Section 139

CHAPTER XIV

PROCEDURE FOR ASSESSMENT

Return of income.

139. (i) 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 ¹[four 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, and, notwithstanding that the date is so extended, interest shall be chargeable in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (8).

²[(l A) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), no person need furnish under that sub-section a return of his income or the income of any other person in respect of whose total income he is assessable under this Act, if his income or, as the case may be, the income of such other person during the previous year consisted only of income chargeable under the head "Salaries" or of income chargeable under that head and also income of the nature referred to in any one or more of clauses (i) to (ix) of sub-section (1) of section 80L and the following conditions are fulfilled, namely :—

(a) where he or such other person was employed during the previous year by a company, he or such other person was at no time during the previous year a director of the company or a beneficial owner of shares in the company (not being shares entitled to a fixed rate of dividend whether with or without a right to participate in profits) carrying not less than twenty per cent of the voting power ;

(b) his salary or the salary of such other person, exclusive of the value of all benefits or amenities not provided for by way of monetary payment, does not exceed eighteen thousand rupees ;

(c) the amount of income of the nature referred to in clauses (i) to (ix) of sub-section (1) of section 80L, if any, does not, in the aggregate, exceed three thousand rupees ; and

(d) the tax deductible at source under section 192 from the income chargeable under the head "Salaries" has been deducted from that income.

Explanation : For the purposes of this sub-section, "salary" shall have the meaning assigned to it in clause (1) of section 17.]

(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, ¹[issue a notice to him and serve the same 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 :

²[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, and, notwithstanding that the date is so extended, interest shall be chargeable in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (8).]

(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 or 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 ³[or sub-section (3) of section 74A], he may furnish within the time allowed under sub-section (1) or within such further time which, on an application made in the prescribed manner^†, the Income-tax Officer may, in his discretion, allow, 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).

(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 sub-section (8) 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 year.

¹[(4A) Every person in receipt of income derived from property held under trust or other legal obligation wholly for charitable or religious purposes or in part only for such purposes, or of income being voluntary contributions referred to in sub-clause (iia) of clause (24) of section 2, shall, if the total income in respect of which he is assessable as a representative assessee (the total income for this purpose being computed under this Act without giving effect to the provisions of sections 11 and 12) exceeds the maximum amount which is not chargeable to income-tax, furnish a return^* of such income of the previous year in the prescribed form and verified in the prescribed manner and setting forth such other particulars as may be prescribed and all the provisions of this Act shall, so far as may be, apply as if it were a return required to be furnished under sub-section (1).]

²[(4B) The chief executive officer (whether such chief executive officer is known as Secretary or by any other designation) of every political party shall, if the total income in respect of which the political party is assessable (the total income for this purpose being computed under this Act without giving effect to the provisions of section 13A) exceeds the maximum amount which is not chargeable to income-tax, furnish a return of such income of the previous year in the prescribed form and verified in the prescribed manner and seting forth such other particulars as may be prescribed and all the provisions of this Act, shall so far as may be, apply as if it were a return required to be furnished under sub-section (1),]

(5) If any person having furnished a return under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2), discovers any omission or any wrong statement therein, he may furnish a revised return at any time before the assessment is made.

³[(6) The prescribed form of the returns referred to in sub-sections (1), (2) and (3) shall, in such cases as may be prescribed, require the assessee to furnish the particulars of income exempt from tax, assets of the prescribed nature and value and belonging to him. expenditure exceeding the prescribed limits incurred by him under prescribed heads and such other outgoings as may be prescribed.]

(6A) Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (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 any business or profession, also require him to furnish particulars of the location and style of the principal 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 of individuals 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)(a) ¹[Where the return under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) or sub-section (4) for an assessment year is furnished after the specified date, or is not furnished, then [whether or not the Income-tax Officer has extended the date for furnishing the return under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2)], the assessee shall be liable to pay simple interest* at twelve per cent per annum, reckoned from the day immediately following the specified date to the date of the furnishing of the return or, where no return has been furnished, the date of completion of the assessment under section 144, on the amount of the tax payable on the total income as determined on regular assessment, as reduced by the advance tax, if any, paid, and any tax deducted at source :

Provided that the Income-tax Officer may, in such cases and under such circumstances as may be prescribed^†, reduce or waive the interest payable by any assessee under this sub-section.

Explanation 1 : For the purposes of this sub-section, "specified date", in relation to a return for an assessment year, means,—

(a) in the case of every assessee whose total income, or the total income of any person in respect of which he is assessable under this Act, includes any income from business or profession, the date of the expiry of four 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 the 30th day of June of the assessment year, whichever is later ;

(b) in the case of every other assessee, the 30th day of June of the assessment year.]

Explanation ²[2]: For the purposes of this sub-section, where the assessee is a registered firm or an unregistered firm which has been assessed under clause (b) of section 183, the tax payable on the total income shall be the amount of tax which would have been payable if the firm had been assessed as an unregistered firm.

(b) 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 this sub-section has been reduced, the interest shall be reduced accordingly, and the excess interest paid, if any, shall be refunded.

[As amended by the Finance Act, 1979]