Procedure for transfer and acknowledgement of assessment records and arrear demand. - Income Tax - 1555/CBDT

INSTRUCTION NO. 1555/CBDT Dated: February 25, 1984 Instructions with regard to the procedure for transfer of assessment records do not fully detail the prevailing procedure and practice in this respect. The Manual of Office Procedure Vol.II (Part A) 1982 only mentions (at page 66 para 138) that when a file is transferred from one Income-tax office to another, various actions pending should be specified in a Memorandum of Transfer of Assessment Records (commonly known as Transfer Memo or T.M.) so that the I.T.O. receiving the file can at a glance acquaint himself with the file without going through it completely. Instructions were issued by the CBDT (Instruction No.1174 dated 16.5.1978) requiring the Commissioners receiving the arrear of taxes on transfer to ensure acknowledgement within one month of the receipt of the assessment records in order that the arrears of taxes are not shown both by the transferring and the receiving Commissioners. 2. In the absence of any detailed procedure for transferor assessment records and acknowledgement of arrears, the D.O.M.S. was asked to make a study and suggest a suitable detailed procedure ;which should be followed by all the Field Officials. The report received from the DOMS has been examined by the Board and it has been decided to follow the new procedure for transfer and acknowledgement of assessment records/arrear demand. The main changes in the new procedure are that the records may be despatched directly to the transferee ITO instead of routing them through IAC/CIT and transferee Commissioners of Income-tax/Inspecting Assistant Commissioners will only watch the despatch of no objection to transfer of records and acknowledgement of records by maintaining a register in their offices. The procedure now devised is discussed below- 2.1 IDENTIFICATION AND CONSENT OF THE TRANSFEREE ITO In order to avoid unnecessary movement of assessment records, it is necessary to ensure prompt identification and consent of the transferee ITO. For this purpose the following procedure may be followed; a) Transfers within the same CIT Charge- The transferor ITO should seek consent of the transferee ITO through the transferor IAC and transferee IAC. b) Inter-CIT Charge transfers- The transferor ITO should seek identification and consent of the transferee ITO through the transferor CIT and transferee CIT under intimation to the transferor IAC. In the case of multi-CIT charges it should be routed through CIT-I under intimation to the transferor IAC and CIT of the consent of the transferee ITO concerned should be of the transferee-CIT-I. c) Format of the letter for seeking identification consent of transferee ITO- The format of the letter to be written by the transferor ITO is given at Annex.I. The reply of consent should be addressed to the transferor ITO direct with intimation to the transferee CIT or the IAC as the case may be. d) Folder to be maintained for transfer of records- General folder for transfer of all records should be maintained by the ITO for each year. Whenever any assessee makes a request for transfer of records and the ITO sends a letter for identification and consent of the transferee ITO, office copies of such letters and assessee's request for transfer will be kept in this folder and not in the file of the concerned assessee. If there is any delay in receipt of identification and consent, he should send reminders from this folder. After identification and consent of the transferee ITO is received and transfer memo is sent along with records, office copy of the transfer memo and further reminders should also be filed in this folder. Acknowledgement of the records when received should also be placed in this folder after making necessary entries in the respective registers. Similarly all correspondence regarding receipt of records and transfer may be placed in this folder, till the despatch of acknowledgement form. (e) Register of transfer of records- For the purpose of quick disposal of letter for seeking consent and for acknowledgement of records and keeping a watch by higher authorities, a register will be maintained in the office of the transferee ITO/IAC/CIT (Annex. II) Column 4 to 6 will be used for keeping a watch for disposal of letters for consent and columns 7 to 10 for early despatch of acknowledgement of records on the prescribed forms (ITNS 110A). In case of transfers within the same CIT charge, the Register maintained in the office of the I.A.C. (Transferee) must be filled. In case of inter-charge transfers, the Register maintained in the office of the CIT will be filled up. The Supervisor/Head Clerk in the office of the transferee CIT should be made responsible for follow up and reply. 2.2 Preparation of Transfer Memo. The form of transfer Memo (I.T.N.S. 110) enclosed as Annex. III has been revised and differs from the present ITNS 110 in the following respects:- (a) One column is added in Part A to indicate that the Register ITAT has been informed of the changed address. (b) One column is added in Part B to indicate the D CR entry number. This would make it easier to trace out the arrears (in the Demand and collection Register) which have to be deleted on the receipt of acknowledgement form. (c) Two columns are added in part C to indicate who has prepared and who has checked the Transfer Memo. While putting his signature the Head Clerk/Supervisor will verify that arrears and pending actions have been correctly entered. (d) Part D of the present transfer Memo meant for acknowledgement is to be detached. A separate acknowledgement Form (Annex IV-ITNS 110A) is prepared. The transfer memos are to be prepared immediately after the receipt of the consent. A transfer Memo is required to be prepared in all cases of transfers of records except in bulk transfer of cases discussed in para 2.6 below. However, even in bulk transfer of cases individual transfer memo