The Central Board of Direct Taxes have further decided that the Notification No. 31 of 2009 dated 25.3.2009 amending or substituting Rules 30, 31, 31A and 31AA of the Income Tax Rules, 1962 shall be kept in abeyance for the time being.

Taxpayers filing their income tax returns for assessment year (AY) 2009-10, or any other earlier AY, may continue to file their returns without mentioning the Unique Transaction Number (UTN) as required under the said Notification. The filing of such returns shall be treated as valid and in compliance to the requirements under section 139 of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

Further, the date from which the Notification No. 31 / 2009 shall become applicable on tax deducted at source (TDS) or tax collected at source (TCS) and deposited during the current financial year shall be notified by the Central Board of Direct Taxes subsequently.

All deductors / collectors of TDS / TCS may continue to deposit their TDS / TCS and file their quarterly TDS / TCS returns as per procedure existing prior to issuance of Notification No.31 / 2009 dated 25.3.2009.

Unique Transaction Number requirement kept in abeyance; returns without UTN treated as compliant and existing TDS procedures continue. The Unique Transaction Number (UTN) requirement from Notification No. 31/2009 is kept in abeyance; taxpayers may file income tax returns without a UTN and such filings will be treated as valid and compliant with the Income Tax Act. The Board will subsequently notify the date from which the notification applies to TDS and TCS deposits; until then deductors and collectors must continue depositing TDS/TCS and filing quarterly returns under the procedures existing before Notification No. 31/2009.