Furnishing of Income Tax Return 2009-2010 - CBDT Clarified certain issues

By issuing circular no. 3, CBDT has clarified various issues connected to return to be filing for the assessment year 2009-2010 as follows:

(Extracts)

Regarding annexure less return:

1.     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.

2.     However, these documents shall have to be produced before the Assessing Officer on demand by him.

3.     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.

Regarding Audit Report:

1.     Audit Report is not required to be submitted along with the return.

2.     Report under section 92E is otherwise required to be furnished before the due date or along with the return for making any claim.

3.     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.

4.     No penalty shall be imposed where audit report and other documents obtained but not furnished with the return.

Regarding Electronic Filing of Return

1.     It is mandatory for a company and a firm liable to audit under section 44AB of the Act to furnish the return electronically.

2.     However, electronic filing is optional for other categories of tax-payers.

Regarding ITR-V

1.      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.

2.     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.

3.     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.

4.     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.

Manner of sending ITR-V through post

1.     Since the Form ITR-V is bar-coded, assessee is advised not to fold the same and post it in A4 size envelope.

2.     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.

3.     The Post Box shall deliver all the Form ITR-V to the Centralized Processing Centre (CPC) of the Income-tax Department in Bangalore.

4.     Upon receipt of the Form ITR-V, the CPC shall send an e-mail acknowledging the receipt of Form ITR-V. The e-mail shall be sent in due course to the e-mail address furnished by the tax-payers in his return.

5.     No Form ITR-V shall be received in any other office of the Income-tax Department or in any other manner.

Regarding Credit of TDS / TCS

1.     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.

2.     Therefore, tax payers are advised to ensure that the information relating to pre-paid taxes is complete in all respect and correct.

3.     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).

4.     Assesses must ensure that the deductor and the collector have provided them with separate UTNs in respect of each TDS and TCS transaction.

5.     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.

However regarding UTN, CBDT issued another clarification as:

The Central Board of Direct Taxes have further decided that the Notification No. 31 of 2009 dated 25.3.2009 amending or substituting Rules 30, 31, 31A and 31AA of the Income Tax Rules, 1962 shall be kept in abeyance for the time being.

Taxpayers filing their income tax returns for assessment year (AY) 2009-10, or any other earlier AY, may continue to file their returns without mentioning the Unique Transaction Number (UTN) as required under the said Notification. The filing of such returns shall be treated as valid and in compliance to the requirements under section 139 of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

Further, the date from which the Notification No. 31 / 2009 shall become applicable on tax deducted at source (TDS) or tax collected at source (TCS) and deposited during the current financial year shall be notified by the Central Board of Direct Taxes subsequently.

All deductors / collectors of TDS / TCS may continue to deposit their TDS / TCS and file their quarterly TDS / TCS returns as per procedure existing prior to issuance of Notification No.31 / 2009 dated 25.3.2009.