is required to be prepared if the assessed/returned income in any of the three preceding years is over Rs 40,000. The transfer memo is to be completed in all respect. Only 3 copies of the Transfer Memo should be prepared in each case i.e. (i) One for the transferee ITO. (ii) One for the transferee CIT (for the transfers IAC in case of transferred within the same CIT Charge); and (iii) One office copy for the transferor ITO. For the preparation of correct and complete Transfer Memos the following steps should be taken. (a) No column of Transfer Memo should be left blank. If there is no information for any column it should be mentioned clearly. (b) Transfer Memo should be prepared by experienced UDC/Tax Assistant and not the LDC Transfer Memo should be checked by Head Clerk/Supervisor with his name and signatures in the Transfer Memo. 2.3 TRANSMISSION OF RECORDS The transmission of records has to be reduced to the minimum: (a) Once the transferee ITO is identified and consent obtained, the records should be transferred direct from the transferror ITO to the transferee ITO with one copy of the Transfer memo endorsed to the transferee IAC/CIT, as the case may be. (b) The transferee CIT/IAC will keep a watch on movement and acknowledgement of records through the Register of transfer of records. (Annex.II). The transferee ITO is to endorse a copy of the acknowledgement Form to the transferee IAC/CIT. The official incharge of the Register in the office of the transferee IAC/CIT will keep a watch on the despatch of acknowledgement. In case of delay he will send reminders to the transferee ITO. 2.4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RECEIPT OF RECORDS In order to ensure prompt acknowledgment of records, the following procedure should be followed: (a) Immediately on receipt of records it must be diarised and put up to the ITO at dak stage after noting it in the Register (Annex.II) to be kept and maintained by the Head Clerk/Supervisor. (b) Instead of the present practice of acknowledging the records in part D of Transfer Memo a separate acknowledgement Form ITNS 110A (Annex IV) should be used for the purpose. It should be prepared in quarduplicate, i.e. i) One copy for transferor ITO. ii) One copy for the transferee IAC/CIT as the case may be. iii) One copy for the assessee and iv) One copy for office. (c) The transferee ITO will ensure that the acknowledgement must be sent within a week after the pending actions are noted in the relevant registers. (d) The transferee CIT/IAC as the case may be will watch the despatch of acknowledgement by transferee ITO as per Register (Annex.II). 2.5 RECEIPT OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT On receipt of acknowledgement in the prescribed form ITNS 110A, it should be put up to ITO at Dak stage after the same is noted in the Register (Annex.II) by the Head Clerk/Supervisor. Head Clerk/Supervisor will ensure that arrears pending actions transferred are deleted from the relevant registers properly by the concerned officials. These cases should be noted in a separate portion of the said register. ITO or the IAC at the time of Inspection, should check that the Register is maintained properly and action is taken within reasonable time. If the transferor ITO does not receive the acknowledgement within a fortnight he should remind the transferee ITO with a copy of the reminder to transferee CIT/IAC as the case may be. In case no reply is received he may refer the matter through his own CIT/IAC. 2.6 BULK TRANSFER OF RECORDS Sometimes in view of the change in jurisdiction, bulk transfers of records have to be made. This is often done in the same station though sometimes it may be out of station. In such cases it is difficult to prepare transfer memo in each and every case. Therefore, in bulk transfers a Transfer Memo should be prepared only where income returned/assessed in any of the three preceding years exceeds Rs.40,000. In other cases involving bulk transfer of records either within the same station or from one station to another, the procedure has been simplified. In such cases the procedure now to be followed is that the transferor ITO would send the assessment records through a special messenger along with the details of arrears and pending actions in the following proforma: The above proforma should be sent in duplicate to the transferee ITO with an intimation to the transferee CIT (in case of inter-charge transfer) or transferee IAC. (in case of transfer within the same CIT charge) who will ensure that the transferee ITO returns one copy of the list after noting down the Demand and Collection Register entry numbers in his Register in column 7 and other pending action (such as pending assessments) in his corresponding registers like Blue Book penalty register etc. The return of the list by the transferee ITO will serve the purpose of acknowledgement, on receipt of which the transferor ITO will score out the entries in his registers. If there is any doubt about the arrears of demand or pending actions, a Tax Assistant can be deputed by the transferee ITO to note down correctly the relevant arrears of demands and pending actions. The officials of transferor and transferee ITOs should satisfy themselves that all the pending actions are exchanged in the relevant registers. 3. In order to make the new procedure a success, it is necessary to develop an awareness of the importance of the task. This calls for proper supervision and control by the Inspecting Assistant Commissioners, ITOs and Supervisors. In order to acquaint the staff with regard to new system of transfer of records, the IACs may convene meetings of the ITOs and staff members working in their Range to explain the revised system and guide them in case of any difficulty experienced by them. This topic may also be included in the courses conducted in the Ministerial Staff Training Centres. This would help the staff in understanding and following the procedure of Transfer of records correctly.