The offshore fund I advise has no Indian income and files no return here. Does it still have to file anything because it uses an Indian fund manager?
Yes. Section 9A(5) requires every eligible investment fund, in respect of its activities in a financial year, to furnish within ninety days from the end of that financial year a statement in the prescribed form to the prescribed income-tax authority, containing information relating to the fulfilment of the conditions specified in section 9A and such other relevant information or documents as may be prescribed. Rule 10VB prescribes Form No. 3CEK, to be furnished electronically under digital signature to the Assessing Officer who has jurisdiction over the fund, or who would have had jurisdiction had the fund been assessable to tax in India but for section 9A.
Decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text) on 2025-04-01, reported as Income-tax Act 1961, s.9A(5), as printed on the Income-tax Department's section page carrying the year stamp 2025; Income-tax Rules 1962, rule 10VB, and rule 10V(3)(b), as printed on the Department's rule pages (rule pages carry no year stamp). It bears on section 9A, section 9A(5), section Rule 10VB, section Rule 10V of the Income Tax Act 1961, in Residence & Treaty Benefit and Assessment & Scrutiny matters.
This is the compliance obligation that exists precisely because the fund is NOT taxable in India, and it is therefore the one most often missed: there is no return, no notice and no demand to prompt it. The statement is the department's only window on whether the section 9A(3) conditions were met, so a fund that has never filed it has no contemporaneous record of compliance to produce when the question is eventually raised on the fund manager's own assessment. The deadline is ninety days from the end of the FINANCIAL YEAR, not from the end of the fund's own accounting period, and it is not tied to the section 139 due date. There is one piece of relief and it is narrow: rule 10V(3)(b) provides that the fund shall not be denied the benefit of being an eligible fund where the delay in furnishing the section 9A(5) statement does not exceed ninety days. Beyond that ninety days the rule offers nothing, and the consequence is not a fee but the loss of the status the whole structure depends on. Note also the jurisdiction rule in rule 10VB(1), which is designed for a fund with no Indian presence: the statement goes to the officer who WOULD have had jurisdiction over the fund had it been assessable in India but for section 9A.
Binding on the department, not on the assessee or the courts. An assessee may rely on a circular that is beneficial to them.
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Not a case. Rule 10VB(1) provides that the statement required to be furnished under section 9A(5) shall be furnished for every financial year by the eligible investment fund in Form No. 3CEK duly verified in the manner indicated therein, to the Assessing Officer who has the jurisdiction over the fund or who would have had the jurisdiction had such fund been assessable to tax in India but for the provision of section 9A. Rule 10VB(2) provides that the annual statement shall be furnished electronically under digital signature. Rule 10VB(3) provides that the Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or the Director General of Income-tax (Systems) shall specify the procedures, formats and standards for ensuring secure capture and transmission of data and shall be responsible for evolving and implementing appropriate security, archival and retrieval policies in relation to the furnishing of the annual statement. Rule 10V(3)(b) provides that a fund shall not be denied the benefit of being an eligible fund for the purposes of section 9A if there is delay in furnishing the statement referred to in section 9A(5) and such delay does not exceed a period of ninety days.
Section 9A(5) requires every eligible investment fund, in respect of its activities in a financial year, to furnish within ninety days from the end of the financial year a statement in the prescribed form to the prescribed income-tax authority containing information relating to the fulfilment of the conditions specified in the section, and also to provide such other relevant information or documents as may be prescribed. The prescribed form is Form No. 3CEK and the prescribed authority is the Assessing Officer identified in rule 10VB(1); the mode is electronic, under digital signature, by rule 10VB(2). A delay not exceeding ninety days does not by itself deny the fund the benefit of being an eligible fund, by rule 10V(3)(b).
Not a judicial route. The safe harbour in section 9A(1) and (2) removes the fund from the Indian charge, which also removes the ordinary machinery — return, assessment, scrutiny — by which the department would test whether the conditions attached to that removal were met. Sub-section (5) restores a machinery of its own: an annual, self-standing, condition-by-condition statement made by the fund itself, filed with the officer who would have assessed it had the safe harbour not applied. The ninety-day delay tolerance in rule 10V(3)(b) sits with the other tolerances in rule 10V and reflects the same design: a procedural slip is not made to cost the fund its status, while a sustained failure to report is.
Every eligible investment fund shall, in respect of its activities in a financial year, furnish within ninety days from the end of the financial year, a statement in the prescribed form, to the prescribed income-tax authority containing information relating to the fulfilment of the conditions specified in this section and also provide such other relevant information or documents as may be prescribed.
