Section 380 — Interpretation. Successor to s.245N of the 1961 Act.
Section 380 is in Chapter XVIII — Appeals Revisions and Alternate Dispute Resolutions, which runs from section 356 to section 389.
The section defines five terms for the Chapter on advance rulings.
Clause (a) defines "advance ruling" through five limbs: a determination by the Board for Advance Rulings in relation to a transaction undertaken or proposed by a non-resident applicant; a determination on the tax liability of a non-resident arising out of a transaction undertaken or proposed by a resident applicant with him; a determination on the tax liability of a resident applicant arising out of a transaction undertaken or proposed by him, including any question of law or of fact specified in the application; a determination or decision on an issue relating to computation of total income pending before any income-tax authority or the Appellate Tribunal, including any question of law or of fact relating to that computation; and a determination or decision whether an arrangement proposed by any person, resident or non-resident, is an impermissible avoidance arrangement as referred to in Chapter XI.
Clause (b) defines "applicant" as a person answering one of five descriptions matching those limbs — a non-resident under clause (a)(i); a resident under clause (a)(ii); a resident under clause (a)(iii) falling within a class or category of persons notified by the Central Government; a resident falling within a class or category so notified; or a person referred to in clause (a)(v) — and who makes an application under section 383(1).
Clauses (c) to (e) define "application" as one made under section 383(1), "Board for Advance Rulings" as the Board constituted under section 381, and "Member" as a Member of that Board.
An advance ruling is a determination given before the ordinary assessment machinery has run, so the Chapter has to be exact about who may ask, what may be asked, and of whom. This section supplies those boundaries: the five limbs of clause (a) fix the subject matter, and clause (b) matches each limb to the person entitled to raise it, with the two resident categories confined to classes notified by the Central Government.
Access is asymmetric. A non-resident may apply on his own transaction without more, but a resident applying about his own tax liability under clause (b)(iii) or (iv) qualifies only if he falls within a class or category notified by the Central Government — so for most residents that door is closed until such a notification exists. A resident does have unqualified access in one situation, clause (b)(ii), where the question is the tax liability of the non-resident with whom he transacts. Clause (a)(iv) is different in kind: it is not confined to a proposed transaction but covers an issue of computation already pending before an income-tax authority or the Tribunal. Clause (a)(v) is open to any person but only for a proposed arrangement. Throughout, a determination expressly includes any question of law or of fact specified in the application.
A resident company proposes to pay a fee to a foreign supplier and is unsure whether the supplier is chargeable to tax in India. It may apply under clause (b)(ii), because the question is the tax liability of a non-resident arising out of a transaction it proposes to undertake with him. Had it wanted a ruling on its own liability on the same payment, it could apply only if it fell within a class or category notified by the Central Government.
A taxpayer meets it when framing an application to the Board for Advance Rulings under section 383(1) — this section decides whether the question asked is an advance ruling at all and whether the person asking is an applicant. It does not appear in a notice or an assessment order.
a determination or decision by the Board for Advance Rulings in respect of an issue relating to computation of total income which is pending before any income-tax authority or the Appellate Tribunal
is a resident referred to in clause (a)(iii) falling within any such class or category of persons as the Central Government may, by notification, specify
See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.
All of them are in the Rules 2026 index.
See the notifications index.