- The Principal Commissioners/ Commissioners of Income Tax are delegated with the authority to accept/reject applications that do not exceed Rs. 10 Lakhs in the year of assessment. The Chief Principal Commissioners/ Chief Commissioners are delegated with the authority to accept or reject applications that exceed Rs.10 Lakhs but below Rs. 50 Lakhs; those applications that exceed Rs. 50 Lakhs shall go to decision of the Board.
- Condonation applications that are beyond 6 years older than the assessment year shall not be received. Also, an application that is received should be processed within 6 months from the date of receipt.
- In case there is a refund claim approved by the Court of Law, then the period prior to that where there was any processing that was imminent will not be taken into consideration, provided the refund claim application is being filed within 6 months.
- The authority to accept/reject the applications that are within monetary limits, delegated to the respective officers, will be subjected to the following conditions:
- While processing the application, according to Section 119(2)(b), there will be severe checking to ensure that the claim made is genuine and correct, and not a false one.
- The officer in charge of checking will be assisting the Jurisdictional Officer towards holding a strict scrutiny to ensure the genuineness of the claim, under the provisions of the relevant Act.
- Applications submitted late for additional claim of refunds can be given on condonation basis. The authority to accept/reject them lies in the hands of the delegated officers, if the following conditions are satisfied:
- Under the provisions of the Act, the income of the applicant/assessee cannot be determined by any other person.
- Those claims that are submitted late will not be given access to any interest.
- If the refund claim has been applied in case there has been excess deduction/payment of tax or advance payment/deduction in tax.
- In case the applicant has invested in 8% Savings Bond issued rightfully by the Government of India and has chosen for accumulative interest, and as a result received the entire amount on the date of maturity, but shows yearly income, then in that case too, the entire tax amount at the time of maturity will be held, and no such refund claims can be filed.
These guidelines were sent through a circular, which were meant to be applicable for all applications that were pending even on the date of the circular issue. The circular also stated that the Board had been vested with all the power to interrogate the orders, irrespective of being passed out or not by the principal authorities for further guidance and that no appeals against them shall be entertained.