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Handle my notice → Ask a CA on WhatsAppYes. Section 9A(5) requires every eligible investment fund, in respect of its activities in a financial year, to furnish within ninety days from the end of that financial year a statement in the prescribed form to the prescribed income-tax authority, containing information relating to the fulfilment of the conditions specified in section 9A and such other relevant information or documents as may be prescribed. Rule 10VB prescribes Form No. 3CEK, to be furnished electronically under digital signature to the Assessing Officer who has jurisdiction over the fund, or who would have had jurisdiction had the fund been assessable to tax in India but for section 9A. This was decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text) and bears on section 9A, section 9A(5), section Rule 10VB, section Rule 10V of the Income Tax Act 1961. It is reported as Income-tax Act 1961, s.9A(5), as printed on the Income-tax Department's section page carrying the year stamp 2025; Income-tax Rules 1962, rule 10VB, and rule 10V(3)(b), as printed on the Department's rule pages (rule pages carry no year stamp). This is the compliance obligation that exists precisely because the fund is NOT taxable in India, and it is therefore the one most often missed: there is no return, no notice and no demand to prompt it. The statement is the department's only window on whether the section 9A(3) conditions were met, so a fund that has never filed it has no contemporaneous record of compliance to produce when the question is eventually raised on the fund manager's own assessment. The deadline is ninety days from the end of the FINANCIAL YEAR, not from the end of the fund's own accounting period, and it is not tied to the section 139 due date. There is one piece of relief and it is narrow: rule 10V(3)(b) provides that the fund shall not be denied the benefit of being an eligible fund where the delay in furnishing the section 9A(5) statement does not exceed ninety days. Beyond that ninety days the rule offers nothing, and the consequence is not a fee but the loss of the status the whole structure depends on. Note also the jurisdiction rule in rule 10VB(1), which is designed for a fund with no Indian presence: the statement goes to the officer who WOULD have had jurisdiction over the fund had it been assessable in India but for section 9A. If it applies to you, the first step is this: Diarise the ninety-day deadline from the end of the financial year, separately from any Indian return deadline, and treat it as a hard date for the fund itself, not for the manager.
Not a case. Rule 10VB(1) provides that the statement required to be furnished under section 9A(5) shall be furnished for every financial year by the eligible investment fund in Form No. 3CEK duly verified in the manner indicated therein, to the Assessing Officer who has the jurisdiction over the fund or who would have had the jurisdiction had such fund been assessable to tax in India but for the provision of section 9A. Rule 10VB(2) provides that the annual statement shall be furnished electronically under digital signature. Rule 10VB(3) provides that the Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or the Director General of Income-tax (Systems) shall specify the procedures, formats and standards for ensuring secure capture and transmission of data and shall be responsible for evolving and implementing appropriate security, archival and retrieval policies in relation to the furnishing of the annual statement. Rule 10V(3)(b) provides that a fund shall not be denied the benefit of being an eligible fund for the purposes of section 9A if there is delay in furnishing the statement referred to in section 9A(5) and such delay does not exceed a period of ninety days. The matter was decided on 2025-04-01 by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text). On those facts the CBDT Circulars & Instructions held as follows. Section 9A(5) requires every eligible investment fund, in respect of its activities in a financial year, to furnish within ninety days from the end of the financial year a statement in the prescribed form to the prescribed income-tax authority containing information relating to the fulfilment of the conditions specified in the section, and also to provide such other relevant information or documents as may be prescribed. The prescribed form is Form No. 3CEK and the prescribed authority is the Assessing Officer identified in rule 10VB(1); the mode is electronic, under digital signature, by rule 10VB(2). A delay not exceeding ninety days does not by itself deny the fund the benefit of being an eligible fund, by rule 10V(3)(b).
Not a judicial route. The safe harbour in section 9A(1) and (2) removes the fund from the Indian charge, which also removes the ordinary machinery — return, assessment, scrutiny — by which the department would test whether the conditions attached to that removal were met. Sub-section (5) restores a machinery of its own: an annual, self-standing, condition-by-condition statement made by the fund itself, filed with the officer who would have assessed it had the safe harbour not applied. The ninety-day delay tolerance in rule 10V(3)(b) sits with the other tolerances in rule 10V and reflects the same design: a procedural slip is not made to cost the fund its status, while a sustained failure to report is. In the words reproduced by the source cited on this page: "Every eligible investment fund shall, in respect of its activities in a financial year, furnish within ninety days from the end of the financial year, a statement in the prescribed form, to the prescribed income-tax authority containing information relating to the fulfilment of the conditions specified in this section and also provide such other relevant information or documents as may be prescribed."
