Circular No. 402/92/2006 - MC (35 of 2010) — Of 2010 press release no. 402/92/2006 mc 35 of 2010 dated 12 7 2010

What it does

Announces the amendment of the electronic filing rules by Notification No. 49/2010 dated 9 July 2010, applying from the date of notification in the Official Gazette. Every company must now file its return electronically in Form No. ITR-6 under digital signature, where previously a company could file electronically with or without a digital signature. Individuals and Hindu undivided families required to get their accounts audited under section 44AB must also file electronically in Form No. ITR-4, with or without digital signature, a requirement previously confined to companies and partnership firms. The release records the audit thresholds as turnover or gross receipts from business above Rs. 40 lakh, raised to Rs. 60 lakh from assessment year 2011-12, and from a profession above Rs. 10 lakh, raised to Rs. 15 lakh from that year.

Why it was issued

The release does no more than announce the amendment of the rules; it gives no separate reason.

Who it reaches

Companies filing returns in Form No. ITR-6
Individuals and Hindu undivided families covered by a section 44AB audit
Firms and professionals crossing the audit thresholds
Tax practitioners arranging digital signatures for company filings

The provisions it speaks to

Left, the provision of the Income-tax Act, 1961 as the instrument itself names it. Right, the section of the Income-tax Act, 2025 that the department’s own concordance maps it to — which is where the same ground is now covered.

Under the 1961 Act	Now
s.44AB	s.2, s.58, s.63

The instrument, as the Board published it

The words below are the department’s own, reproduced from its published text. Where the department’s copy carried a publisher’s notes after the instrument, those are not reproduced.

PRESS RELEASE
INCOME-TAX ACT
Mandatory filing of income-tax returns electronically in Form No. ITR-6 with digital signature by all companies
PRESS RELEASE NO. 402/92/2006 - MC (35 OF 2010), DATED 12-7-2010
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has amended the Rules relating to electronic filing of Income-tax returns vide Notification No. 49/2010, dated 9th July, 2010. The amended Rules will apply with effect from the date of notification in the Official Gazette.
As per the amended Rules, it is now mandatory for all companies to file Income-tax return electronically in Form No. ITR-6 with digital signature, Earlier, companies could file their electronic returns with or without digital signature.
Further, now all individuals and Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs), who are required to get their accounts audited under section 44AB of the Income-tax Act, 1961, are also required to file their Income-tax return in Form No. ITR-4 electronically with or without digital signature. Earlier, this condition was applicable only to companies and partnership firms.
Accounts are required to be audited under the Income-tax law, if turnover or gross receipts from business exceeds Rs. 40 lakh (Rs. 60 lakh from assessment year 2011-12 onwards), or if turnover or gross receipts from profession exceeds Rs. 10 lakh (Rs. 15 lakh from assessment year 2011-12 onwards).
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What to watch

This is a press release announcing a notification, not a circular; the operative document is Notification No. 49/2010.
A digital signature became compulsory only for companies; the audited individual or Hindu undivided family could still file electronically without one.
The audit thresholds it recites are those of 2010 and have been raised several times since, so they cannot be carried to a later year.
The requirement applies from the date of gazette notification, not from the start of the assessment year.

Where you meet it

In tracing whether a company's return for that period was validly filed, where a paper or unsigned electronic return is said to be defective.

On the same provision

Other instruments in this library that name the same provision of the 1961 Act. They are not necessarily still operative, and a later one may have replaced an earlier one without saying so.

Circular No.15/2025 — Extension of timelines for filing of various reports of audit and income tax returns ITRS for the assessment year 2025 2 29 October 2025
Circular No. 2/2025 — Extension of due date for filing of form no. 56F under the income tax act 1961 18 February 2025
Circular No. 18/2023 — Circular No. 1 g of 2023 20 October 2023
Circular No. 5/2021 — Order under section 119 of the income tax act 1961 25 March 2021
Circular No. 19/2020 — Condonation of delay under section 119 2 b of the income tax act 1961 in filing of form no. 10BB for assessment year 201 3 November 2020
Circular No. 10/2020 — Order under section 119 of the income tax act 1961 regarding reporting requirement under clause 30C and clause 44 of the 24 April 2020

← Circular No. 4/FT&TR-II/2010 · Circular No. 3/FT&TR-II/2010 [F.No. 2/JS(FT&TR-II)/2010] →

A circular binds the department, not you and not a court. The Board issues a circular to its own officers. An assessee may hold the department to a circular that helps him; the department cannot hold an assessee to one that hurts him, and the Tribunal and the courts decide the law for themselves.

Source: the Income Tax Department’s own published text — its page for this instrument.

Circular No. 402/92/2006 - MC (35 of 2010)

What this is