An Overview on Section 119 of Income Tax Act

An economy of a nation runs smoothly due to the adequate flow of revenues by the government. One of the sources of revenue for the government is the Revenue from the taxation of the Public incomes. This is also known as Direct Taxation as this tax is implicated directly on the disposable income of the person. Income tax is one type of direct tax. It provides for levying, administering, collecting, and recovering income tax for the Indian government. It was enacted in 1961.

The Income Tax Act contains a total of 23 chapters and 298 sections. The various heads for which you have to pay income tax include Salary, Income from house property, Capital gains, Profit and gains from business or profession, and Income from other sources. The Constitution of India laid down Article 265 which explicitly states that: no tax other shall be levied or collected except by the authority of law. These laws have been confined under the Income Tax Act, 1961. The act consists of a good number of sections where each section explains how income tax can be charged, claimed, refunded, or carried forward.

One of the most peculiar sections of the Income Tax Act, 1961 that has been placed with the fundamental aim of making the taxation process smooth, transparent, and without any hassle is Section 119 of IT Act, 1961.

The IT Act revolves around the timeliness of the filing of the return by the taxpayers. It has laid specific time limits within which the taxpayer should pay tax. The people do make different claims in their return of the incomes such as refunds, exemptions, deductions, carryforward of previous year’s losses, and so on. There are probabilities that the taxpayers delay in timely filing of the returns of the Income Tax. In such circumstances, doubts may arise whether all those rights related to refund, exemptions, etc. can be claimed or no?

Section 119 comes into the picture, now! It is your rescuer and savior. The Income Tax Act, 1961 has authorized the Central Board Of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to accept the claims of refund, exemption, or whatever the case may be, of the taxpayers, even if they file the returns post due date. However, the reasons for being late should be genuine, out of the control of the taxpayer.

Notification dated 9-5-2015 specifies the monetary limits based on which various levels of income tax authorities have the power to deal with those applications of the claims.

 The below figure mentions the monetary limits of the claim made and the associated IT authority empowered to deal with it.

• The TimeSpan Allotted To Accept The Claims:

To receive those claims, the period is within the next 6 years from the end of the Assessment Year.

• How To File Return Under Section 119 (2)(b)
• Login to your Income-tax e-filing portal
• Go to the “e-file” tab and select “Income tax returns” from the drop-down menu
• Select the assessment year and the for which you have to file the return under this section.
• Then, choose the filing type as “Filing against notice/order”
• Select the filing section as “139 read with section 119(2)(b)”
• Then, upload an XML and file your return by verifying it.

• Points to be Noted

The Condonation application for refund or claim shall be admitted only on satisfying the below-stated conditions:

1. The Income of the Assessee shall not be admitted in the hands of any other person under the Income Tax act.
2. No Interest shall be paid on such belated claim of Refunds.
3. The Refund claim has arisen only because of excess tax deducted or collected at source and or excess advance tax payment and or excess payment of self-assessment tax as per the provisions of the Income Tax Act.

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