INCOMETAX RETURN RETENTION PERIOD

Individual assessee is expected to retain his papers only for the maximum of 8 years.  Not beyond that.  Each of the departments have definite policy as regards the retantion of various documents.  Surely, the Income Tax Department also would be having such a policy and accordingly the records would be available. 

Very recently, the records in one of the wings of the Income Tax Department in New Delhi (probably Mayur Bhavan) got destroyed in fire and even the income tax department is not having the records.  In fact, the assees who are seeking refund are being advised to produce duplicate copy of the returns and the relevant documents before their refunds could be processed.

Thus, you have to approach the Income Tax Department and find out whether they have such old returns with them.  If they say that they are having, then you can approach the court to summon such records for evidence purposes.

 thanks a lot for reply but  the department officers are not ready to entertain any person for any information , they simply say the documents are so old and might be destroyed because they dont want to help ppl  and they also say that  the management is changed twice or thrice   so the document is not traceble  this is such a lame excuse  so at this situation how can we prove a document i have the  photocopies of the return with me . is the any register where they record that what are the documents they are destroying with serial no. on it  and who is the assessee in that document i mean all the details relating to that document

The Income tax Department functions are different from the civil courts proceedings. There is a limitation of 8 yrs for maintaining the records. The object behind is that no assessment can be reopened beyond the period of 6yrs from end of the relevant assessment year as per section 149(1) of the income tax Act.. Where there is appeal against assessment  and recovery proceedings are pending the records are needed for a longer period and they are kept beyond that period.

The purpose of a document being produced as a witness under civil proceedings is different. The civil courts funtion with no time limit.  But the income tax department functions with statutory time limits for each and every action which is stipulated under Income tax Act.

Primarily the income tax return and documents are documents between the assesee and the department and they are in fact not a public document. Just because you want to prove an issue by attaching witness of an photo copy of a assessment doucment or return of income of  a old year, you cannot make the income tax depatment to corrobrate such documents that too  over a period of 20 yrs. 

The purpose of maintenance of record is limited and hence they are maintained only till the matter survives the necessity and not permanently. There nature is not like land records which may needed to prove the inhertiance  by successive generations

A.R.Sathyan