A Complete Guide to Section 119 of the Income Tax Act

Sec 139(1) ofthe Income Tax Act mandates you to file your returns on or before the last date of returns. Returns are filed to claim any excess of tax that you might have paid to the government or to carry forward the losses, if any, to be written off against income earned over the next few years. However, it is noticedcthat many people fail to file returns within the given time for various reasons. This does not mean that you are no longer eligible to apply for refunds. Under Section 119 of the Income Tax Act, you can still apply for refunds.

• Section 119 of the Income Tax Act lets you claim tax refunds after the due date of return filing.
• It accords CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes) with the power to authorise an income tax official of a lower rank, excluding Commissioner (Appeals), to entertain your claim applications for refund, exemptions, deduction or any other relief beyond the specified return date.
• It ensures that you are not denied your refund rights or claim losses.
• There are various sub-sections to section 119, including section 119(1), section 119(2) (a), section 119(2) (b), section 119(2) (c).

Section 119 of the Income Tax Act allows you to claim tax refunds after the last date of filing the returns expires. It authorises the CBDT to pass specific instructions to its employees to comply and allow you for claims deductions even after the expiry of the last date of returns.

The various sub-sections of Section 119 are as follows:

Section 119 (1)

This section deals with issuing specific directions to income tax officials to ensure proper implementation of the Act. However, it has to be noted that in cases where special jurisdiction or assessment needs to be done, no order by any official, especially the commissioner (appeals), can be issued. This is done to save you from any bias or prejudice.

Section 119(2) (a)

This deals with providing certain relaxations in case of waiver/reduction of interest under sections 234A, 234B, 234C, 234E and other penal consequences.

Section 119(2) (b)

This section deals with allowing applications for condonation of delay in filing returns. Condonation refers to special permission granted by the authorised official to file late returns without paying any kind of penalty. However, condonation of delay is allowed only if you manage to provide valid reasons and convince the concerned authority that you had genuine reasons behind not filing the tax return on time.

Section 119(2) (c)

This section deals with allowing claim deduction relaxation applicable under section IV/VI-A in cases where you fail to provide the required assessment details on the specified time but do so before the completion of the assessment by the IT official.

Even though Section 119(2) (b)allows you to claim refunds beyond the due date, there are certain guidelines. These are as follows:

Monetary Claim Limit

CBDT has issued certain directives via a circular dated 09.05.2015, which states the level of tax official/authority authorised to accept/reject claim applications based on the claim amount.
Given below are the details of the maximum claim amount and the respective tax official empowered to deal with it

Time Limit

The next guideline is the maximum time limit, i.e. the maximum time for filing claim applications under Sec tion119.Details of the time limit under various scenarios are given below:

Some other points to be duly noted before filing claim requests under section 119 (2) (b):

• Excess tax deduction at source (TDS) collected at source
• Excess advance tax payments made
• Excess payment made towards self-assessment tax.

• Your income should not be taxable under the hands of a third person under the Income Tax Act of 1961.
• You will not be entitled to any interest on refund claims.
• The refund so claimed by you must be due to any one of the following reasons-

You need to follow the below-mentioned steps to file a return under Section 119(2) (b):

• Login to the income tax e-filing portal and click on the “income tax returns” button available under the “e-file” tab
• Select the applicable assessment year and choose “Filing against notice/order”.
• Thereafter, click the filing section as “139 read with Section 119(2) (b)
• Finally, upload an XML/JSON, verify the details, and file your returns.

The concerned authorities need to accept and reject/close the case within 6 months of having received the claim application. For instance, if you filed a claim application on 15th May 2023, the claim authority has to accept and close/reject the case by 15thNov 2023.

Understand what is Section 119 of the Income Tax Act and how it works. If you are eligible for a refund, you can file your returns and claim it after the due date. Follow the correct tax filing process to claim your refunds and get your excess tax amount back.