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Case lawIncome-tax Act 2025Chapter XVII › Section 334
Chapter XVIIwas s.11, s.115BBC, s.115BBI

Section 334 of the Income-tax Act, 2025

Section 334 — Tax on income of registered non-profit organisation. Successor to s.11, s.115BBC, s.115BBI of the 1961 Act.

Where this section sits

Section 334 is in Chapter XVII — Special Provisions Relating to Certain Persons, which runs from section 302 to section 355.

← Section 333  ·  Section 335 →

What this section does

Sub-section (1) fixes the income-tax payable by a registered non-profit organisation on its total income for a tax year as the aggregate of two amounts: under clause (a), tax at the rate of 30% on specified income for that tax year; and under clause (b), tax at the rate applicable under the other provisions of the Act on taxable regular income and on any residual income for that tax year.

Sub-section (2) gives the Chapter overriding force: its provisions apply irrespective of anything to the contrary contained in any other provision of the Act, other than sections 96 to 98.

Why it is there

A registered non-profit organisation is not taxed as an ordinary assessee, so its income has to be split by character before any rate can be applied. The section performs that split at the charging stage: a flat 30% falls on specified income, which is the category the Chapter treats as offending, while taxable regular income and residual income are left to the ordinary rates. Sub-section (2) makes the Chapter self-contained, subject only to the sections 96 to 98 carve-out.

Who it applies to

The figures, and what each one turns on

Read the condition in the same row. A figure quoted without it is a wrong answer with a citation attached.
WhatFigureThe condition on itWhere
Rate on specified income30%On the specified income of a registered non-profit organisation for the tax yearSub-section (1)(a)
Rate on taxable regular income and residual incomeThe rate applicable under other provisions of the ActOn taxable regular income and any residual income for the tax year; the section fixes no rate of its own for theseSub-section (1)(b)

What this means in practice

There is no single rate for a registered non-profit organisation: the tax is an aggregate of two computations, and the whole outcome turns on how income is classified into specified income on one side and taxable regular income and residual income on the other. Clause (b) states no figure — it sends the reader to whatever rate the other provisions of the Act apply to those categories — so the only rate this section itself supplies is the 30% in clause (a). Sub-section (2) means that where another provision of the Act would produce a different result, the Chapter prevails, with the single exception of sections 96 to 98, which continue to operate notwithstanding the Chapter.

An example

Illustrative only, and invented for this page. The figures are chosen to show the rule biting, not taken from any real matter.

A registered non-profit organisation has, for a tax year, specified income of Rs 20 lakh and taxable regular income of Rs 50 lakh. Its income-tax is Rs 6 lakh on the specified income at 30% under clause (a), plus tax on the Rs 50 lakh at the rate applicable to it under the other provisions of the Act under clause (b). The two are added; the 30% does not spread to the regular income, and the ordinary rate does not soften the specified income.

Where you meet this section

In the tax computation of a registered non-profit organisation's return and in an assessment order that reclassifies part of its income as specified income — the practical effect of which is that the reclassified amount moves to the flat 30% under clause (a).

The words themselves

at the rate of 30% on specified income for such tax year
Section 334(1)(a), Income-tax Act, 2025.
The provisions of this Chapter shall apply irrespective of anything to the contrary contained in any other provision of this Act other than sections 96 to 98.
Section 334(2), Income-tax Act, 2025.

What people get wrong

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.

See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.

Circulars of the Board on this section

A circular binds the department, not you and not a court. Every one below was written under the 1961 Act; it reaches this section because the department’s own concordance carries the provision it names to this one.

See every circular and notification on this section, or the circulars index.

Notifications that reach this section

A notification is made under a power the Act gives and, within that power, is law. These too were made under the 1961 Act and are placed here by the department’s concordance. We hold 697 in all; the 250 most recent are listed.

See every circular and notification on this section, or the notifications index.

Case law carried across

Read this before you rely on it. Every decision below was decided under the Income-tax Act, 1961. It appears here because it is tagged to a 1961 provision that the department’s own mapping carries to section 334. That is an inference we have drawn, not a holding on the new section: where the words changed in the move, the reasoning may not survive. Treat this as the place to start looking, not as authority on the 2025 Act.

Explainers

Read with

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.