Section 48 — Tea development account, coffee development account and rubber development account. Successor to s.33AB of the 1961 Act.
Section 48 is in Chapter IV — Computation of Total Income, which runs from section 13 to section 95.
Sub-section (1) allows an assessee carrying on the business of growing and manufacturing tea, coffee or rubber in India a deduction worked out on deposits made into a "special account" or "deposit account", but the deduction itself is computed under Schedule IX, not here. Sub-section (2) reverses the relief: anything withdrawn, utilised or released from those accounts, whether at closure of the account or otherwise, is charged to tax as Schedule IX provides. Sub-section (3) does the same for assets bought under the special scheme or the deposit scheme referred to in Schedule IX — a sale or other transfer of such an asset in a tax year is charged to tax under that Schedule. The section is three sentences of gateway; every operative number and condition sits in Schedule IX.
It gives plantation businesses a deduction for money set aside in a designated account for the development of the plantation, and then claws the relief back if the money is taken out or the asset bought with it is sold. The section keeps only the entitlement and the charge; the mechanics are consolidated in Schedule IX.
Reading this section alone will not tell you how much you can deposit, by when, what percentage of profits is deductible, or how long the money must stay in the account — all of that is in Schedule IX, and the section says so three times. Treat s.48 as the charging and relief hook and work the actual claim from the Schedule. Withdrawing from the account or selling a scheme asset is a taxable event, so the relief is conditional rather than final.
A company growing and manufacturing tea in India deposits into the special account and claims a deduction for the tax year, but the amount of that deduction is worked out under Schedule IX — sub-section (1) states no percentage and no deposit deadline of its own. If the company later withdraws from the account, or closes it, sub-section (2) charges the amount withdrawn, utilised or released to tax as Schedule IX provides. If instead it sells a machine bought under the special scheme, sub-section (3) makes that sale a separate charge under the same Schedule, whatever has happened inside the account. A grower of some other plantation crop is outside the section altogether, which reaches only tea, coffee and rubber, and only in India.
It surfaces in the computation of business income in the return of a tea, coffee or rubber grower-manufacturer, and again in an assessment when a deposit is withdrawn or a scheme asset is sold. The section names no form and no authority — the deposit scheme, the computation and the charge on withdrawal are all in Schedule IX.
such assessee shall be allowed a deduction on the basis of deposits into the special account or deposit account and computed as per the provisions of the Schedule IX
See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.
All of them are in the Rules 2026 index.
See the notifications index.