Tax audit report (TAR) Can obtain and file TAR by 30th November 2014 – what about ROI?

[CA DEV KUMAR KOTHARI]

Relevant links and provisions:

Sections 44AB, 92E ,119 and 139 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (ITA or the Act).

Order Under Section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Extension of due date for furnishing audit report:

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)  has extended  the due date for obtaining and furnishing of the report of audit under Sections 44AB, popularly known as Tax Audit Report (TAR)  for Assessment Year 2014-15 in case of assessees who are not required to furnish report under section 92E of the Act from 30th day of September, 2014 to 30th November, 2014.

TAR filed  up to 24^th July 2014 even in old forms shall be treated as valid tax audit report furnished under Sections 44AB of the Act and any revised TAR or addenda to TAR is not required to be filed.

What about report obtained but not furnished?

The circular is silent about reports obtained by 24.07.14 but not furnished by that date. In such cases it will be hardship on assessee to obtain a fresh report in amended forms.

It is desirable that such reports should also be accepted.

Addendum to TAR in old form can be good idea:

It is suggested that by clarification it can be provided that in case an assessee has already obtained TAR in pre amended forms, he can obtain an addendum from tax auditor for furnishing of additional information as required under revised TAR. This should be applied to all cases where report has been obtained, whether furnished or not.

Section 92E cases due date is 30^th November:

In case an assessee is required to obtain and furnish report u/s 92E, the due date for furnishing the ROI as per S. 139 is 30^th November, 2014. Therefore, in such cases due date for  furnishing TAR is already 30^th November,2014. This is the reason that the present circular apply to cases of assessee who are not required to obtain and furnish report under section 92E.

What about due date for furnishing of return of income (ROI):

It is clear that the due date for furnishing return must be in tandem with due date for obtaining TAR. This is the reason that present circular is applicable only to non S. 92E cases where due date is already 30^th November,2014.

When extended time is allowed to obtain and furnish TAR, it is desirable that due date under section 139 of the Act , for furnishing ROI should also be allowed. This is because without obtaining TAR, it may not be possible to file ROI.

In fact it is desirable to place last date for furnishing ROI at least few days (say fifteen days) after the due date for furnishing TAR.

The Board can adopt a practice to cover all incidental matters in one notification or circular for convenience of tax officers and tax payers.

(Author hopes that he has not missed any relevant notification regarding due date for ROI)

Circular- can be emailed to all officers and tax payers :

Below the circular we find a list of concerned senior  officers who are requested to circulate the circular amongst all concerned officers in his jurisdiction.

In case of fast communication by way of emails, it is desirable that such important circulars can be circulated through email to all concerned officers of department.

Such circulars can also be circulated through emails to all taxpayers whose email id is available to the department.

Discussions to this article

[CA.Tarun Agarwalla]

sir

The due date of filling income tax retruns was provided u/s 139(1). At the same time the due date for obtaining as well as furnishing tax audit report u/s 44AB is specified date. The specified date is defined as same as per 139(1) specific para.Now the notification that is issued u/s 119 to which this article is intended is specifying to extend the date in general (subject to section 92E).My doubt in mind is can a notification of this kind is not free from defect where it have not mention its exact replacement in the part of the particular provision where it needs to impact. I know the purpose is important than the form. At the same time in a taxing statue it is always desirable to scrutinise any provision in technically also.

[DEV KUMAR KOTHARI]

The Circular is specific for obtaining and furnishing TAR. Circular says ",,,,hereby extends the due date for obtaining and furnishing of the report of audit under section 44AB of the Act..."

Therefore, by this circular 'due date' u/s 139.1 has not been extended. Though it is desirable.

[Muralidhar Sanjeevi]

Sec 44AB states that "every person shall.........get his accounts .......audited .......before the specified date". Specified date is defined in Sec 44AB to mean "the due date for furnishing the return of income under sub section (1) of sec 139"

Thus the scheme of the Act is to link the specified date u/s 44AB with the Due Date u/s 139(1). The Act does not envisage the "Specified Date" to be different from the "Due Date". If this be so, does the CBDT have the power to issue a notification which fixes the Specified Date different from the Due Date. It appears from the Scheme of the Act that the two dates are required to be one and the same.

Hence in all fairness, CBDT ought to clarify that the Due Date u/s 139(1) for the cases covered under the recent notification to be 30th Nov 2014.