Migration of PAN lying in Orphan jurisdiction to the jurisdictional AOs by Nodal officers appointed under CsIT(CO)

LETTER [F.NO. DIT(S)-I/AIS/NODAL/12-13], DATED 8-10-2012

Kind reference is invited to AIS instruction No. 80 and AST instruction no. 97 on the above subject(copies enclosed for ready reference - Annexures I & II) where in procedure for migration of PAN lying in old/orphan/defunct Jurisdiction to the Jurisdictional A.O through the Nodal officer/jurisdiction defined under CIT(CO) was circulated.

2. Transfer of e-filed returns to old/orphan/defunct Jurisdiction may lead to problem in timely processing of returns. Therefore the above procedure was devised to address the problem of processing of the e-filed returns received through the website in which PANs were to be migrated to AOs based on the correct AO codes of the PAN of the e-filer.

3. It is observed that some RCCs have not completed the work of defining the proper jurisdiction hierarchy of Nodal officer under the concerned CIT(CO) as per procedure laid down under AIS instruction no. 80. RCC wise status of defining of jurisdiction hierarchy is attached in the Annexure A.

4. Some RCCs, though, have appointed nodal officer, but have yet not finished/started the work of transfer of PANs from old/orphan/defunct jurisdiction to their present jurisdictional officers. Status of PANs lying in old/orphan/defunct jurisdiction is attached in the Annexure B.

5. There are certain jurisdictions like TRO, Special ranges (which do not exists as on date), TDS AO, CIB AO where PAN should not reside as no processing is done in such jurisdictions. It may therefore be ensured that PANs may be quickly transferred out from these jurisdictions to correct jurisdiction.

6. During the process of transfer of PAN, certain AST/AIS validations are checked and should validation fail then appropriate error messages are shown by the system. Generally these errors shown could be like Approval for Refund

Caging is pending for PAN, Refund verification is pending. Rectification return is under processing. Return is under processing for PAN, Refund Pending for Printing, Refund Approval Request is pending. Rectification return is under processing etc. for resolution of such errors, matter may be followed up by AOs with AST module at Directorate. Some other errors may be due to AIS validations such as PAN is under de-duplication process, PAN is already in transit etc. for which AO may be directed to refer the matter to AIS module at Directorate.

7. Considering the urgency of matter and in order to ensure smooth transfer of PANs & further processing, RCCs may please be directed to expedite the work of defining the Nodal hierarchy and transfer of PAN lying in old/orphan/defunct jurisdiction to the Nodal jurisdiction. The Tax Recovery Officer, TDS AOs, CIB AOs where any PAN should not be available, may also be directed to transfer the PANs lying under their jurisdiction to correct jurisdiction of the PANs or to the Nodal jurisdiction under CIT(CO). Nodal officer/CIT (CO) may transfer such PANs to correct jurisdiction at the earliest.

ANNEXURE - I

Migration of PANs lying in Old/Orphan Jurisdictions to Jurisdictional Assessessing Officers by Nodal Officers to be appointed under CsIT(CO)

AIS INSTRUCTION NO. 80 [F.NO.SW/3/25/98/01-DIT(S) - 19744 - 88], DATED 30-1-2012

Action : RCC/CIT(CO)/Nodal Officer/Jurisdictional CIT.

AST Instruction No. 97 on the above subject may please be referred to. The procedure for implementing the functionality of PAN transfer from 'Old'/Orphan jurisdiction to Nodal Jurisdiction, to be defined under the Commissioner of Income-tax (CO) as per AST instruction No. 97, in AIS application software, is as under:

(i)  As of now, Commissioner of Income-tax (Computer Operation) are not jurisdictional officers and no hierarchy of Range and Assessing Officers is present in jurisdictional hierarchy maintained through the AIS application software. Presence of CIT(CO) in jurisdictional hierarchy is necessary to enable PAN transfer in AIS. To facilitate the PAN transfer to/by Nodal Officer to be created under the CIT(CO), as per above AST instruction, a facility to create AO with type 'NO' has been provided in AIS application software.

