Amendment of Rule 37A- an analysis and suggestions to avoid frequent amendments.

[C.A. DEV KUMAR KOTHARI]

Vide NOTIFICATION NO. 11/2009  Dated: January 21, 2009 the Income - Tax Rules 1962 has

been amended  through the Income-tax (Fourth Amendment) Rules, 2009. The purpose is to amend the Rule 37A the amendment brought in are as follows:

2. In the rule 37A-

(a) for the words "shall send within fourteen days from the end of the quarter", the words "shall send on or before the 15th July, the 15th October, the 15th January in respect of the first three quarters of the financial year and on or before the 15th June following the last quarter of the financial year" shall be substituted.

(b) the proviso shall omitted.

 The above amendment shall come into force with effect from the 1st day of April, 2009.

Analysis of Rules 37A:

The Rules before amendment and after amendment is analyzed  in  the  table attached.  A critical  analysis of old and new Rule 37A shows that  in nut shell that   by this amendment, practically one extra day has been allowed for submission of return.

Earlier amendment in Income Tax Rules  during 2009:

We find that just two days prior to this amendment another amendment was made vide the income Tax Rules (Third Amendment) Rules 2009 on 19.01.2009 to amend the Depreciation Schedule in the I.T.Rules. Before that, two more** amendments were brought into after the commencement of new year 2009. This shows that how frequently amendments are brought.

     Income Tax - Notification No. 02/2009-All dated -05-01-2009

     Income-tax (2nd Amendment) Rules, 2009- amends in rule 5D and 5E - Conditions under section 35(1)(ii) and 35(1)(iii)

     Income Tax - Notification No. 01/2009-All dated -05-01-2009

     Income-tax (First Amendment) Rules, 2009 - Prescribed conditions for the purposes of sub-clause (iii) of clause (B) of sub-section (2) of section 115WB.

The practice of frequent amendments should be avoided and amendment should preferably be in a planned manner and not just to make amendment frequently. Frequent amendment causes hardship to keep track of such amendment not by assesses, their consultants but also by revenue officers who have to implement the same.