ITBA-ITR Processing Instruction No. 5
DIRECTORATE OF INCOME TAX (SYSTEM)
ARA Center, Ground Floor, E-2, Jhandewalan Extension,
New Delhi – 110055
F.No. System/ITBA/Instruction/ITR Processing/112/16-17/
Dated: 14.12.2018
To
All Principal Chief Commissioners of Income-tax/CCsIT
All Principal Director Generals of Income Tax /DGsIT
All Principal Commissioners of Income-tax/CsIT/CsIT(Admin & TPS)
All Principal Directors of Income Tax/DsIT
Madam/Sir,
Subject: Functionality of Withholding of Refund u/s 241A applicable for AY 2017-18 onwards and certain other enhancement w.r.t ITR Processing functionality –Regarding
With effect from AY 2017-18 amendments have been done in the Act with regard to processing of cases. Provision of section 143(1D) has been amended, as per which all the returns are required to be processed. Section 241A allowing withholding of refund determined under 143(1) in cases where notice u/s 143(2) is issued is also introduced. ITBA functionality accordingly has been modified/enhanced and following new functionality are added.
Processing of ITR for the AY 2017-18– Functionality for processing of all ITR except ITR 7 is live in ITBA. The process of processing e-filed returns pushed to AO and paper returns received by AO is already described in ITR Processing Instruction No 1,2 &3. The time barring date for processing ITR of AY 2017-18 is 31.03.2019. However, for search year assessment under 143(3), the time barring date for completing assessment in most of cases is 31.12.2018. Therefore, such cases are required to be processed before passing order u/s 143(3). The Assessing Officer may therefore be advised to complete processing in such cases of AY 2017-18 immediately. The AOs are also advised to create pendency for search year assessment in ITBA through module “Selection u/s 153A/153C and Relevant Search Year”. If the search year case has already been selected under CASS or any other criteria, the same may be linked to search proceedings through the same module.
2. The ITR Processing Module under ITBA can be accessed by entering the following URL in the browser: https://itba.incometax.gov.in
The path for ITR Processing module is: ITBA Portal àLogin à Modules à ITR Processing
3. Withholding of Refund under 241A— If return is selected in Scrutiny and notice under 143(2) has been issued, refund determined under section 143(1) can be withheld by AO with the prior permission of PCIT/CIT. The Process for this is described as under-
(A) Cases processed by CPC-ITR- If the amount of refund determined is more than Rs 2,000 and the case is under scrutiny , such case will be referred by CPC to AO through ITBA to take action on withholding in the ITR Processing Module. In view RRR Screen such pendency will be visible. The cases where notice u/s 143(2) is issued, the status of cases in RRR before OTP is received will be “Return is being processed at CPC-ITR“ and once OTP is received processing status will be changed to “Pending for Refund Confirmation by AO”. On receiving OTP, AO will enter OTP and Remarks.
(i) If refund is decided to be withheld-The process for the same is as under-
a) AO will Enter OTP
b) AO will select ‘Yes’ for field ‘Whether Grant of Refund is affecting adverse to the Revenue as per Sec 241A and Refund to be withheld’ and enter the relevant remarks.
c) Withholding Request will be Submitted to PCIT through Range Head. Workitem will be created for Range Head in Refund Banker Module with subject ‘Refund withholding u/s 241A’
d) Provision has also been provided to take following actions by Range Head:
- Send back withheld request to AO for Clarification, or
- Range can submit withheld Request to CIT/PCIT for Approving Withheld Request
e) On click of submit by Range Head, Workitem will be created in the worklist of PCIT/CIT in Refund Banker Module. CIT/PCIT can take following actions:
- Refund to be Withheld: PCIT/ CIT can approve withheld the Refund. Refund will be withheld successfully and refund if any will be released on passing assessment order u/s 143(3)/144.
- Refund to be Released: If refund withheld request is not approved by PCIT/CIT, the “release the Refund” button should be applied. Request for releasing the refund will be sent to CPC-ITR. Refund will be issued by CPC-ITR including interest u/s 244A.
- Send back withheld request to Range for Clarification
(ii) For Refund is decided not to be withheld:
(a) Refund is more than or equal to 1,00,000:
- AO will Enter OTP
- AO will select ‘No’ for field ‘Whether Grant of Refund is affecting adverse to the revenue as per section 241A and refund to be withheld’
- Refund Approval request will be submitted to Range for approving the refund. Workitem will be created for Range Head in Refund Banker Module with subject ‘Refund Approval’
- Provision to take following actions has been provided to Range Head:
- Send back Approval request to AO for Clarification, or
- Range can release refund. Request for Releasing the refund will be sent to CPC-ITR. Refund will be issued including interest u/s 244A
(b) Refund amount is less than 1,00,000:
- will Enter OTP
- AO will select ‘No’ for field ‘Whether Grant of Refund is affecting adverse to the Revenue as per Sec 241A and Refund to be withheld’
- AO can reject /approve the refund amount.
(B) For paper return cases or e-filed cases pushed to AO and Refund determined is more than Rs 2,000/ .
The paper returns filed by assessee in the office of AO are required to be digitalized and submitted for processing to CPC. The CPC-ITR also push some e-filed returns to ITBA for submitting/correcting data in certain fields before processing. At present e-filed returns are pushed to AO in the following situations-
- If there is claim of relief u/s 90/90A or 91.
- If there is claim of relief u/s 89.
- If there is special rate income under DTAA .
The complete process of processing such returns is described in ITR Processing Instruction no 1 to 3. If the result of processing is refund over Rs 2,000/ and the case is under scrutiny (Notice u/s 143(2) has been issued), the process of withholding refund under section 241A or release of refund as described above will trigger.
The AO and supervisory authority are required the follow the process described above for withholding refund or releasing the refund.
4. Training material including user manual, help content and frequently asked questions (FAQs) are available on the ITR Module Home Page and on ITBA Portal à Online Training on ITBA. Users can refer these in case of any issues.
5. Users are advised to contact helpdesk in case of any issues in respect of the ITBA.
a. URL of helpdesk –http://itbaincometax.net
b. Help desk number – 0120-2811200
c. Email ID –helpdesk_messaging@incometax.gov.in
d. Help desk Timings – 8.30 A.M. – 7.30 P.M. (Monday to Friday)
6. This is issued with prior approval of Pr DGIT(Systems).
Yours sincerely,
(Ramesh Krishnamurthi)
Addl.DG(Systems)-3, New Delhi
Copy to:
i. The P.P.S to Chairman, Member(L), Member(Inv.), Member(IT&C), Member(Rev.), Member(A&J) & Member(P&V),CBDT for information.
ii. The P.S. to Pr.DGIT(S) for information.
iii. The Web Manager, ofirsofficersonline.gov.inwebsite with the request to upload the Instruction.
iv. ITBA Publisher(Publisher@incometax.gov.in) for https://itba.incometax.gov.in with the request to upload the Instruction on the ITBA Portal.
(Ramesh Krishnamurthi)
Addl.DG(Systems)-3, New Delhi
