Direct Taxes

2. NEW DRPs constituted – Order No. 2/FT & TR/2013 dated 27-08-2013

The
CBDT has issued this order for Constitution of the Dispute Resolution
Panel in Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad
and Chennai with effect from 19-08-2013

3. CBDT Instruction
on unmatched TDS challans in Form 26AS–Instruction No. 11/2013 dated
27-08-2013 ( available on www.bcasonline. org)

4. Income-tax
(14th amendment) Rules, 2013– amendment in Rule 37BB and amendment to
Form 15CA and 15CB-Notification No. 67/2013 dated 2nd September, 2013.

In
terms of Notification No. 58/2013 dated 5th August, 2013, Income-tax
(12th amendment) Rules, 2013 were issued to amend Rule 37BB with effect
from 1st October, 2013. Rule 37BB is further amended vide Notification
No. 67/2013 which prescribes the procedure to be followed by a person
responsible for making a payment to a non-resident. Form 15CA i.e., the
form to be filled by the person making remittance and Form 15CB, a
certificate to be issued by the Chartered Accountant are amended.

CBDT
Instruction on procedure for adjustment of refund against
demand—Instruction No. 12/2013 dated 09-09-2013 ( available on
www.bcasonline.org)

Safe Harbour rules notified vide
Income-tax (16th Amendment) Rules, 2013–Notification No. 73/2013 dated
18th September, 2013 Transfer Pricing: Finance Ministry Press Release
Reg Safe Harbour Rules

The Ministry of Finance has issued a
press release stating that the Safe Harbour Rules have been finalized
after considering the comments of various stake holders. The significant
aspect is that in case of transactions in the nature of routine ITES
and ITS activities the earlier ceiling of Rs. 100 crore has been
removed. Transactions upto Rs. 500 crore have been provided safe harbour
margin of 20% and transaction above Rs. 500 crore have been provided
safe harbour margin of 22%. Similarly, the ceiling of Rs. 100 crore
provided for transactions in the nature of corporate guarantee has been
removed. Also, the rules provide for a time bound procedure for
determination of the eligibility of the assessee and the international
transactions. Any rejection of the option exercised by the assessee
shall be by way of a reasoned order passed after hearing the assessee.
The assessee shall have a right to file an objection with the
Commissioner against adverse finding regarding the eligibility. The
Commissioner shall thereafter decide about the validity of the option
exercised by the assessee.

7. Compulsory manual scrutiny
norms for scrutiny during F.Y. 2013-14 have been modified— Instruction
No. 13/2013 dated 20-09-13 ( available on www.bcasonline.org)

8.
Clarification received on 20-09-2013 from the ADIT (Systems), New Delhi
in respect of mandatory requirement of mentioning of Bank Account No.
& IFSC Code in case of Foreign Companies in ITR-6

On
representation, the ADIT (Systems), New Delhi, has clarified vide an
email to the Society that in ITR 6 in case of Foreign Companies not
having a bank account in India, in the space meant for Bank Account No.
put ‘999999999’ i.e. 9 times 9 and in IFSC Code put ‘NNNN0NNNNNN’ [the
fifth digit being ‘Zero’ and NOT alphabet ‘O’], in all cases where there
is no bank account available in India.

9. Board issues instructions regarding non-filers

To

Sir/Madam

Subject: Standard Operating Procedure for cases under Non-filers Monitoring System (‘NMS’)-regarding-

The
existing procedure for monitoring cases of ‘Non-Filers of IT Returns’
as identified by Director General of Income Tax (System) has been
examined by the board. It is felt that at present, cases of Non-Filers
are not being uniformly monitored by the Assessing Officers due to lack
of consistency in approach in dealing with such cases. Therefore, in
order to streamline processing of such cases and to ensure consistency
in monitoring NMS cases by the Assessing officers, the Board, hereby
lays down the following Standard Operating Procedure:

1. The
Assessing Officer should issue letter to the assessee with 15 days of
the case being assigned in NMS, seeking information about the return of
income flagged in NMS. Facility to generate letter has been provided in
the NMS module in i-taxnet.

2. If the letter is delivered, the Assessing Officer to capture the delivery date in the NMS module.

3.
If the letter is not delivered, the Assessing Officer should issue
letter to the alternate address of the assessee available in the Online
Monitoring System or any other address available with the Assessing
Officer through field enquiries or otherwise. All addresses used in IT
Return, AIR, CIB databases have been made available to the Assessing
Officer in the Online Monitoring System to assist the field formations
in identification of current address of the taxpayer.

4. If the
return is received, the assessing officer should capture the details in
AST within 15 days of filing of return, if the assessee informs that
paper return has already been filed which was not captured in AST, the
details of return should be entered in the AST within 15 days of
receiving such information. E-files returns will be automatically pushed
to NMS.

5. If no return is required to be filed in the case, (
non-resident etc.), the Assessing Officer should mark “No return is
required” and mention reason for the same in NMS which needs to be
confirmed by Range head.

6. If the Assessing Officer is not able
to serve the letter and identify the taxpayer, assessing officer should
mark the assessee “Assessee not traceable” in NMS which needs to be
confirmed by Range head.

7. In cases where the assessee has been
identified and no return has been filed within 30 days of the time
given in the letter, the Assessing Officer should consider initiation of
proceedings u/s 142(1)148 in AST.

8. The cases will be
processed every week by the Directorate of Systems and will be marked as
closed in NMS. If one of the following actions are taken for A.Yr.’s
2010-11, 2011-12, and 2012-13:

a) Details of return are available in AST

b) Notice u/s 142(1) or 148 has been issued in AST

c) “ No return is required” is marked by the Assessing Officer and confirmed by Range head.

I
am further directed to state that the above be brought to the notice of
all officers working under your jurisdiction for necessary and strict
compliance.