Jurisdiction income Tax

India is massively populous country. On average, there are more than 3 crore taxpayers annually. That is a huge number as it is. Imagine the amount of paperwork one would have to do. But since technology has taken lead in every known field, India has also introduced e-filling methods. This is a centralised manner of filing tax returns. Everything is virtual and well documented.

While filling an e-form for a tax return, a taxpayer is asked to provide certain jurisdiction details. This is called Jurisdiction Income Tax. According to areas in which a person resides, he or she is divided into different jurisdiction areas and is provided with details regarding Income Tax Ward or income Tax Circle the fall under.

Just like PAN helps in the process of filing an income tax return, having information regarding Jurisdiction Income Tax is valuable.

• Income Tax Department uses the address mentioned in your PAN if they wish to send you any kind of notification.

• Furthermore, being aware of your Income Tax jurisdiction proves valuable in cases of dispute regarding income tax. In case a taxpayer faces any issue or receives a notice from the Income Tax Department, they might seek the help of respective Jurisdictional Assessing Officer.

There is more to a job of Jurisdictional Assessing Officer than just listing complaints. If one desires to file income tax offline, they should approach the Jurisdictional Assessment Officer. They will help you with this process.

There are two simple methods of finding Income Tax Jurisdiction-:

First Method

• Visit the official website and log in.
• Click on the link saying “Know Your PAN”.
• Now, you need to enter a few details- Name of the PAN Cardholder, Status of the PAN Cardholder (you can choose the right option from the drop-down menu), Gender, DOB and Mobile Number.
• Click on “Submit”. After this, an OTP will be sent to your registered mobile number. You need to enter this OTP and click on “Submit” once again. Then, all your details will be displayed on the screen.

Second Method

• Log into the e-filling website.
• Go to the “Profile setting” section and click on “My profile”
• Simply click on PAN Details and relevant information will be displayed on the screen.

As mentioned earlier, it is important to possess knowledge regarding the Income Tax Ward or Income Tax Circle. These are the details that are needed during the time of tax filing. Besides this, this information is required while applying for a new PAN. Income Tax Ward or Income Tax Circle details are specifically issued to an individual.

Jurisdiction Details help you in different ways

• The Income Tax Department uses the address mentioned along with your Jurisdictional Details, whenever they have to send a notice to you personally. Being aware of these details makes it easier for the Income Tax Department to approach you regarding important matters. Jurisdictional details lower the chances of unnecessary mix-ups.

• Jurisdictional details are needed during the process of e-filling of the income tax return.

• While applying for PAN, the Jurisdictional details might be asked.

• In cases of dispute related to a particular jurisdiction, the Income Tax department appoints a jurisdictional officer to resolve the dispute.

AO Code

• Area Code : The area in which the jurisdiction of the taxpayer is located is called the Area Code.

• AO Type : AO type refers to the type of Assessing Officer a taxpayer is put under. There are two things that need to be considered here- Ward and Circle. A taxpayer is labelled as “Circle” when he or she has an income of more than Rs. 10 Lakhs. According to the differentiation of Circle and Ward, AO type is also divided into AO type C and AO type W. When we talk about AO type C, we mean that the taxpayer is categorised under “Circle”. Similarly, when we talk about AO type W, we mean that the taxpayer is categorised under “Ward”.

• Range Code : Range Code refers to the range within which the income of the taxpayer lies.

• AO Number : AO number is Assessing Officer number. This number indicates the Assessing Office that has been assigned to a particular ward or circle.

Jurisdiction details not only include the name, but also the residing location of the Assessing Officer. This allows the taxpayer to approach the right authorities in times of need.

Changing your Jurisdictional Assessing Officer:

Income Tax People keep moving from city to city. Sometimes the reason is job or promotion. Whereas other times, the reason is marriage. And just as you move to a city, you need to make some adjustments, like finding a new home, a job and other similar things. Similarly, when you move from one city to another, you also need to update your jurisdiction details for the smooth working of Income-tax. Many times, the jurisdiction of individual changes automatically with the change in location. But other times, you need to manually make the changes. And simply changing the information on the PAN database does not change the jurisdiction on its own. You need to give a written application to the existing Assessing Officer regarding your change in location. Once it is approved by both the new and the existing Assessing officer, the transfer of sensitive information follows.

This process needs to be taken seriously, or else the consequences may be disastrous.