Section 43D effective date corrected: provision applies from 1-4-1991 and to assessment year 1991-92 onward.
Corrigendum corrects that Section 43D of the Income-tax Act, 1961 came into force w.e.f. 1-4-1991 and applies in relation to assessment year 1991-92 and subsequent years, amending the inadvertent statement in para 22.3 of Board's Circular No.621.

Depreciation on renewable energy devices requires verification to prevent misuse; certification and selective surveys ordered
100 percent depreciation is allowable for windmills and specially designed wind-energy devices. The Board notes suspected misuse by collusive inflation of machinery prices and by claiming depreciation without physical installation. It directs that scrutiny must fully verify these aspects before allowing claims, requires administrative Ministry certification where appropriate, permits selective surveys to verify compliance, and instructs tax administration to coordinate and act to prevent misuse.

Confidentiality of taxpayer information: only acknowledgment numbers and assessment years may be posted, duly authenticated and updated.
A.Os. must not display names, addresses, returned incomes or other identifying particulars of taxpayers selected for scrutiny; such displays must be removed. Only lists of acknowledgment numbers and assessment years may be posted, containing no other information, authenticated by Assessing Officers' signatures and updated periodically to preserve confidentiality while ensuring transparency.

Payment of advance tax: an attested photocopy of the taxpayer's challan counterfoil suffices as proof with the return.
For three-counterfoil challans banks will send one foil to the assessing officer, one to the zonal accounts office and one to the taxpayer for record; the taxpayer may file with the return an attested photocopy of the taxpayer's retained counterfoil, which constitutes adequate proof of payment for advance tax and self-assessment tax under the statutory proof-of-payment requirement.

Failure to deduct tax at source may avoid penalty and prosecution if proper tax and interest are paid by the prescribed deadline.
Employers who failed to correctly deduct tax at source on salaries, including perquisites and allowances, may avoid initiation of penalty or prosecution if they pay the proper tax together with interest by the prescribed extended deadline; the relief also covers prior guidance on salaries and perquisites paid abroad, while coercive recovery of unpaid tax remains permissible, and applies to assessment years beginning 1989-90 through 1994-95.

Tax deduction at source authorisation: standardised forms and proof-of-payment required before remittance to non-residents.
The Circular prescribes streamlined application and authorisation forms under section 195(1) for remittances to non-residents, requires verification of payer claims against the Income-tax Act and relevant Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements, and mandates production of proof of deposit of tax deducted at source and submission of that proof with Form 27 to the income-tax office before and after remittance.

Tax holiday eligibility for software exports: on site development by units still qualifies if the unit produces and exports the software.
Where a unit located in an EPZ/EOU/STP produces software and exports it, development of the software at the client's premises does not disqualify the unit from the five year tax holiday, provided the software is a product of the unit and the statutory conditions are fulfilled. The 1993 Explanation that produce includes computer programmes is clarificatory and does not withdraw benefits from software exporters in EPZs/EOUs for years prior to the amendment.

Export deduction limited to cut and polished minerals; washed raw blocks are excluded from the tax benefit.
Eligibility for the section 80HHC export deduction requires that minerals be both cut and polished before export; mere cutting and washing into raw blocks does not qualify, reflecting an objective to incentivise value addition through polishing and finishing.

Revised counsel fee schedule governs departmental prosecution counsel remuneration and requires existing counsel consent before implementation.
Sanctioning a revised schedule of fees for Prosecution Counsels, the instruction puts the new scale into effect from 1 4 1995, requires obtaining consent from currently engaged counsels to the revised rates, and excludes two metropolitan centres where fees follow rates prescribed by the Ministry of Law Branch Secretariats; the instruction notes concurrence of the Ministry of Law and Justice.

Tax deduction at source for interest on securities requires withholding on credit or payment and strict depositor compliance.
Deduction of tax at source under section 193 must be made when interest on securities is credited or paid, with credit to any suspense or other account deemed to be credit to the payee. The Finance Act, 1994 prescribes withholding rates and a surcharge for domestic companies, while exemptions and lower deduction apply where conditions are met (listed debentures paid by account-payee cheque below the resident threshold, Form No. 15F declarations, certificates under section 197, and statutory or notified exempt securities). Deductors must deposit tax timely, issue Form No. 16A, quote TAN, file annual returns in Form No. 25, and comply with rounding and penalty provisions.

Waiver of penalty under Section 273A available across assessment years despite different filing dates now.
If an assessee files a petition under Section 273A(1) covering multiple assessment years at one time, the Commissioner may grant waiver or reduction of penalty and interest for all those years regardless of the original return filing dates; supplementary petitions for the same years altering income disclosures are permissible, but later petitions covering other years filed after the first petition must be rejected under the provision for subsequent petitions.

