Failure to issue Form-4 under the Income Declaration Scheme,...

Failure to issue Form-4 under the Income Declaration Scheme, 2016 despite payment of tax resulted in the disclosed income being again assessed in A.Y. 2017-18, causing double taxation. The court held that the self-assessment tax paid pursuant to the deeming fiction under Section 197(b) (treating the declaration as rejected for non-payment of the third instalment) was inextricably linked to the same undisclosed income and, consistent with CBDT Circular No. 25/2016 and the beneficial object of the revival provisions, had to be credited as payment towards the Scheme. Authorities were directed to treat the self-assessment tax as the third instalment, issue Form-4, and modify the A.Y. 2017-18 assessment by excluding the disclosed income and recomputing demand accordingly. - HC