Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Revenue

Central Board of Direct Taxes

New Delhi, 24th December, 2018

PRESS RELEASE

Exception from online filing of application under section 197 and 206C (9) in the cases of NRIs and resident applicants

The Central Board of Direct Taxes has decided to allow exception from online filing of application under section 197 and 206C (9) in the cases of NRIs and resident applicants.

Vide Notification No. 74/2018 dated 25.10.2018, Rule 28 of the Income Tax Rules, 1962 was amended to prescribe electronic filing of application for lower deduction or no deduction under sections 197 of Income Tax Act, 1961 using digital signature or EVC. Similar changes were also made in Rule 37G to prescribe electronic filing of application under section 206C (9) for lower or nil rate of tax collection at source (TCS). The functionality for online filing has since been made available by CPC-TDS through TRACES portal. Form No. 13 is the common form for application under sections 197 and 206C (9).

For proper administration of the provisions of sections 197 and 206C (9) and to remove genuine hardship being faced by certain applicants in filing online application in Form No. 13, the Central Board of Direct Taxes by virtue of the powers conferred under section 119(1) of the Income Tax Act has:

(i) allowed non-resident Indians (NRIs), who are not able to register themselves on TRACES, to file manual application in Form No. 13 before the TDS officer or in ASK Centers till 31.03.2019.

(ii) allowed resident applicants to file manual application in Form No. 13 before the TDS officer or in ASK Centers till 31.12.2018.

(Y. D. Sharma)

Commissioner of Income Tax

(Media & Technical Policy)

Official Spokesperson, CBDT.

Ref. ORDER

Exception from electronic filing allows manual Form 13 submission for NRIs and residents until staggered deadlines. CBDT authorised an administrative exception to mandatory electronic filing for Form No. 13 applications for lower or nil TDS under section 197 and lower or nil TCS under section 206C(9). NRIs unable to register on TRACES may file Form No. 13 manually before the TDS officer or at ASK Centres until 31.03.2019; resident applicants may do so until 31.12.2018, under powers conferred by section 119(1).