Regarding outstanding demand and contacting assessing officer

[Asked by Guest]

Dear Sir/Madam,

This is w.r.t my income tax for the assessment year 2012-13. I got a notification in the income tax online portal about outstanding demand of around 40,000.00 and I contacted a CA for this. He told me that since the IT returns filed hadn't considered 'deductions under chapter VI-A', it was showing this demand. Hence we filed a revised return in October 2013. However, I am still shown the outstanding demand of around 35,000 after 5,000 was adjusted from the refund I was supposed to receive for the year 2013-14.

I again contacted the CA who helped me with the revised returns filing and he said he was working on it for almost a year but finally for some reason, he said he is busy and cant help. Now, in the income tax portal I see the status of outstanding demand as rectification rights - assessing officer and Demand status as 'Contact Jurisdictional Assessing Officer'. I tried to file a revised return again but I get a message - “Your Rectification has already been sent to AST”. Also, when I see the status of the rectification, it says "No record found for the assessment year".

I am currently outside India and I cant contact the Jurisdictional officer personally. I contacted a CA in Bangalore on the phone and he told me that it may cost me too much (he is not willing to discuss the fees until he works on my case) and told it may take a long time to get this resolved or may not get resolved as well, as it depends on the assessing officer.

I am in a fix and I don't know what to do. Could you please tell me my options? Looking forward to your kind response.

Regards,
Sundeep.

AI Summary

Outstanding tax demand: rectification and revised return options require contacting the jurisdictional assessing officer or engaging a local consultant.
Outstanding demand persisted after filing a revised return claiming untaken deductions; portal shows reduced demand but status "rectification rights - assessing officer" and instruction "Contact Jurisdictional Assessing Officer." Further revision attempts are blocked by a message that rectification has been sent to AST while rectification status shows "No record found for the assessment year." The taxpayer cannot appear in person and is advised that revised returns are allowed and that engaging a local consultant or contacting the jurisdictional assessing officer is necessary to pursue the rectification.