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Case lawIncome-tax Act 2025Chapter XVIII › Section 388
Chapter XVIIIwas s.245V

Section 388 of the Income-tax Act, 2025

Section 388 — Procedure of Board for Advance Rulings. Successor to s.245V of the 1961 Act.

Where this section sits

Section 388 is in Chapter XVIII — Appeals Revisions and Alternate Dispute Resolutions, which runs from section 356 to section 389.

← Section 387  ·  Section 389 →

What this section does

One sentence: the Board for Advance Rulings has power to regulate its own procedure in all matters arising out of the exercise of its powers under the Act, subject to the provisions of this Chapter.

Why it is there

The Board for Advance Rulings is not a court and the Act does not prescribe a code of procedure for it. The section lets it settle its own procedure, while keeping that freedom inside whatever the Chapter itself lays down.

Who it applies to

What this means in practice

The power is over procedure, not over substance, and it is expressly "subject to the provisions of this Chapter", so anything the Chapter itself provides about how the Board must proceed prevails over a procedure the Board adopts for itself. Within that limit the power covers all matters arising out of the exercise of its powers under the Act, so there is no separate code to look for.

Where you meet this section

An applicant meets it only as the source of the procedure followed on his application before the Board for Advance Rulings; it confers no right and imposes no obligation on a taxpayer directly.

The words themselves

shall, subject to the provisions of this Chapter, have power to regulate its own procedure in all matters arising out of the exercise of its powers under this Act
Section 388, 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.

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.