Return of income
CHAPTER XIV
PROCEDURE FOR ASSESSMENT
Return of income
139. (1) Every person, if his total income or the total income of any other person in respect of which he is assessable under this Act during the previous year exceeded the maximum amount which is not chargeable to income-tax, shall furnish a return of his income or the income of such other person during the previous year in the prescribed form and verified in the prescribed manner and setting forth such other particulars as may be prescribed—
(a) In the case of every person whose total income, or the total income of any other person in respect of which he is assessable under this Act, includes any income from business or profession, before the expiry of six months from the end of the previous year or where there is more than one previous year, from the end of the previous year which expired last before the commencement of the assessment year, or before the 30th day of June of the assessment year, whichever is later;
(b) in the case of every other person, before the 30th day of June of the assessment year :
Provided that, on an application made in the prescribed manner, the Income-tax Officer may, in his discretion, extend the date for furnishing the return—
(i) in the case of any person whose total income includes any income from business or profession the previous year in respect of which expired on or before the 31st day of December of the year immediately preceding the assessment year, and in the case of any person referred to in clause (b), up to a period not extending beyond the 30th day of September of the assessment year without charging any interest;
(ii) in the case of any person whose total income includes any income from business or profession the previous year in respect of which expired after the 31st day of December of the year immediately preceding the assessment year, up to the 31st day of December of the assessment year without charging any interest; and
(iii) up to any period falling beyond the dates mentioned in clauses (i) and (ii) in which case, interest at 1[nine per cent] per annum shall be payable from the 1st day of October or the 1st day of January, as the case may be, of the assessment year to the date of the furnishing of the return—
(a) in the case of a registered firm or an unregistered firm which has been assessed under clause (b) of section 183, on the amount of tax which would have been payable if the firm had been assessed as an unregistered firm ; and
(b) in any other case, on the amount of tax payable on the total income reduced by the advance-tax, if any, paid or by any tax deducted at source, as the case may be.
(1A) Where as a result of an order under section 154 or section 155 or section 250 or section 254 or section 260 or section 262 or section 264, the amount of tax on which interest was payable under clause (iii) of the proviso to sub-section (1) has been reduced, the interest shall be reduced accordingly, and the excess interest paid, if any shall be refunded.
(2) In the case of any person who, in the Income-tax Officer's opinion, is assessable under this Act, whether on his own total income or on the total income of any other person during the previous year, the Income-tax Officer may, before the end of the relevant assessment year serve a notice upon him requiring him to furnish, within thirty days from the date of service of the notice, a return of his income or the income of such other person during the previous year, in the prescribed form and verified in the prescribed manner and setting forth such other particulars as may be prescribed :
Provided that on an application made in the prescribed manner the Income-tax Officer may, in his discretion, extend the date for the furnishing of the return, and when the date for furnishing the return, whether fixed originally or on extension falls beyond the 30th day of September or, as the case may be, the 31st day of December of the assessment year, the provision of sub-clause (iii) of the proviso to sub-section (1) shall apply.
(3) If any person who has not been served with a notice under sub-section (2), has sustained a loss in any previous year under the head "Profits and gains of business or profession" or under the head "Capital gains" and claims that the loss of any part thereof should be carried forward under sub-section (1) of section 72 or sub-section (2) of section 73, or sub-section (1) of section 74, he may furnish, within the time allowed under sub-section (1), a return of loss in the prescribed form and verified in the prescribed manner and containing such other particulars as may be prescribed, and all the provisions of this Act shall apply as if it were a return under sub-section (1).
1[(4)(a) Any person who has not furnished a return within the time allowed to him under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) may before the assessment is made, furnish the return for any previous year at any time before the end of the period specified in clause (b), and the provisions of clause (iii) of the proviso to sub-section (1) shall apply in every such case.
(b) The period referred to in clause (a) shall be—
(i) where the return relates to a previous year relevant to any assessment year commencing on or before the 1st day of April, 1967, four years from the end of such assessment year ;
(ii) where the return relates to a previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 1968, three years from the end of the assessment year ;
(iii) where the return relates to a previous year relevant to any other assessment year, two years from the end of such assessment years.]
(5) If any person having furnished a return under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2), discovers any commission or any wrong statement therein he may furnish a revised return at any time before the assessment is made.
(6) The prescribed form of the returns referred to in sub-sections (1), (2) and (3) shall, in the case of an assessee engaged in business or profession, require him to furnish particulars of the location and style of the principle place where he carries on the business or profession and all the branches thereof, the names and addresses of his partners, if any in such business or profession and if he is a member of an association or body of individuals, the names of the other members of the association or the body and the extent of the share of the assessee and the shares of all such partners or the members, as the case may be, in the profits of the business or profession and any branches thereof.
(7) No return under sub-section (1) need be furnished by any person for any previous year if he has already furnished a return of income for such year in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (2).
(8) Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (iii) of the proviso to sub-section (1), the Income-tax Officer may, in such cases and under such circumstances as may be prescribed, reduce or waive the interest payable by any person under any provision of this section.
[As amended by Finance Act, 1968]