Amendment of section 33ABA.
16. In section 33ABA of the Income-tax Act, in sub-section (2), for the words “and the assessee furnishes, along with his return of income,”, the words, figures and letters “before the specified date referred to in section 44AB and the assessee furnishes by that date” shall be substituted.
Notes on Clauses:
Clause 16 of the Bill seeks to amend section 33ABA of the Income-tax Act relating to Site Restoration Fund.
Sub-section (1) of the said section provides that if an assessee has deposited with a special account maintained by assessee for the purposes specified in a scheme approved by Government of India or deposits any amount in Site Restoration account opened by assessee in accordance with, and for the purposes specified in, a scheme framed by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, then assessee shall be allowed a deduction of lesser of the aggregate amount so deposited by the assessee or twenty per cent. of the profits of such business computed under the head “Profits and gains from Business or Profession” before making any deduction under the said section.
Sub-section (2) of the said section provides that deduction under sub-section (1) of section 33ABA will not be admissible to assessee unless the accounts of the business or profession of the assessee for the previous year relevant to the assessment year for which the deduction is claimed have been audited by an accountant as defined in the Explanation below sub-section (2) of section 288 and the assessee furnishes, along with his return of income, the report of such audit in the prescribed form duly signed and verified by such accountant.
It is proposed to amend sub-section (2) of the said section to provide that deduction under sub-section (1) shall not be admissible to assessee unless the accounts of the business or profession of the assessee for the previous year relevant to the assessment year for which deduction are claimed have been audited by an accountant as defined in the Explanation below sub-section (2) of section 288 before the specified date referred to section 44AB (i.e., one month prior to the due date for filing of return under sub-section (1) of section 139) and the report of such audit is furnished by that date.
This amendment will take effect from 1st April, 2020 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to the assessment year 2020-2021 and subsequent assessment years.
