Section 255 of the Income-tax Act, 2025

Section 255 — Power to inspect registers of companies. Successor to s.134 of the 1961 Act.

Where this section sits

Section 255 is in Chapter XIV — Tax Administration, which runs from section 236 to section 261.

What this section does

The section allows a listed set of officers to inspect, and if necessary take or cause to be taken copies of, any register of the members, debenture holders or mortgagees of any company, or of any entry in such a register. The officers named are the Assessing Officer, an assessment unit, a verification unit, the Joint Commissioner, the Joint Commissioner (Appeals), the Commissioner (Appeals), and any person subordinate to any of them who is authorised in writing in this behalf by that officer or authority.

Why it is there

Ownership of shares, debentures and mortgages is recorded by the company rather than by the taxpayer, and those records establish who holds what and since when. The section gives the assessing and appellate machinery direct access to them without routing the request through the assessee, and extends it to the faceless units and to subordinates authorised in writing.

Who it applies to

The Assessing Officer, an assessment unit and a verification unit
The Joint Commissioner, the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) and the Commissioner (Appeals)
A person subordinate to any of them, authorised in writing in this behalf
A company whose register of members, debenture holders or mortgagees is inspected

What this means in practice

The power runs to inspection as of right, with copying allowed only "if necessary", and it is confined to the three registers named — members, debenture holders and mortgagees — or an entry in them, not to the company's books of account. A subordinate cannot exercise it on his own footing: the authorisation must be in writing from one of the officers or authorities listed. Because the appellate authorities are named too, the power is available in appellate proceedings and not only during assessment.

Where you meet this section

A company meets this section when an officer or an authorised subordinate attends to inspect its register of members, debenture holders or mortgagees, or asks for copies of entries. A shareholder does not meet it directly.

The words themselves

may inspect, and if necessary, take copies, or cause copies to be taken, of any register of the members, debenture holders or mortgagees of any company or of any entry in such register

Section 255, Income-tax Act, 2025.

or any person subordinate thereof and authorised in writing in this behalf by such officer or authority

Section 255, Income-tax Act, 2025.

What people get wrong

Treating the power as extending to the company's books of account. It is confined to the register of members, debenture holders or mortgagees, or an entry in it.
Allowing a subordinate to inspect without written authority. The section requires authorisation in writing in this behalf.
Assuming only the Assessing Officer may inspect. The section also names an assessment unit, a verification unit, the Joint Commissioner, the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) and the Commissioner (Appeals).
Reading copying as automatic. Copies may be taken if necessary; inspection is the primary power.

What this replaced

The correspondence is the Income Tax Department’s own, from its comparison utility for the 1961 and 2025 Acts. A renumbering is the easy half; whether the words changed is the half that decides cases.

134 - Power to inspect registers of companies

See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.

What this page does not tell you. It does not reproduce the section. Everything above was written from the section’s own text as the Income Tax Department publishes it — the text is here, and nothing here is advice on your facts. Where a figure matters, read the sub-section it comes from.