Our REIT has to give unit holders a statement of distributed income and file one with the department. Which form goes where, by when, and is the machinery the same for an Alternative Investment Fund?
There are two parallel sets and they are not interchangeable. For a business trust, section 115UA(4) requires the person responsible for paying the distributed income to furnish a statement to the unit holder and to the prescribed authority, and rule 12CA prescribes it: Form No. 64A, verified by an accountant and filed electronically under digital signature with the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner within whose jurisdiction the principal office of the business trust is situated, by 15 June of the financial year following the previous year in which the income is distributed; and Form No. 64B to the unit holder by 30 June of that financial year, generated and downloaded from the departmental web portal. For an investment fund, section 115UB(7) requires the same thing and rule 12CB prescribes Form No. 64C to the unit holder by 30 June and Form No. 64D to the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner by 15 June, on the same electronic footing.
Decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text), reported as Rule 12CA as printed on incometaxindia.gov.in/w/rule-12ca and rule 12CB on incometaxindia.gov.in/w/rule-12cb, neither page carrying a Year stamp; section 115UA(4) on incometaxindia.gov.in/w/section-115ua-10 (Year 2024 No. 2); section 115UB(7) on incometaxindia.gov.in/w/section-115ub (Year 2026). It bears on section 115UA(4), section 115UB(7), section 115UA, section 115UB, section Rule 12CA, section Rule 12CB, section 10(23FC), section 10(23FCA), section 10(23FD), section 10(23FBA), section 10(23FBB) of the Income Tax Act 1961, in Charitable Trusts & Exemption, TDS Defaults and Assessment & Scrutiny matters.
These statements are not paperwork; they are the documents the unit holder's return is built from, and they are where the whole substantive analysis has to be reduced to figures. A Form 64B that does not separate the sub-clause (a) interest component, the clause (23FCA) direct-rent component and the sub-clause (b) special purpose vehicle dividend component makes it impossible for the unit holder to apply section 10(23FD) correctly, because the dividend component is exempt to him only where the special purpose vehicle has NOT exercised the option under section 115BAA. The same is true of a Form 64C that does not separate the business-income proportion, which is exempt in the investor's hands under section 10(23FBB) because the fund has been charged on it under section 10(23FBA). Two practical points on the mechanics. First, the two forms in each pair go to different recipients on different dates and by different routes — the departmental copy is filed by the payer under digital signature, while the unit holder's copy is generated and downloaded from the web portal specified by the Principal Director General or Director General of Income-tax (Systems) and verified by the payer. A statement typed up by the fund and emailed out is not the prescribed form. Second, both rules place the obligation on "the person responsible for" paying or crediting the income — and rule 12CB puts it on that person AND on the investment fund, so a manager cannot discharge the fund's own obligation by pointing at the trustee, or the reverse.
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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Section 115UA(4) requires any person responsible for making payment of the income distributed on behalf of a business trust to a unit holder to furnish a statement to the unit holder and to the prescribed authority, within such time and in such form and manner as may be prescribed, giving the details of the nature of the income paid during the previous year. Section 115UB(7) imposes the corresponding obligation on the person responsible for crediting or making payment of the income on behalf of an investment fund and on the investment fund itself. Rule 12CA, headed "Statement under sub-section (4) of section 115UA", prescribes Form No. 64A to the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner having jurisdiction over the principal office of the business trust by the 15th day of June of the financial year following the previous year during which the income is distributed, electronically under digital signature and verified by an accountant, and Form No. 64B to the unit holder by the 30th day of June of that financial year, generated and downloaded from the departmental web portal and verified by the payer. Rule 12CB, headed "Statement under sub-section (7) of section 115UB", prescribes Form No. 64C to the unit holder by the 30th day of June and Form No. 64D to the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner having jurisdiction over the principal office of the investment fund by the 15th day of June, on the same electronic and verification footing. Sub-rule (2) of each rule leaves the procedure, formats and standards to the Principal Director General or Director General of Income-tax (Systems).
Statutory position — no holding is asserted; this entry reproduces statutory text. A business trust's payer must file Form No. 64A with the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner by 15 June of the following financial year and give Form No. 64B to the unit holder by 30 June of that year, under rule 12CA read with section 115UA(4). An investment fund and its payer must file Form No. 64D with the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner by 15 June and give Form No. 64C to the unit holder by 30 June, under rule 12CB read with section 115UB(7). In each pair the departmental form is filed electronically under digital signature and verified by an accountant, and the unit holder's form is generated and downloaded from the web portal specified by the Principal Director General or Director General of Income-tax (Systems).
Not applicable — statutory text.
the unit holder by the 30th day of June of the financial year following the previous year during which the income is distributed in Form No. 64B after generating and downloading the same from the web portal specified by the Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or the Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or the person authorised by him and duly verified by the person paying the income distributed on behalf of the business trust in the manner indicated therein.
