Clarification regarding new Form No.17

Mr. S.S.N. Moorthy,

Chairman

Central Board of Direct Taxes

Department of Revenue

Ministry of Finance

Government of India

North Block

New Delhi – 110 001

Respected Sir,

Sub: Clarification regarding new Form No.17

The Income-tax Rules relating to time and mode of payment to Government account of -

(1) tax deducted at source; or

(2) tax paid under Chapter XVII-B; or

(3) tax collected at source under Chapter XVII-BB

have been amended vide the Income-tax (8th Amendment) Rules 2009 with effect from 1st April, 2009.

The two significant requirements arising as a consequence of such amendments are as follows –

(1) The new Rules [namely, Rule 30(4) and Rule 37CA(2)], inter-alia, mandatorily require the person responsible for making deduction, or payment of tax, under Chapter XVII-B, and the person responsible for making collection under Chapter XVII-BB, to electronically furnish an income-tax challan in new Form No.17 within the specified time.

(2) Further, new Rules 30(1)(b) and 37CA(1) provide that all sums deducted in accordance with the provisions of Chapter XVII-B and all sums collected in accordance with the provisions of Chapter XVII-BB should be paid to the credit of the Central Government within one week from the end of the month in which the deduction or collection is made.

From a combined reading of both the requirements [i.e. (1) and (2)] above, it is clear that remittances have to be made by the 7th of the succeeding month in new Form No.17. Therefore, the tax deducted and collected during the month of April, 2009 have to be remitted latest by 7th May, 2009 in new Form No.17.

However, the new Form No.17 has not yet been uploaded in the payment gateway on the site www.incometaxindia.gov.in. Only the old challan 281 is available on the website.

Therefore, we request you to clarify whether remittances can be made using the old challan 281. This clarification is required on an urgent basis since the new rules make it mandatory to furnish income-tax challan in new Form No.17 and only two more days are available to comply with this requirement.