It was decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions on 2025-04-01 and is reported as Income-tax Act 1961, s.9A(5), as printed on the Income-tax Department's section page carrying the year stamp 2025; Income-tax Rules 1962, rule 10VB, and rule 10V(3)(b), as printed on the Department's rule pages (rule pages carry no year stamp). Binding on the department, not on the assessee or the courts. An assessee may rely on a circular that is beneficial to them. A CBDT circular or instruction binds officers of the department but not the assessee and not the courts. Where a circular helps you, you may hold the department to it. Where it hurts you, it cannot override the Act or a judgment. On section 9A, section 9A(5), section Rule 10VB, section Rule 10V, the practical question is whether the facts of your own notice match the facts of this case closely enough for the same rule to apply.
It cuts both ways and is cited by both sides. Section 9A(5) requires every eligible investment fund, in respect of its activities in a financial year, to furnish within ninety days from the end of the financial year a statement in the prescribed form to the prescribed income-tax authority containing information relating to the fulfilment of the conditions specified in the section, and also to provide such other relevant information or documents as may be prescribed. The prescribed form is Form No. 3CEK and the prescribed authority is the Assessing Officer identified in rule 10VB(1); the mode is electronic, under digital signature, by rule 10VB(2). A delay not exceeding ninety days does not by itself deny the fund the benefit of being an eligible fund, by rule 10V(3)(b). It arises in Residence & Treaty Benefit and Assessment & Scrutiny matters, on section 9A, section 9A(5), section Rule 10VB, section Rule 10V of the Income Tax Act 1961, and was decided by Not applicable — statutory text. Before relying on it, read the source linked on this page and check whether it has since been distinguished, overruled or overtaken by an amendment to the Income Tax Act. In practice the steps that follow from it are these. File in Form No. 3CEK, electronically and under digital signature, as rule 10VB(1) and (2) require; a signed PDF sent to the officer is not compliance with sub-rule (2). Establish which officer has, or would have had, jurisdiction over the fund under rule 10VB(1) before the deadline, not after — for a fund with no Indian assessment history this takes time to settle. Populate the statement with the evidence for each of the section 9A(3) conditions for that year, because that is what the sub-section asks for: information relating to the fulfilment of the conditions specified in the section. If the statement is late, measure the delay: rule 10V(3)(b) preserves eligibility only where the delay does not exceed ninety days, so a filing made on day ninety-one of the grace period is outside the relief the rule gives. Keep the filing acknowledgment with the fund's permanent file — on any later question about a past year it is the only contemporaneous departmental record that the conditions were reported as satisfied.
Still good law. Section 9A(5) was read on the Department's section page carrying the year stamp 2025, the highest year stamp located for that section, and its wording was unchanged on the archived page carrying the year stamp 2024 (No. 1) which was read for other sub-sections in the same pass. Rule 10VB was read on the Department's rule page, which carries no year stamp; I therefore cannot confirm from that page whether the rule has since been amended, and I did not locate an amending notification. No judicial decision on section 9A(5) or rule 10VB was located. No source could be cited for that finding. Checking whether an authority still stands matters as much as knowing what it held: a decision may be overruled on one point and survive on another, or the provision it interprets may have been amended since. Read the source and the editor's note on this page before relying on it in a reply to an Assessing Officer or in an appeal.
This is a statutory entry, not a decision, and 'decided_on' is not a decision date; it is 1 April 2025, the commencement date of the version of section 9A read this pass. Rule 10VB could NOT be dated: the Income-tax Department's rule pages carry no 'Year:' stamp, so I cannot say when it was made or last amended and do not imply that I have dated it. I did not read Form No. 3CEK itself this pass, so nothing is said here about the contents of the form beyond what section 9A(5) and rule 10VB say. Section 9A(5) contains no penalty of its own and I did not check this pass whether any general penalty provision has been applied to a failure to furnish this statement — the only consequence stated here is the one rule 10V(3)(b) itself identifies. The tier value 'cbdt' is used because the library's fixed tier vocabulary has no value for a statutory entry. This library shows the verification state of every entry openly. This entry has not yet been read in full by a chartered accountant. The summary reflects the sources listed on this page. Read the source before you rely on it in a reply to an Assessing Officer or in an appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals) or the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.
Section 9A(5) requires every eligible investment fund, in respect of its activities in a financial year, to furnish within ninety days from the end of the financial year a statement in the prescribed form to the prescribed income-tax authority containing information relating to the fulfilment of the conditions specified in the section, and also to provide such other relevant information or documents as may be prescribed. The prescribed form is Form No. 3CEK and the prescribed authority is the Assessing Officer identified in rule 10VB(1); the mode is electronic, under digital signature, by rule 10VB(2). A delay not exceeding ninety days does not by itself deny the fund the benefit of being an eligible fund, by rule 10V(3)(b).
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