28Interest payable by Government.
29214. (1) The Central
Government shall pay simple interest at 30[fifteen] per cent per annum on the amount by which the aggregate sum of
any instalments of advance tax paid during any financial year in which they are
payable under sections 207 to 213 exceeds the amount of the 31[assessed tax] from the 1st day of April next
following the said financial year to the date of the regular assessment for the
assessment year immediately following the said financial year, and where any
such instalment is paid after the expiry of the financial year, during which it
is payable by reason of the provisions of section 213,
interest as aforesaid shall also be payable on that instalment from the date of
its payment to the date of regular assessment :
32[Provided that in respect of any amount refunded on a provisional
assessment under section 141A, no interest shall
be paid for any period after the date of such provisional assessment.]
33[(1A) Where as a result of an order under section
147 or section 154 or section
155 or section 250 or section
254 or section 260 or section
262 or section 263 or section
264 34[or an order of the Settlement Commission under sub-section (4) of section 245D], the amount on which interest was
payable under sub-section (1) has been increased or reduced, as the case may
be, the interest shall be increased or reduced accordingly, and in a case where
the interest is reduced, the 35[Assessing] Officer shall serve on the assessee, a notice of demand in
the prescribed form specifying the amount of the excess interest payable and
requiring him to pay such amount ; and such notice of demand shall be deemed to
be a notice under section 156 and the provisions
of this Act shall apply accordingly.]
(2) On any portion
of such amount which is refunded under this Chapter, interest shall be payable
only up to the date on which the refund was made.
36[(3) This section and sections 215, 216 and 217 shall not
apply in respect of any assessment for the assessment year commencing on the
1st day of April, 1989, or any subsequent assessment year and, in the
application of the said sections to the assessment for any earlier assessment
year, references therein [except in sub-section (1A) and sub-section (3) of section 215] to the other provisions of this Act
shall be construed as references to those provisions as for the time being in
force and applicable to the relevant assessment year.]
37[Explanation 1.—In this section, “assessed tax” shall have the
same meaning as in sub-section (5) of section 215.
Explanation 2.—Where, in relation to an assessment year, an
assessment is made for the first time under section
147, the assessment so made shall be regarded as a regular assessment for
the purposes of this section.]