing
a bar-coded return in a paper form.
4.
Sub-rule (5) of the said rule provides that the return of income/ fringe
benefits for assessment year 2008-09 or any earlier assessment years shall be furnished
in the appropriate form as applicable in that assessment year.
5
In exercise of the powers conferred by section 139D of the Income Tax Act,1961
(hereinafter referred to as the Act), ( read with clause (eebb) of sub-section
(2) of section 295 of the Act, sub-rule (3) of the said rule provides that-
(a)
it shall be mandatory for the firms to whom provisions of section 44AB are
applicable and for the companies (other than the companies claiming exemption under
section 11) to furnish the return of income/ fringe benefits electronically in the
manner mentioned at (ii) or (iii) of paragraph 3;
(b)
the return of income/ fringe benefits in Form ITR-7 by charitable/ religious
trusts, political parties and other non-profit is to be furnished in the paper form
only; and
(c)
all other taxpayers have the option to furnish the return of income/ fringe
benefits in any of the manner mentioned in paragraph 3.
6.
In exercise of the powers conferred by section 139C of the Income Tax Act,1961
(hereinafter referred to as the Act), read with clause (eeba) of sub-section (2)
of section 295 of the Act, sub-rule (2) of the said rule provides that the returns
required to be furnished in above mentioned Forms (except in ITR-7) shall not be
accompanied by any attachments/ annexures. Thus, taxpayers should not enclose with
these return forms any statement showing the computation of income or tax, copies
of balance-sheet, profit and loss account, TDS/ TCS certificates, proof of payment
of advance tax or self-assessment tax. However, these documents shall have to be
produced before the Assessing Officer on demand by him. The Chief Commissioners
of Income-tax/ Commissioners of Income-tax must ensure that documents if any, annexed
with these returns or Form ITR-V are detached at the time of receiving these returns/
ITR-V and are returned to the taxpayers immediately.
7.
Following clarifications are also issued in respect of certain issues arising
from furnishing the returns in the above mentioned forms:
(i) An assessee should obtain the
report of audit from an accountant under section 44AB of the Act on or before the
due date of the furnishing of the return and should fill out the relevant columns
of the return forms on the basis of such report. However, the report of audit should
not be attached with the return or furnished separately any time before or after
the due date. The assessee should retain the report with himself. If called for
by any income-tax authority during any proceeding under the Act, it shall be incumbent
upon the assessee to furnish/produce the same in original. No penalty under section
271B shall be initiated or levied for not furnishing the tax audit report on or
before the due date. However, if the audit report has not been obtained before the
due date, provisions of section 271B shall continue to be attracted.
(ii) These returns are not to be
accompanied with any other document including any statutory form or report of audit
(other than the report under section 92E), which is otherwise required to be furnished
before the due date or along with the return for making any claim. The provisions
of the law shall be deemed to have been complied with in respect of the requirement
of the filing of the attachments or documents or reports along with the return.
No penalty shall be initiated/ levied for not furnishing such documents if such
documents were otherwise obtained before the specified date, if any, provided in
the statute. All these documents should be retained by the taxpayers. If called
for by any income-tax authority during any proceeding under the Act, it shall be
incumbent upon the assessee to furnish/produce the same, in original.
(iii) The report as required under
section 92E of the Income-tax Act should not be furnished along with the return.
However, it should be separately furnished before the date specified in rule 10E.
8.
As stated in paragraph 5 above, it is mandatory for a company and a firm
liable to audit under section 44AB of the Act to furnish the return electronically.
However, electronic filing is optional for other categories of tax-payers. The e-Return
has to be furnished at http://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in. Further, it is advisable,
though not mandatory, to use a digital signature for electronically furnishing the
return. If the return is electronically furnished under a digital signature, the
tax-payer is not required to furnish the Form ITR-V with the Income-tax Department
as a follow up to the electronic transmitting of data in the return. Similarly,
any return which is digitally signed by the assessee and filed with an E-Return
Intermediary (ERI), who, in turn, submits the return to the Income Tax Department
under his digital signature, will also be deemed to have been filed under a digital
signature of the assessee and no Form ITR-V is required to be submitted. In such
cases, the date of electronic transmission of the data in the return shall be the
date of furnishing the return.
9.
However, if the assessee does not use a digital signature for electronically
transmitting the data, he is required to follow-up the electronic transmission of
the data by submitting the Form ITR-V with the Income-tax Department as verification
of the electronic filing of the return. In such a case, the date of transmitting
the data electronically will be the date of furnishing the return if the Form ITR-V
is furnished within thirty days after the date of transmitting the data electronically.