Action : RCC

(ii)  The respective CIT(CO), in whose jurisdiction RCC falls, should be placed in jurisdiction hierarchy and a CIT code may be allotted by the RCC. Likewise, hierarchy of Range and AO i.e. Nodal officer should be created under CIT(CO). For example First, in each RCC a new Nodal jurisdiction hierarchy will be created by the RCC by creating CIT code for the CIT(CO), Range code for Range under CIT code defined for CIT(CO), and AO code for Nodal Officer with AO Type as 'NO' and Popular Name as 'NODAL OFFICER'. Range with Range Type 'R' should only be defined. Only one Nodal Officer i.e. AO with AO Type as 'NO' may be created per RCC. For example, the format of the Nodal AO code for RCC Delhi will be 'DEL-NO-I-I',

Action : RCC

(iii)  No user is allowed to be attached with the Range created under CIT(CO) or Range under which AO type with 'NO' is created.

Action : RCC

(iv)  When more than one RCCs fall under one CIT(CO) than a dummy CIT may be created in respect of the CIT(CO) in each RCC which are under his supervision. For example, dummy CIT may be created in RCC, Rohtak, as 'CIT(CO) Chandigarh at Rohtak', Likewise dummy CsIT may be created in Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Amritsar for CIT(CO), Chandigarh under whose supervision these RCC work.

Action : RCC

(v)  To enable the work by a CIT(CO) in different RCCs dummy user IDs like '9XXXXX' may be created in each RCC taking the user of CIT(CO) and assigning the application role AR_CIT_CO.

Action : RCC

(vi)  The Jurisdiction of all the Ranges which are marked as 'OLD' by marketing Old_flg as 'Y', are to be attached/linked to CIT(CO) in AIS hierarchy by changing their CIT code to the code of the CIT(CO). Only those Range jurisdictions can be brought under CIT(CO) which are marked as 'OLD' i.e. their Old_flg is equal to 'Y'. Before changing CIT code and attaching an old Range to CIT(CO), it is to be verified by the RCC that all the corresponding AOs defined under the Range are also marked as 'Old' i.e. Old_flg is equal to 'Y'.

Action : RCC

(vii)  Once range/AO is brought under CIT(CO) then Old_flg should not be removed.

Action : RCC

(viii)  There may be cases where some AO under the Range are marked as 'OLD' and it is not possible to mark the Range 'OLD' and therefore attach the Range (having some 'OLD' and some Current Jurisdictional AOs defined under it) to CIT(CO) as these Ranges are defined under an existing and working CIT. In such type of cases, no change should be undertaken in the existing hierarchy and source CIT should make transfer order for the PANs belonging to old jurisdiction to transfer the PANs to Nodal Officer, using Push via Source Facility.

Action : Jurisdictional CsIT

(ix)  A new application role AR_NODAL_XFER has been created to that it can be assigned to the users attached with Nodal Jurisdiction which has been created with AO Type 'NO'. In order to enable the work by a Nodal, Officer, appointed in compliance of para 6.1 of AST instruction no 97, his user ID has to be attached with jurisdiction created with AO Type 'NO' after assigning the AR_NODAL_XFER role.

Action : RCC

(x)  Application Users having application role AR_CIT_CO and newly created role of AR_NODAL_XFER are required to be inserted and maintained in the jurisdiction hierarchy by the RCC. The user attached with the hierarchy, of CIT(CO) and Nodal Officer will not have full functions of CIT/Assessing Officer but will have limited role, restricted only to work in respect of PAN transfer in AIS and Return view in AST for deciding the actual jurisdiction of the PAN.

Action : RCC/CIT(CO)/Nodal Officer

(xi)  After above actions have been performed by the RCC then the Source CIT(CO) may make the transfer order and transfer the PANs, lying under him in 'Old' Ranges/AOs to the Jurisdictional AOs directly or transfer the PANs to Nodal jurisdiction through PAN transfer functionality available to source officers i.e. Push via source CIT.

Action : CIT(CO)

(xii)  Nodal Officer can also make a request for within RCC transfer of "Individual PANs only" for PANs lying in 'Old' jurisdiction, including PANs which will become now available under the CIT(CO), through existing PAN transfer functionality i.e. Pull via Destination. Eligible PANs will be transferred to Nodal Officer via existing facility of automatic transfer in 10 days.