Compounding of offences: revised conditions require payment of undisputed tax and prescribed compounding charges before compounding.
Revised guidelines reintroduce a distinction between technical offences and non-technical offences for compounding under Direct Tax Laws. Compounding is discretionary and requires a written request, payment of undisputed tax, interest and penalties, and prescribed compounding charges. CCIT/DGIT may compound first technical offences meeting conditions; Board approval is required in other cases and for most substantive offences. Repeat offences attract enhanced fees, and the Finance Minister may permit compounding in deserving cases. The guidelines supersede earlier instructions and apply to other Direct Tax Laws.

Compounding of tax offences: liberalised delegation permits pre-complaint settlement of technical offences, reducing prosecutions and pendency.
Revised guidelines liberalise compounding under Direct Tax Laws by distinguishing technical and substantive offences, delegating substantial compounding powers to CCsIT/DGsIT (subject to conditions), and allowing limited compounding of technical offences even where complaints are already filed. They prescribe computation of the amount in default and compounding charges on the basis of the assessment or any subsequently final revised order, require certain categories to be referred to the Board, extend applicability to pending and earlier rejected cases (excluding already compounded matters), and mandate timely disposal, reporting, and publicity.

Refund set off against outstanding demand allowed; small refunds may be issued without prior verification but are subject to later recovery.
The Assessing Officer may set off a refund, in lieu of payment, against sums payable by the person after written intimation under Section 245; office procedure directs adjustment of refunds against outstanding demands for other years. The Board allows refunds of Rs. 5000 or less (including consolidated refunds across years) to be issued without prior verification, subject to later verification, recovery action if arrears are found, and maintenance of records of such instances.

Tax Deduction at Source responsibility rests with the Land Acquisition Collector; interest on compensation requires TDS and certification.
The Collector (Land Acquisition) or other empowered acquiring authority is responsible for deducting tax at source from the interest component of compensation under the Land Acquisition Act, must pay that tax to the government, deposit the remaining amount with the court for disbursement, and issue the prescribed TDS certificate to the payees; courts are treated as conduits and withholding for statutory TDS, where remitted to government and the net sum deposited, is not necessarily contemptuous.

Applicability of administrative circulars: earlier tax circular ceases to apply after a higher-court overruling, altering assessment year treatment.
The circular issued following the earlier Cloth Traders decision ceases to have applicability for any assessment year consequent to the later Supreme Court overruling in Distributors (Baroda), which supplies the controlling legal position for tax assessments and administration.

Tax deduction at source from salaries-updated withholding rules, permissive exemptions, and employer compliance obligations apply.
Employers must deduct income tax at source from salary payments at the average rate on estimated salary income including taxable perquisites, dividing the annual tax by twelve for monthly deduction, subject to statutory exemptions and exclusions. Taxable salary components include wages, fees, commissions, perquisites, pensions and specified provident fund accretions; valuation of perquisites follows the Rules and certain benefits are excluded or exempt if conditions are met. Deductions and rebates permitted under the Act (including the standard deduction, specified chapter VIA deductions and investment linked tax rebates) must be allowed for withholding, subject to verification; procedural obligations for deposit, reporting, issuance of TDS certificates and penalties for noncompliance are set out.

Prima facie disallowance: limits tax deductions to substantiated, statutorily bounded, or not patently admissible claims under procedural controls.
Prima facie disallowance is limited to claims that are (i) incorrect on the face of accompanying return information, (ii) unsupported by statutorily required documents filed with the return, (iii) in excess of explicit statutory limits where relevant data appears in the return, and (iv) patently inadmissible in law with no two opinions possible. No other prima facie disallowance may be made without the Commissioner's prior approval; subsequently furnished evidence may be considered by rectification as permitted by existing Board instructions. The procedure applies to returns pending processing on the circular's date.

Tax concession under Section 80E includes graduate and post graduate studies in architecture for loan repayment benefits.
A taxpayer relief under Section 80E for interest on loans taken for higher education extends to graduate and post graduate studies in architecture, which are to be treated as branches of engineering for the purpose of the loan repayment tax concession.

Taxability of accrued interest on Kisan Vikas Patras clarified: accrual basis assessment with prescribed accrual rates and maturity values.
Interest on Kisan Vikas Patras is taxable on an accrual basis; assessable interest for an assessee must be calculated by reference to the Department of Economic Affairs' table of prescribed interest rates and maturity values for the Rs.100 denomination, with maturity values computed on a half yearly compounding basis and applied according to the certificate's purchase date band and encashment date.