The
Income Tax Act, 1961, provides that if a taxpayer considers that his
total income warrants deduction of income tax at lower/ nil rate, he may
apply to the assessing officer (AO) requesting for lower withholding
certificate. Such application was to be e-filed by filling up Form 13.
The income tax department Monday allowed manual filing of form by
resident and NRI taxpayers wanting to apply for deduction of taxes at a
lower or nil rate on total income. The Income Tax Act, 1961, provides
that if a taxpayer considers that his total income warrants deduction of
income tax at
lower/ nil rate, he may apply to the assessing officer
(AO) requesting for lower withholding certificate. Such application was
to be e-filed by filling up Form 13.
However, to remove “genuine hardship” being faced by certain
applicants in filing online application in Form 13, the tax department
has allowed non-resident Indians (NRIs) to file manual application
before the TDS officer or in ASK Centres till March 31, 2019, a finance
ministry statement said. Also, resident applicants can file manual
application in Form 13 till December 31, 2018. Income Tax Rules (Rule
28, Rule 28AA, Rule 28AB, 37H, 37G) govern the mechanism for issuance of
certificate for deduction of tax at lower/ nil rate.
Nangia Advisors LLP Partner Suraj Nangia said the notification has
been issued to address the hardships arising in the transition phase of
shifting from manual filing to e-filing of the Form 13. “However, the
deferment of online filing of Form 13 is just for NRIs and not the other
category of non-resident taxpayers viz. companies or LLPs. Further,
relief for the resident taxpayers is only for a week, which implies that
we may see many residents rushing to file their lower withholding
applications till December 31, 2018,” Nangia said.