Belated refund claims under tax law may be admitted by tax officers when conditions on eligibility and non supplementary status are met.
Income tax Officers are authorised to admit belated refund claims under Section 237 where refunds arise from excess advance tax or tax deducted at source, provided the refund does not exceed the prescribed monetary threshold, the returned income is not a loss claimed for carry forward, the claim is not supplementary to an original assessment, and the income is not assessable in the hands of another person; such admitted claims are to be disposed of on merits and in accordance with law.

Belated refund claims for TDS under 194C require prior commissioner approval and compliance with Board conditions.
Belated refund claims arising from tax deducted at source on contract payments under section 194C may be admitted by Income-tax Officers subject to conditions in the Board's order; ITOs must obtain prior approval of the Commissioner of Income-tax, who is to exercise administrative control and ensure compliance with those conditions before belated refunds are entertained.

Verification of recognised funds: ongoing compliance checks required and approvals withdrawn where statutory conditions lapse.
The Board requires that the Commissioner of Income-tax office carry out verification of continuing compliance by recognised funds, following the five-step procedure previously prescribed, to ensure that funds continue to observe the statutory conditions for recognition and exemption, and to take appropriate steps for withdrawal of approval of provident funds where conditions are not met.

Limiting adjournments: requests permitted only in exceptional cases and must be promptly reported to the Minister.
Departmental legal representatives must minimize requests for adjournments to ensure early hearing and quicker disposal, especially in cases with high financial stakes or substantial questions of law; routine counsel unavailability is not acceptable grounds for postponement. Adjournments are to be sought only in truly exceptional cases, which should be brought to the Minister's notice, and the instruction is to be endorsed to all Standing Counsels and Authorised Representatives for compliance.

Central Government Special Deposit Scheme extension permits recognised provident and similar funds to reinvest maturing deposits subject to reinvestment limit.
The Special Deposit Scheme has been extended and recognised provident, superannuation and gratuity funds may reinvest maturing deposits falling due under the extended period in the Scheme; the existing quantitative ceiling on the proportion of investible moneys that such funds may invest in the Scheme remains unchanged.

Estate duty cessation: trustees of provident funds no longer accountable for deaths on or after the effective repeal date.
The abolition of estate duty for deaths on or after 16-3-1985 means trustees of the Central Provident Fund and trustees of provident funds recognised under section 80C are no longer accountable persons under section 53 with respect to such deaths; the revenue authority directed that this be communicated to all recognised provident fund trustees.

Question framing for references must identify the statutory provision and specify perverse factual findings with evidence.
Questions for reference must identify the statutory provision in issue and state the precise legal question. If alleging perversity, the question must pinpoint the perverse factual finding and explain the basis (no evidence, reliance on irrelevant evidence, or neglect of material evidence) and mention that evidence. Questions should avoid unnecessary matters and must not include argumentative material that belongs to hearing submissions.

Treatment of gratuity provisions excludes deduction unless exceptions apply, altering computation of business taxable income.
Payments or provisions for employee gratuity from current year profits are non-deductible unless covered by exceptions: approved gratuity fund contributions, amounts payable during the year, or compliant spread-over provisions. Depreciation is allowable on technical drawings and similar knowledge assets. A partner's introduction of a personal asset as capital is a transfer subject to examination for consideration and potential tax-evasion. Prior unabsorbed business losses rank after current year depreciation. Attribution of spouse's or minor's business income treats it as the assessee's own for carry forward and set off. Firm registration requires proper partner execution.

UN pension exemption affirmed for widows and children; such pension receipts are to be treated as tax-exempt income.
U.N. pensions payable to widows and children of former United Nations employees are affirmed as exempt from tax and are expressly included within the scope of the Board's earlier circular, directing assessing officers to treat such pension receipts as non-taxable income for those beneficiaries.

Estate duty exemption for houses cannot apply where the property is firm-owned and partners lack specific property interests.
Exemption under the Estate Duty Act for a house owned by a firm is not available where the house is an asset of the firm and the deceased was a partner, because a partner does not have an interest in a specific item of the firm's immovable property; consequently the earlier circular permitting such exemption is withdrawn.

Interest in property as lease renewal right treated as taxable asset under wealth tax; assessments to follow audit view.
A lessee's option to renew a lease that extends the effective lease period is an interest in property within section 2(e) of the Wealth-tax Act and thus an asset liable to wealth tax; because a conflicting High Court decision is under challenge by way of SLP, the Board directed that assessments follow the Audit interpretation treating such renewal rights as taxable assets to prevent revenue loss.