Action : Nodal Officer

(xiii)  Once PANs are identified and brought under Nodal jurisdiction, Nodal Officer or CIT(CO) may now transfer those PANs to jurisdictional AO depending on the actual jurisdiction of PAN. Nodal officer can transfer the PANs across CIT, which is not available to AOs in normal course.

Action : CIT(CO)/Nodal Officer

(xiv)  Required screen used in AIS PAN transfer have been made available to the Nodal officer and CIT(CO) to transfer the PANs to the jurisdictional AO.

Action : CIT(CO)/Nodal Officer

(xv)  RCC should not grant any other role(s) to the users having application role as AR_CIT_CO or AR_NODAL_XFER and attached to Nodal hierarchy.

Action : RCC

(xvi)  User who is assigned the work of CIT(CO)/Nodal Officer may be allowed to work in the Nodal Jurisdiction by creating additional users for them, like '9XXXXX', for their regular user IDs and application role AR_CIT_CO and AR_NODAL_XFER may be assigned to these additional users. No other application role is to be assigned to these additional users when attached to the nodal hierarchy and having AR_CIT_CO or AR_NODAL_XFER roles.

Action : RCC

(xvii)  Changes in Transfer Order Details Screen (AMXORDER) have also been made. On this screen, issuing authority will have two more new options i.e. CIT(CO) and NODAL OFFICER along with existing options. User having either of these roles can make transfer order of PANs (both within and across RCC) lying in nodal jurisdiction depending on their requirement and therefore user should select appropriate issuing authority.

Action : CIT(CO)/Nodal Officer

2. Respective RCCs, Nodal officers, CsIT(CO) and Jurisdictional CsIT are requested to please complete the above work of transfer of PANs to correct jurisdictional AOs in a time bound manner so that PANs lying in old/orphan/defunct jurisdictions are transferred to correct territorial jurisdictions.

3. In case of any clarification or assistance in the matter, RCCs may contract Sh. Ravi Dutt Sharma, Assistant Director (Systems) on Tel No. 0120-2770404 at, Directorate of Income Tax (Systems).

ANNEXURE - II

Migration of e-Returns (PANs) lying in Orphan Jurisdictions to Jurisdictional AOs by Nodal Officers to be appointed under CsIT (Co)

AST - INSTRUCTION NO. 97 [F.NO. CIT/OSD/AIS/2011-12], DATED 28-9-2011

The e-filed returns received on website are migrated to Assessing Officers based on the AO Codes attached to PAN of the e-filer under AIS database. An analysis of the AO-codes of PANs of e-filed returns filed on e-filing server from time to time reveals that :

(a)  No officer (identified by Employee code) is posted in some of these jurisdictions. These non-existent/orphan jurisdictions, e.g. Old-jurisdictions before cadre restructuring, special ranges, and Suspense CIT-charges etc., do appear in system hierarchy, but no officer is ordinarily posted against them as these jurisdictions are non-existent in reality as of now. However, some PANs under AIS are still linked to these jurisdictions. There are 5725 such AO jurisdictions and 27,19,005 PANs are lying in them.

(b)  Some of the AO-Codes against which, though an officer is posted in reality as well as in system hierarchy , are not ordinarily supposed to process the Income Tax e-returns, e.g. TDS-AO, Exemption-AO,TRO, CIB-AO etc.

Therefore, the e-Returns filed against these PANs would not be available either for processing or for scrutiny by the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer.

2. In order to address the related issues and to offer a solution, a committee of senior officers was constituted in Directorate of Income Tax (Systems). This instruction is issued on the basis of recommendations of the said Committee.

3. Most of the non-existent jurisdictions referred to in (a) above, were created as temporary measure or pertaining to period prior to cadre restructuring should have been abolished (after migrating all PANs to Jurisdictional AOs) soon after they lost existence in reality. On account of their continued existence, the Jurisdictional AO may not acquire them using the 'Pull' Facility of PAN Migration on one hand and on the other hand, as these Orphan jurisdictions are not manned by any officer, they cannot be transferred using 'Push' facility of PAN Migration. No processing as well as scrutiny of these e-returns can be undertaken as they are unmanned charges.

4. These PANs continue to remain in these Orphan Jurisdictions, their count also is increasing on account of new PAN allotments. Normally, a marking is done by RCCs in all OLD jurisdictions, so that there is only Transfer-out of PANs and no Transfer-in allowed. However, this marking has not been done in respect of some of the OLD Jurisdictions.

