Know your jurisdiction Income Tax

3 crores taxpayers in India file the tax return at the end of the assessment year. After the implementation of Centralized processing of the Income Tax, all the taxpayers can now e-file their Income Tax Returns. In the online portal of the Income Tax, the taxpayer mentioned about the jurisdictional information while filing the taxes. It is not necessary taxpayers know about the jurisdiction of their Income Tax; it is good if they know as it helps in dealing with any kind of dispute that might arise in the future in the context of Income Tax.

In case the taxpayer does not provide any jurisdictional information, the system automatically will route the case to the Assessing Officer, based on the PAN card details of the taxpayer.

Jurisdictional Assessment Officer

Jurisdictional Assessing officer handles well all the work related to Income Tax. Jurisdictional Assessing officers are also known as Assessing Officer. He or she is a quasi-judicial statutory authority. Jurisdictional Assessing officer assigned to safeguard the interests of the Income Tax Department. The Jurisdictional Assessing Officer could be an Income-tax Officer, an Additional Commissioner, Assistant Commissioner, Joint Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner.

Duties of the Assessment officer

• Assessing officer has the official power for giving judgments, make assessments and take decisions for the Income Tax issues.
• Assessing officers can also ask the taxpayer to provide books of account and other details for tax verification.
• The Designation of the Assessing Officer might differ based on the Income volume or the nature of the trade as assigned by CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes). It is the department that deals with Income taxes.

Central Processing Cell (CPC) Bangalore is responsible for doing the processing of the Income Tax Return. But there are cases where one might require meeting the Assessment Officer if:

Challan 280 filed online is wrong

The taxpayer receives any notice from the department of Income regarding any outstanding demand or related to Income Tax refund, inquiry or scrutiny regarding the reasons for not processing the tax returns. In all such scenarios, require human intervention and involvement and the taxpayer that needs to know his or her Assessing Officer.

Paper submission needs to be done with proper documentation to the Assessing Officer and get the acknowledgment of the same after doing the submission. It can be just a stamp on the letter, which is submitted, and it should be dated. One must carry two copies of the letter. For documentation needs, keep a copy of the submitted papers. All Xerox copies are to be submitted for assessment and not the originals.

In such complicated situations, if no action is taken by the Assessing Officer, the taxpayer has the authority to take the case to a higher authority by writing to the Jurisdictional Chief commissioner. In such a situation, all copies of the applications and letters were submitted to the Assessing Officer.

The taxpayer doesn't need to meet the Assessing Officer. He or she can also ask his or her lawyer and Chartered Accountant to represent the case to Assessing Officer.

Jurisdictional details

When you are filing Income Tax Return online, make sure that you are aware of the ward of the Income Tax or Income Tax Circle. It is the same information that is needed at the time of applying for a new PAN. If you have such jurisdictional information, it proves to be helpful for any correspondence from the Income Tax Department.

Many times, Income Tax Department issues intimations, notices or other orders to the taxpayers in the address based on their jurisdiction. If the taxpayer needs to file some Income Tax Application, they need Jurisdictional Assessment Officer.

Taxpayer’s jurisdiction is the ward under which his or her PAN comes. It corresponds to the ward numbers of Town Panchayat, Municipal Corporation or Municipality. It is the jurisdiction where a taxpayer can bring up tax disputes.

Area Code or the Area Jurisdiction of Income Tax Department comprises of:

The details of jurisdiction provide the building name of the Assessing Officer along with the email id. For any tax disputes that require to be handled in person, these above-mentioned details allow the taxpayer to connect the right officer at the right location.

How to find your Jurisdiction Income Tax

Income -Tax Ward or Circle is the range where the taxpayer needs to file return. Many Income-Tax officers were appointed by the Income Tax Department across the country to whom various categories of the taxpayers are allotted to them.

Taxpayers of each category will fall under the jurisdiction of an officer who has been assigned for that area or category. The following are the steps involved to find the Income-tax jurisdiction of an individual.

The following steps are to be followed to find your jurisdiction:

Step 1: Go to the income tax e-filing website and log in using your PAN and password

Step 2: In the top menu select “Profile Settings”

Step 3: Click on “PAN details”

And this will show the Jurisdiction information along with the PAN information.

Note: To find the address of the building of the Jurisdictional Assessment Officer, go to the website: http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/Pages/jurisdiction.aspx. You will see a list of states. Click on the state where your address belongs, and a PDF document will open which contains all pertinent detail required.

Process to change your Jurisdictional Assessing Officer

It is very common for people to do relocation to new places due to professional or other reasons. Relocation results in changing of their residential addresses. After that, many other aspects need to be modified and updated for filing the Income Tax Returns.

For correspondence to be made going forward with the Income-Tax Department, people are required to change their jurisdictions. In such a case, taxpayers are required to inform their existing jurisdictional income-tax officers about such changes by giving applications in writing.

Sometimes, the jurisdiction of the taxpayer changes automatically. It was done to ensure

• Hierarchy, uniform structure or improving the tax revenue
• Ensuring the maintain communication channels
• Enabling easier resolutions for disputes related to tax
• Getting a better grip over the frauds related to tax

Jurisdiction is the geographical area for which an Assessing Officer can assess requests. It is usually connected with the Permanent Account Number (PAN). However, if there is any change in address or city, there might be a change in the Assessing Officer.

The taxpayer or PAN holder must inform these changes by filling up a form to the nearest IT PAN Service Centre or TIN Facilitation Centre in the existing jurisdiction to make the required correction in PAN databases kept by the Income Tax department.

However, updating the PAN databases with the detail of the newly changed address does not change the jurisdiction automatically.

One must give an application to the existing Assessing Officer informing the change of place and request for transferring the case records and the jurisdiction to the new Assessing Officer.

Once approved by both officers, the existing officer will initiate the transfer of jurisdiction to the new Assessing Officer.

As per Section 127(4) of the Income Tax Act of 1961, an income tax file could be transferred during any stage of its action, even in case of pending assessments.

In case a file is transferred if there is any pending demand or refund of tax that could be collected or refunded by the new Assessing Officer. Currently, refund and demand are processed by the Central Processing Centre, at Bangalore.