Section 171 — Maintenance, keeping and furnishing of information and document by certain persons. Successor to s.92D of the 1961 Act.
Section 171 is in Chapter X — Special Provisions Relating to Avoidance of Tax, which runs from section 161 to section 177.
Sub-section (1) requires two classes of person — one who has entered into an international transaction or a specified domestic transaction, and one who is a constituent entity of an international group — to keep and maintain such information and document in respect of it, for such period and in such manner, as may be prescribed.
Sub-section (2) allows the Assessing Officer or the Commissioner (Appeals), during any proceeding under the Act, to require a person referred to in sub-section (1)(a) to furnish any of that information or document within ten days from the date of receipt of a notice issued in that regard. Sub-section (3) allows the same authority, on an application made by that person, to extend the ten days by a further period not exceeding thirty days.
Sub-section (4) requires every person referred to in sub-section (1)(b) — a constituent entity of an international group — to furnish the information and document to the authority prescribed under section 511(1), in such manner and on or before such date as may be prescribed. Sub-section (5) takes the meanings of "constituent entity" and "international group" from section 511(10)(d) and (g).
A transfer pricing or international group examination is only as good as the contemporaneous record behind it, and this section obliges the taxpayer to build and keep that record before any question is asked. The short ten-day period in sub-section (2) makes sense only on that footing: the documents are supposed to already exist, so the notice asks for production, not preparation.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time to furnish information and document on a notice | Ten days | From the date of receipt of the notice issued by the Assessing Officer or the Commissioner (Appeals) during a proceeding under the Act, to a person referred to in sub-section (1)(a) | Sub-section (2) |
| Maximum extension of that period | A further period not exceeding thirty days | Granted by the Assessing Officer or the Commissioner (Appeals) on an application made by that person; the section fixes a ceiling, not an entitlement | Sub-section (3) |
The obligation to keep the record is unconditional and continuous, and it does not depend on any notice: sub-section (1) requires the information and document to be kept and maintained for the prescribed period in the prescribed manner. The production power in sub-section (2) is narrower than the keeping obligation — it reaches only a person within sub-section (1)(a), that is one who has entered into an international or specified domestic transaction, and only during a proceeding under the Act. A constituent entity's obligation runs the other way: sub-section (4) requires it to furnish the information to the authority prescribed under section 511(1) on or before a prescribed date, without waiting to be asked. The extension in sub-section (3) is a ceiling of thirty further days and is discretionary, so the longest the period can run is forty days from receipt, and only on an application actually made.
A company that has entered into an international transaction receives a notice under sub-section (2) on 5 May during a transfer pricing proceeding. The documents are due on 15 May. It applies for more time; the Assessing Officer may extend by up to thirty further days, so 14 June is the outer limit, and nothing in the section permits a longer period however voluminous the material. The company's separate obligation as a constituent entity, if it is one, is not affected — that filing runs to the prescribed authority under sub-section (4) on its own prescribed date.
You meet this section as the notice under sub-section (2) calling for transfer pricing documentation during an assessment or an appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals), and as the constituent entity filing to the authority prescribed under section 511(1).
shall keep and maintain such information and document in respect thereof and for such period and in such manner, as may be prescribed
require any person referred to in sub-section (1)(a) to furnish any information or document referred therein within ten days from the date of receipt of a notice issued in this regard
the Assessing Officer or the Commissioner (Appeals) may, on an application made by such person, extend the period of ten days by a further period not exceeding thirty days
See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.
All of them are in the Rules 2026 index.
See the circulars index.
See the notifications index.