In case, Form ITR-V, is furnished after the above mentioned period, it will be deemed
that the return in respect of which the Form ITR-V has been filed was never furnished
and it shall be incumbent on the assessee to electronically re-transmit the data
and follow it up by submitting the new Form ITR-V within thirty days.
10.
Since the Form ITR-V is bar-coded, assessee is advised not to fold the same
and post it in A4 size envelope. The assessee shall furnish the Form ITR-V to the
Income-tax Department by mailing it to Income Tax Department CPC, Post Box No
- 1, Electronic City Post Office, Bangalore - 560100, Karnataka within thirty days
after the date of transmitting the data electronically. The Post Box shall deliver
all the Form ITR-V to the Centralized Processing Centre (CPC) of the Income-tax
Department in
11.
All returns filed electronically shall be processed, on priority basis, only
at the Centralized Processing Centre of the Income-tax Department in
12.
Since no documents are required to be furnished along with the return of
income, the credit for Tax Deducted at Source (TDS), Tax Collected at Source (TCS),
advance tax and self assessment tax (hereinafter collectively referred to as pre-paid
taxes) shall be allowed on the basis of information relating to pre-paid taxes
furnished in the relevant schedules of the return forms subject to matching with
the information provided by the deductor, collector and the banks. Therefore, tax
payers are advised to ensure that the information relating to pre-paid taxes is
complete in all respect and correct. With a view to enabling the matching of information
relating to pre-paid taxes furnished by the tax payers, the Income-tax Department
has created a system of Unique Transaction Number (UTN) and Challan Identification
Number (CIN). Assesses must ensure that the deductor and the collector have provided
them with separate UTNs in respect of each TDS and TCS transaction. Similarly, they
must also ensure that the UTN for every TDS and TCS claim in the return is correctly
filled in. Similarly, they must ensure that they correctly fill in the CIN in respect
of payments of advance tax and self-assessment tax. Further, no disallowance of
claim for pre-paid taxes shall be made by the Assessing Officer only on the ground
that the TDS/TCS certificates and challans have not been furnished along with the
return of income or Form ITR-V.
13.
The return of income in Form No. ITR-1 to Form No.ITR-8 for Assessment Year
2009-10 have been notified which require, amongst other, the quoting of the relevant
UTN for every TDS or TCS claim made by the assessee. Therefore, the credit for any
TDS or TCS claim will be allowed, amongst others, if the assessee quotes the relevant
UTN for every TDS and TCS claim and the said UTN matches with the UTN in the database
of the Income Tax Department. With a view to enabling the processing of returns
relating to financial year 2007-08 (Assessment Year 2008-09) and enabling the assessee
to receive the UTN for TDS and TCS transactions in the Financial Year 2008-09 (relevant
for Assessment Year 2009-10), the following procedure will be followed: -
(a)
National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) shall assign an UTN for every
TDS and TCS transaction record in Financial Year 2007-08 and 2008-09 reported in
the quarterly returns received by it.
(b)
NSDL will create a facility to e-mail the UTN file to the deductor if the
e-mail address of the deductor is available with them. In addition, they will also
create a facility for the deductor to download the UTN file.
(c)
Upon receipt of the UTN, the deductor will inform the UTN to the deductee.
In cases where the UTNs are available to the deductor before the issue of the TDS/TCS
certificate to the deductee, the deductor will indicate the UTNs on the certificate.
However, if the UTNs are not available to the deductor before the issue of TDS/TCS
certificate, the deductor shall, subsequently, send a consolidated statement of
all TDS/TCS transactions indicating the UTNs.
(d)
NSDL will also create a facility to allow independent viewing of the UTNs
by the deductee. As a result, even if the UTNs are not received by the deductee
from the deductor, they can be directly obtained from the NSDL database and quoted
while making claims of TDS and TCS in the return of income.
14.
In the past, instances have come to the notice of the Board that in spite
of specific directions contained in the Instructions for filling the return forms,
the practice of accepting returns, along with annexures is still continuing. Tax-payers
have in the past also complained that staff and officials in certain stations are
refusing to accept returns which are not accompanied with annexures. These practices
are against the expressed policy of the Government and are not in consonance with
the legal provisions. Therefore, it is emphasized that Chief Commissioners of Income
Tax must ensure strict compliance with the provisions of law. It may be reiterated
that all annexures accompanying the income tax return forms should be detached and
returned to the tax payers by the receiving official.
15.
The contents of this circular are for strict compliance by all officers and
staff of the Income Tax Department. Any violation by the officers and staff of Income
Tax Department will be seriously viewed.
CAclubindia