Publication of notices: permit use of State Official Gazette to secure timely public notice; Extraordinary Gazette only exceptional.
The General Clauses Act recognises the Official Gazette as the Gazette of India or an Official Gazette of a State, permitting publication of notices under section 269D(1) in State Gazettes where delays occur. Competent Authorities should arrange timely publication in the State Official Gazette, publicise any switch from the Gazette of India, and reserve the Gazette of India Extra-ordinary for exceptional cases where limitation is about to expire; report arrangements to the Board.

Recovery powers of Income-tax Officers remain exercisable despite recovery certificates; immediate action and liaison required.
Income-tax Officers retain statutory power to effect recovery despite issuance of recovery certificates to Tax Recovery Officers; earlier Board directions do not override the Income-tax Act. ITOs should take immediate protective action, such as bank attachments, when necessary, or else refer particulars to the TRO. Granting instalments in certified cases requires consultation with the Recovery Wing, and Commissioners should establish liaison arrangements between territorial and Recovery Commissioners for coordinated recovery action.

Undervaluation of consideration: Section 269C targets understated transfer consideration; Section 4(1)(a) levies tax on deemed gift.
Section 269C addresses deliberate understatement in the instrument of transfer by treating acquisition as affected by understatement to counter tax evasion. Section 4(1)(a) treats the gap between declared consideration and fair market value as a deemed gift taxable under the Gift-tax Act. The proceedings are generally mutually exclusive and need not be simultaneous, but both may be initiated where declared consideration is less than actual payment and market value exceeds actual payment, permitting Income-tax action on understatement and Gift-tax on the excess market gap.

Timebound appeal disposal: appeals to be processed chronologically with priority to high demand cases and 18 month target.
Appeals before Appellate Assistant Commissioners and Commissioners (Appeals) must be disposed of in chronological order with priority to High Demand Appeals; normally no appeal should remain pending beyond eighteen months. Commissioners (Appeals) must send quarterly lists to Zonal Members of appeals pending beyond eighteen months with reasons for non-disposal, and Commissioners (Admn.) must obtain and forward similar reports for AACs. The first report was directed for the position as on 31 March 1986, to reach the Board by 20 April 1986.

Prosecution establishment expenses to be charged in addition to compounding and litigation fees for tax offences.
The Instruction requires that prosecution establishment expenses be charged in addition to the compounding fee and litigation expenses to reimburse the Department for man hours spent in identifying and processing prosecution cases; it prescribes a tiered schedule of fixed prosecution establishment charges by taxable value bands to be collected alongside the Board's existing compounding fee and litigation costs.

Voluntary disclosure: limited immunity from past-assessment enquiries and penalties if tax and disclosures are timely made.
Reiterates that reopening past assessments is governed by Section 147, and that declaring substantially higher current-year income for advance-tax purposes alone does not justify initiating assessment proceedings for earlier years. The Board instructs a liberal administrative approach toward taxpayers who voluntarily disclose true income and wealth and pay tax thereon, withholding penalty and prosecution for such voluntary disclosures within the prescribed compliance period; penal measures remain reserved for cases where taxpayers are brought into the net by departmental effort.

Assessment independence: higher income shown for one year does not justify enhancing assessments for other years
Higher income shown for assessment year 1986-87 due to tax-rate changes will not automatically lead to enquiries or enhanced assessments for other years; assessments are year-specific and based on that year's return and books of account, with departures permitted only when books are absent, accounting methods are irregular, or accounts are defective so correct income cannot be determined.

Voluntary wealth disclosure allows taxpayers to regularise past undervaluation and obtain immunity from penalty if tax is paid by the stated deadline.
Taxpayers liable to wealth-tax are invited to make voluntary disclosure of true net wealth, including past suppression or undervaluation of assets, and to pay wealth-tax for the relevant years at the applicable rates; those who come forward suo motu before departmental detection and pay the tax will be granted immunity from penalty and prosecution, whether assessments for earlier years are pending or completed, subject to a limited-time condition and submission to the Commissioner of Wealth-tax.

Estate duty abolition enables return of deposits made for payment of estate duty now infructuous.
The statutory removal of estate duty from the effective amendment made deposits for payment of estate duty infructuous; the Board directed that amounts deposited for that purpose may be returned to depositors who survived on the effective date.