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Handle my notice → Ask a CA on WhatsAppThere are two parallel sets and they are not interchangeable. For a business trust, section 115UA(4) requires the person responsible for paying the distributed income to furnish a statement to the unit holder and to the prescribed authority, and rule 12CA prescribes it: Form No. 64A, verified by an accountant and filed electronically under digital signature with the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner within whose jurisdiction the principal office of the business trust is situated, by 15 June of the financial year following the previous year in which the income is distributed; and Form No. 64B to the unit holder by 30 June of that financial year, generated and downloaded from the departmental web portal. For an investment fund, section 115UB(7) requires the same thing and rule 12CB prescribes Form No. 64C to the unit holder by 30 June and Form No. 64D to the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner by 15 June, on the same electronic footing. This was decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text) and bears on section 115UA(4), section 115UB(7), section 115UA, section 115UB, section Rule 12CA, section Rule 12CB, section 10(23FC), section 10(23FCA), section 10(23FD), section 10(23FBA), section 10(23FBB) of the Income Tax Act 1961. It is reported as Rule 12CA as printed on incometaxindia.gov.in/w/rule-12ca and rule 12CB on incometaxindia.gov.in/w/rule-12cb, neither page carrying a Year stamp; section 115UA(4) on incometaxindia.gov.in/w/section-115ua-10 (Year 2024 No. 2); section 115UB(7) on incometaxindia.gov.in/w/section-115ub (Year 2026). These statements are not paperwork; they are the documents the unit holder's return is built from, and they are where the whole substantive analysis has to be reduced to figures. A Form 64B that does not separate the sub-clause (a) interest component, the clause (23FCA) direct-rent component and the sub-clause (b) special purpose vehicle dividend component makes it impossible for the unit holder to apply section 10(23FD) correctly, because the dividend component is exempt to him only where the special purpose vehicle has NOT exercised the option under section 115BAA. The same is true of a Form 64C that does not separate the business-income proportion, which is exempt in the investor's hands under section 10(23FBB) because the fund has been charged on it under section 10(23FBA). Two practical points on the mechanics. First, the two forms in each pair go to different recipients on different dates and by different routes — the departmental copy is filed by the payer under digital signature, while the unit holder's copy is generated and downloaded from the web portal specified by the Principal Director General or Director General of Income-tax (Systems) and verified by the payer. A statement typed up by the fund and emailed out is not the prescribed form. Second, both rules place the obligation on "the person responsible for" paying or crediting the income — and rule 12CB puts it on that person AND on the investment fund, so a manager cannot discharge the fund's own obligation by pointing at the trustee, or the reverse. If it applies to you, the first step is this: Diarise 15 June and 30 June of the financial year following the year of distribution, and treat them as two separate deadlines with two separate deliverables, not one filing.
Section 115UA(4) requires any person responsible for making payment of the income distributed on behalf of a business trust to a unit holder to furnish a statement to the unit holder and to the prescribed authority, within such time and in such form and manner as may be prescribed, giving the details of the nature of the income paid during the previous year. Section 115UB(7) imposes the corresponding obligation on the person responsible for crediting or making payment of the income on behalf of an investment fund and on the investment fund itself. Rule 12CA, headed "Statement under sub-section (4) of section 115UA", prescribes Form No. 64A to the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner having jurisdiction over the principal office of the business trust by the 15th day of June of the financial year following the previous year during which the income is distributed, electronically under digital signature and verified by an accountant, and Form No. 64B to the unit holder by the 30th day of June of that financial year, generated and downloaded from the departmental web portal and verified by the payer. Rule 12CB, headed "Statement under sub-section (7) of section 115UB", prescribes Form No. 64C to the unit holder by the 30th day of June and Form No. 64D to the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner having jurisdiction over the principal office of the investment fund by the 15th day of June, on the same electronic and verification footing. Sub-rule (2) of each rule leaves the procedure, formats and standards to the Principal Director General or Director General of Income-tax (Systems). It was decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions (Not applicable — statutory text). On those facts the CBDT Circulars & Instructions held as follows. Statutory position — no holding is asserted; this entry reproduces statutory text. A business trust's payer must file Form No. 64A with the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner by 15 June of the following financial year and give Form No. 64B to the unit holder by 30 June of that year, under rule 12CA read with section 115UA(4). An investment fund and its payer must file Form No. 64D with the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner by 15 June and give Form No. 64C to the unit holder by 30 June, under rule 12CB read with section 115UB(7). In each pair the departmental form is filed electronically under digital signature and verified by an accountant, and the unit holder's form is generated and downloaded from the web portal specified by the Principal Director General or Director General of Income-tax (Systems).
Not applicable — statutory text. In the words reproduced by the source cited on this page: "the unit holder by the 30th day of June of the financial year following the previous year during which the income is distributed in Form No. 64B after generating and downloading the same from the web portal specified by the Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or the Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or the person authorised by him and duly verified by the person paying the income distributed on behalf of the business trust in the manner indicated therein."
