Maintenance of Books or records for Assessment purposes

[SANJAY BAHETI]

For how much longer period the Books of Accounts,Invoices, Excise Records,VAT Records,other Documents etc is to be kept by the Assesse from the following angles as

i) under Income tax Act/law

ii) under Excise Law

iii)under Vat Act/Law

that is for Assessment purposes

[Mahir S]

Under the Companies Act, 1956, a company is required to maintain its books of account and vouchers for a period of 8 years immediately preceeding the current year.

Under Income Tax Act, assessees are required to preserve the specific books of account for a period of 6 years from the end of the relevant assessment year, i.e., for a total period of 8 previous years.

Under Central Excise, records to be maintained for 5 years immediately after the financial year to which such records pertain. There is nothing like assessment year under Central Excise law.

Under VAT, Each State has prescribed the accounts and records required to be maintained by a VAT dealer and the provisions regarding preservation of such accounts and records e.g. dealers registered under Delhi VAT are required to preserve records and accounts for 7 years, from the end of the relevant assessment year.

AI Summary

Record retention obligations clarified for corporate, income tax, excise and VAT compliance across statutory regimes.
Statutory retention obligations for assessment purposes require companies to retain books and vouchers covering the eight years immediately preceding the current year under the Companies Act; income tax law mandates preservation of specified books for six years from the end of the relevant assessment year, effectively spanning eight previous years. Central Excise requires records to be kept for five years after the financial year concerned, while VAT retention periods are state-prescribed and may, for example, require seven years from the end of the relevant assessment year.