PROPOSED DELETION OF SECTION 143(1D) – AVOIDING UNDESIRABLE DELAY IN ISSUE OF REFUNDS
It is desirable that any refund due to an assessee, under the Income-tax Return filed by him comes to be processed and issued to him within a stipulated time frame of maximum six months from the end of the month in which the tax return is filed. Infact, in the recent past, it has been the endeavour of the Income-tax Department to issue prompt and timely refunds within this time frame, which is keeping in line with its commitment made under the Citizen’s Charter.
However, the provision as introduced under Section 143(1D), with effect from 1-7-2012, providing that the processing of a return shall not be necessary, where a notice has been issued to the assessee under Section 143(2), has proved to be a bottle-neck in the commitment of the Department to issue timely tax refunds. It needs to be appreciated that the time limit for finalization of assessment in a case, where notice for scrutiny has been issued under Section 143(2), could extend upto 32 months or even 40 months (in a case of International Transfer Pricing) from the date of filing tax return. In such cases, it is grossly unfair to the assessee that the refund due to him under his tax return and payable within six months is withheld on the pretext that no processing of the tax return has taken place.
It is, therefore, recommended that Section 143(1D) should be deleted with effect from 1-7-2016.
