Section 252 — Power to call for information. Successor to s.133 of the 1961 Act.
Section 252 is in Chapter XIV — Tax Administration, which runs from section 236 to section 261.
Sub-section (1) empowers the Assessing Officer, the Joint Commissioner, the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) and the Commissioner (Appeals), for the purposes of the Act, to require six kinds of return or statement. Clause (a) allows them to require any person, including a banking company or any officer of one, to furnish within a specified time requisite information, or statements of account and affairs verified in the manner the authority specifies, giving information on matters that in the authority's opinion will be useful for or relevant to any enquiry or proceedings under the Act. Clause (b) allows a firm to be required to furnish a return of the names and addresses of its partners and their respective shares, and clause (c) a Hindu undivided family to furnish the names and addresses of its manager and members. Clause (d) allows any person whom the authority has reason to believe to be a trustee, guardian or agent to be required to furnish the names and addresses of the persons for or of whom he is trustee, guardian or agent. Clause (e) allows an assessee to be required to furnish a statement of the names and addresses of all persons to whom he has paid, in any tax year, rent, interest, commission, royalty, brokerage or any annuity that is not taxable under the head "Salaries", amounting to more than Rs. 10000 or such higher amount as may be prescribed, with particulars of all such payments. Clause (f) allows a dealer, broker or agent, or a person concerned in the management of a stock or commodity exchange, to be required to furnish names, addresses and particulars in connection with transfers of assets and the sums paid or received.
Sub-section (2) extends the clause (1)(a) power to the competent authority and the Assistant Director. Sub-section (3) regulates the exercise of the powers: under clause (a), they may not be exercised without the prior approval of the Principal Director or Director, or the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, by any income-tax authority below the rank of Principal Director or Director or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, other than the Joint Director or Assistant Director, in a case where no proceeding is pending; and under clause (b), they may be exercised by an income-tax authority notified under section 246(2)(a) for the purposes of an agreement referred to in section 159, even where no proceedings are pending before it or any other income-tax authority.
Much of what the Department needs is held by someone other than the taxpayer — a bank, a broker, a firm, a trustee — and this section lets an authority reach it. Because that reach extends to people against whom nothing is pending, sub-section (3)(a) requires senior approval when there is no proceeding, and sub-section (3)(b) separately authorises the information gathering that an exchange-of-information agreement under section 159 requires.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Threshold for a statement of payments by an assessee | More than Rs. 10000, or such higher amount as may be prescribed | Rent, interest, commission, royalty, brokerage or any annuity not taxable under the head "Salaries", paid to a person in any tax year | Sub-section (1)(e) |
This power is not confined to your own case. Clause (1)(a) reaches any person and asks for information relevant to any enquiry or proceedings under the Act, so a bank or a payer can be required to produce material about someone else entirely. The safeguard is procedural and narrow: sub-section (3)(a) requires prior approval of the Principal Director or Director, or the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, only where no proceeding is pending, and it expressly exempts the Joint Director and the Assistant Director from that requirement, so approval is not a universal precondition. Sub-section (3)(b) goes further and permits a notified authority to use the power for a section 159 agreement even when no proceeding is pending anywhere. The Rs. 10000 figure in clause (1)(e) is a floor that can be raised by rule, and it is measured per person per tax year across the listed payment types.
A firm pays Rs. 45000 of brokerage to one person during a tax year. Under clause (1)(e) the Assessing Officer can require a statement giving that person's name and address and the particulars of the payment, because the amount exceeds Rs. 10000. If no proceeding is pending against the firm and the officer issuing the requisition is below the rank of Principal Commissioner and is not a Joint Director or Assistant Director, sub-section (3)(a) requires prior approval before the requisition goes out.
You meet this as a written requisition from an Assessing Officer or an appellate authority asking for a statement of payments, partner or member details, or bank information — often when no assessment is pending against you at all, because the material is wanted for someone else's case or for an exchange of information under section 159.
assessee to furnish a statement of the names and addresses of all persons to whom he has paid in any tax year, rent, interest, commission, royalty, brokerage, or any annuity (not being any annuity taxable under the head "Salaries"), amounting to more than Rs. 10000, or such higher amount as may be prescribed, together with particulars of all such payments made
shall not be exercised by any income-tax authority below the rank of Principal Director or Director or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, other than the Joint Director or Assistant Director, without the prior approval of the Principal Director or Director or, as the case may be, the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, in a case where no proceeding is pending
may be exercised by an income-tax authority notified under section 246(2)(a), for the purposes of an agreement referred to in section 159, even if no proceedings are pending before it or any other income-tax authority
See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.
See the circulars index.
See the notifications index.