Amendment of section 253.
93. In section 253 of the Income-tax Act,-
(A) in sub-section (1), with effect from the 1st day of April, 2017,-
(i) in clause (a), after the word and figures “section 250,”, the word, figures and letter “section 270A,” shall be inserted;
(ii) in clause (c), after the words and figures “or under section 263”, the words, figures and letter “or under section 270A” shall be inserted;
(B) with effect from the 1st day of June, 2016,-
(a) sub-section (2A) and sub-section (3A) shall be omitted;
(b) for sub-section (4), the following sub-section shall be substituted with effect from the 1st day of June, 2016, namely:-
“(4) The Assessing Officer or the assessee, as the case may be, on receipt of notice that an appeal against the order of the Commissioner (Appeals), has been preferred under subsection (1) or sub-section (2) by the other party, may, notwithstanding that he may not have appealed against such order or any part thereof, within thirty days of the receipt of the notice, file a memorandum of cross-objections, verified in the prescribed manner, against any part of the order of the Commissioner (Appeals), and such memorandum shall be disposed of by the Appellate Tribunal as if it were an appeal presented within the time specified in sub-section (3).”;
(C) in sub-section (6), for the proviso, the following proviso shall be substituted and shall be deemed to have been substituted with effect from the 1st day of July, 2012, namely:-
“Provided that no fee shall be payable in the case of an appeal referred to in sub-section (2), or, sub-section (2A) as it stood before its amendment by the Finance Act, 2016, or, a memorandum of cross objections referred to in sub-section (4).”.
Notes on Clauses:
Clause 93 of the Bill seeks to amend section 253 of the Income tax Act relating to appeals to the Appellate Tribunal.
Sub-clause (A) of the said clause seeks to amend clauses (a) and (c) of sub-section (1) of the said section.
Clause (a) and clause (c) of sub-section (1) of the aforesaid section, inter alia, provides for an appeal to the Appellate Tribunal, against an order passed under section 271of the Income-tax Act.
It is proposed to amend the said clauses of sub-section (1) of section 253 so as to provide that an assessee aggrieved by an order passed by the Commissioner (Appeals) or the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner under section 270A, may also appeal to the Appellate Tribunal against such order.
The proposed amendments are consequential to the insertion of a new section 270A in the Income-tax Act which provides for levy of penalty for under-reporting and misreporting of income.
These amendments will take effect from 1st April, 2017 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to the assessment year 2017- 2018 and subsequent years.
Sub-clause (B) of the said clause seeks to omit sub-sections (2A) and (3A) and to substitute sub-section (4) of the said section.
Sub-section (2A) of the aforesaid section provides that the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner may, if he objects to any direction issued by the Dispute Resolution Panel under sub-section (5) of section 144C in respect of any objection filed on or after the 1st day of July, 2012, by the assessee under sub-section (2) of section 144C in pursuance of which the Assessing Officer has passed an order completing the assessment or reassessment, direct the Assessing Officer to appeal to the Appellate Tribunal against the order.
Further, sub-section (3A) of the said section provides that every appeal under sub-section (2A) shall be filed within sixty days of the date on which the order sought to be appealed against is passed by the Assessing Officer in pursuance of the directions of the Dispute Resolution Panel under sub-section (5) of section 144C.
It is proposed to omit the said sub-sections (2A) and (3A) to do away with the filing of such appeal by the Assessing Officer.
It is also proposed to consequently amend sub-section (4) of the aforesaid section so as to exclude therefrom the reference relating to direction of the Dispute Resolution Panel, sub-section (2A) and the order of the Assessing Officer (in pursuance of the directions of the Dispute Resolution Panel).
These amendments will take effect from 1st June, 2016.
Sub-clause (C) of the said section seeks to substitute the proviso to sub-section (6) of the said section so as to provide that no fee shall be payable in the case of an appeal under sub-section (2A) of the said section also, as it stood before the commencement of the Finance Act, 2016.
This amendment will take effect retrospectively from 1st July, 2012.