5. Actual count of PANs and e-returns lying in these jurisdictions is found to be quite large. Moreover, PANs lying in these jurisdictions can be pulled through Automatic PAN Pull facility, not only by Jurisdictional AOs, but also by elements having intention to issue fraudulent refunds, on account of no transferor AO in place, who can create objection.

6. Therefore, an urgent necessity is being felt to man these fictitious jurisdictions through a common Nodal Officer from the RCC, under the respective CsIT(CO). Following plan of action is envisaged for the CIT(CO) in respect of e-filed returns and PANs lying in orphan charges:

Identification of Orphan Charges and Appointment of Nodal Officer

6.1 These Orphan Jurisdictions may be identified in consultation with field formation. List of Jurisdictional AO Codes, to which no employee code is linked may be a good starting point. Some RCCs have marked 'OLD' flag to these Jurisdictions. A representative list of such AO jurisdictions and PAN count therein is also uploaded on itaxnet under file name

OLD JURISDICTIONS WITH PAN COUNT.xls.

The CsIT (CO) shall appoint a Nodal Officer to undertake PAN Migration activity within the RCC.

Migration of PANs from Orphan Charges to Nodal Officer

6.2 Once these Jurisdictional AO Codes are identified, all PANs in these jurisdictions to be migrated to a common destination (within the RCC) to be manned by the Nodal Officer. The PAN count in the Source AO codes of OLD jurisdictions has to be brought down to NIL.

'Push' Migration of PANs by Nodal Officer to Jurisdictional AOs

6.3 The Nodal officer should identify the Jurisdictional AO and transfer the PANs to them. This decision may be easy, if PAN data is analysed alongwith the source of income or other data as per e-return, if any filed or any old paper return in the AST data of relevant PAN. The MS-Excel sheet containing e-return data of PANs for A.Y. 2011-12 for vacant AO-Codes has been uploaded on the itaxnet under file name NODAL_OFFICER_E_RETURN_PANS_IN_JURISDICTIONS_WITH_BLANK_EMP_NO _010411_310711.xls (Data count 48959) giving particulars such as Address, ITR Type, Sources of Income, Residential status, Employer Name etc. so as to help the Nodal Officer to identify the Jurisdictional AOs.

PANs without Returns

6.4 The PANs, where jurisdiction is not identifiable merely on the basis on PAN data, may be transferred to Jurisdictional AO as per territorial Jurisdiction.

Migration of e-returns from regular/manned jurisdictions

7. The e-return data for A.Y. 2011-12 also reveals that some of the AO-Codes against which, though an officer is posted in reality as well as in system hierarchy, are not supposed to process the Income Tax e-returns, e.g. TDS-AO, Exemption-AO, TRO, CIB-AO etc. In case these AOs notice that they are custodian of any PAN, not supposed to be in their jurisdiction, the AO should identify the Jurisdictional AO and transfer the same to him. This decision can be based on the PAN data alongwith the sources of income and other information as per e-return. The MS-Excel sheet containing these PANs and corresponding AO-Codes has been uploaded on the itaxnet under file name FIELD_AO_E_RETURN_PANS_IN_JURISDICTIONS_WITH_EMP_NO_010411_310711.xls (Data count 18908 ) giving particulars such as Address, ITR Type, Sources of Income, Residential status, Employer Name etc. so as to help the AOs identify the Jurisdictional AOs.

Action by CsIT(CO)

8. The CsIT(CO) are also expected to keep a close watch at the count of PANs with Nodal officer and more importantly the count of e-returns awaiting some action by Jurisdictional AOs. It should also be ensured that no actions like processing of returns, issuance of refunds etc. are performed by these Nodal Officers. The CsIT (CO) shall communicate the AO Code of Nodal Officer and his contact details to the Field formation covered by relevant RCC and also to the DGIT (Systems), so that RCC wise list is made available on itaxnet.

Action by AIS/AST:

9. AIS and AST modules to create special roles and checks to ensure that Nodal Officers only do return view and PAN Migration work.

This instruction is issued with prior approval of Chairman, CBDT. A soft copy of this instruction has been placed at itaxnet.

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