INCOME TAX

Instruction No : 14

Date of Issue  : 6-11-2003

Subject : Raising the Monetary Ceilings for Write-off and Reconstitution of Committees.

In partial modification of earlier instructions on the subject, the Board have revised the prescribed monetary ceilings for write-off of irrecoverable dues of Direct Taxes by the various income-tax authorities. At the same time, the Board have reviewed and modified the existing structure of the Committees for recommending write-off. The revised procedure in this regard would be as follows:

Regular Procedure:

2. A three-tier structure of Committees (as against two at present) to consider and recommend write-off has been approved as under:

•     Zonal Committee

•     Regional Committee, and;

•     Local Committee

2.1. Accordingly, the monetary ceilings with respect to the powers of various I.T. authorities to write-off irrecoverable dues have been enhanced and the level of authority whose administrative approval would be required for write-off has been re-defined. Further, the respective jurisdiction of the three Committees over write-off proposals has been re-delineated.

2.2. The revised scheme for write-off under the Regular Procedure is summarized in the following Table:

Committee	Constitution	To be Notified by	Order of Write-off by	Monetary Ceilings for Write-off
Local Committee	3 officers of the level of Addl. CIT	CCIT	ITO/TRO	Demand upto Rs. 5,000/-
			DCIT/ACIT	Demand over Rs. 5,000/- and upto Rs. 25,000/-
			Addl. CIT/JCIT	Demand over Rs. 25,000/- and upto Rs. 1 Lac
Regional Committee	3 officers of the leval of CIT	Cadre Controlling CCIT (under intimation to Board)	CIT Subject to report to the next higher	Demand over Rs. 1 lac and upto Rs. 10 lacs authority
Zonal Committee	3 officers of the leval of CCIT	CBDT	CCIT Subject to report to the next higher authority	Demand over Rs. 10 lacs and upto Rs. 25 lacs
			CCIT with the approval of Full Board	Demand over Rs. 25 lacs and upto Rs. 50 Lacs
			CCIT with the approval of Full Board and the Finance Minister	Demand over Rs. 50 Lacs

2.3 All other conditions and requirements under the Regular Procedure would remain unchanged.

Ad-hoc Procedure:

3. Under this procedure, the overall monetary ceiling has been raised from the present leval of Rs. 2,000/- to Rs. 5,000/-. Presently, irrecoverable demand exceeding Rs. 500/- requires issue of Irrecoverability Certificate by the Tax Recovery Officer (TRO). Such Certificate will now be required only in cases of irrecoverable demand exceeding Rs. 2,000/-.

3.1 All other conditions and requirements under the Ad-hoc Procedure would remain unchanged.

Summary Procedure:

4. The monetary ceiling under this procedure has been raised from the present leval of Rs. 25/- to Rs. 1,000/-.

4.1 All other conditions and requirements under the Summary Procedure would remain unchanged.

5. These instructions shall apply to irrecoverable dues under all Direct Tax enactments. It is reiterated that all procedures and conditions under the existing guidelines pertaining to write-off of irrecoverable demand, other than those mentioned herein, shall remain in force. All proposals to be sent to the Board and the Minister for write-off shall continue to be routed through Directorate of Income Tax (Recovery) as per the existing guidelines.

These Instructions will come into force immediately. Instruction regarding constitution of the various Committees are being issued separately.