It was decided by the CBDT Circulars & Instructions and is reported as Rule 12CA as printed on incometaxindia.gov.in/w/rule-12ca and rule 12CB on incometaxindia.gov.in/w/rule-12cb, neither page carrying a Year stamp; section 115UA(4) on incometaxindia.gov.in/w/section-115ua-10 (Year 2024 No. 2); section 115UB(7) on incometaxindia.gov.in/w/section-115ub (Year 2026). 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 115UA(4), section 115UB(7), section 115UA, section 115UB, section Rule 12CA, section Rule 12CB, section 10(23FC), section 10(23FCA), section 10(23FD), section 10(23FBA), section 10(23FBB), 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. Statutory position — no holding is asserted; this entry reproduces statutory text. A business trust's payer must file Form No. 64A with the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner by 15 June of the following financial year and give Form No. 64B to the unit holder by 30 June of that year, under rule 12CA read with section 115UA(4). An investment fund and its payer must file Form No. 64D with the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner by 15 June and give Form No. 64C to the unit holder by 30 June, under rule 12CB read with section 115UB(7). In each pair the departmental form is filed electronically under digital signature and verified by an accountant, and the unit holder's form is generated and downloaded from the web portal specified by the Principal Director General or Director General of Income-tax (Systems). It arises in Charitable Trusts & Exemption, TDS Defaults and Assessment & Scrutiny matters, on section 115UA(4), section 115UB(7), section 115UA, section 115UB, section Rule 12CA, section Rule 12CB, section 10(23FC), section 10(23FCA), section 10(23FD), section 10(23FBA), section 10(23FBB) 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. Use the right pair. Form 64A and Form 64B belong to a business trust under rule 12CA; Form 64C and Form 64D belong to an investment fund under rule 12CB. Getting the pair wrong is an obvious signal on the file that the wrong regime has been applied to the entity. Build the statement from the statutory splits, not from the accounts: for a business trust, separate sub-clause (a) interest, sub-clause (b) special purpose vehicle dividend with the section 115BAA position of each vehicle noted, clause (23FCA) direct rent, and the residue; for an investment fund, separate the proportion chargeable under the head profits and gains of business or profession from everything else. Have the accountant's verification in place before filing Form 64A or Form 64D — the rule requires the departmental copy in each pair to be "duly verified by an accountant in the manner indicated therein" and filed electronically under digital signature. Generate the unit holder's copy — Form 64B or Form 64C — from the departmental web portal rather than preparing it independently, and keep the download record, because the rule describes the form as one generated and downloaded from that portal and verified by the payer.
Validity check could not be completed. Validity check could not be completed. Departmental rule pages carry no Year stamp, so neither rule could be dated the way a section can, and the substitution notes printed on the two pages were not corroborated on a second route. The two statutory hooks, section 115UA(4) and section 115UB(7), were each read on a year-stamped departmental page (Year 2024 No. 2 and Year 2026 respectively). No judicial treatment was searched for, and no penalty provision for failure to furnish these statements was established on this pass — sections 271FAA and 271FAB were both read on departmental pages and neither is that provision. 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.
Departmental RULE pages carry no "Year:" stamp at all, and the fetch was required to say so expressly; it did, for both rules. So neither rule has been dated the way a section can be dated, and the commencement field is left null for that reason. What the two pages did print, and what is reported here as a page note rather than as a verified footnote, is that rule 12CA was substituted by the Income-tax (Fifth Amendment) Rules, 2025 with effect from 24 February 2025 and that rule 12CB was substituted by the Income-tax (Eighteenth Amendment) Rules, 2020 with effect from 28 July 2020; both pages also showed an upload date of 13 December 2025. Neither substitution date was corroborated on a second route, and neither should be relied on without checking. The statutory hooks are on firmer ground: section 115UA(4) was transcribed as part of a continuous run of the whole of section 115UA from the departmental Year 2024 (No. 2) page, and section 115UB(7) from the departmental Year 2026 page. The contents of Forms 64A, 64B, 64C and 64D themselves were NOT retrieved on this pass, so nothing is said here about what any of those forms contains beyond what the two rules say about them. 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.
Statutory position — no holding is asserted; this entry reproduces statutory text. A business trust's payer must file Form No. 64A with the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner by 15 June of the following financial year and give Form No. 64B to the unit holder by 30 June of that year, under rule 12CA read with section 115UA(4). An investment fund and its payer must file Form No. 64D with the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner by 15 June and give Form No. 64C to the unit holder by 30 June, under rule 12CB read with section 115UB(7). In each pair the departmental form is filed electronically under digital signature and verified by an accountant, and the unit holder's form is generated and downloaded from the web portal specified by the Principal Director General or Director General of Income-tax (Systems).
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