Circular No. 26/2017

Order under section 119 of the income tax act 1961 in respect of extension of due date for filing of country by country report for reporting accounting year 2016 17

What this is

Circular No. 26/2017 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 25 October 2017. Its subject is Order under section 119 of the income tax act 1961 in respect of extension of due date for filing of country by country report for reporting accounting year 2016 17.

This is an extension of time. It moves a date that the Act or the Rules otherwise fix, and it does so only for the compliance and the period it names — not for anything else that happens to fall due at the same time.

What it does

Extends the due date for the Country-by-Country report. Under sub-section (2) of section 286, the due date for furnishing the report is the date specified under section 139(1) for furnishing the return of income for the relevant accounting year. For the reporting accounting year 2016-17, and for all assessees covered by sub-section (2) of section 286, that date is extended under section 119 to 31 March 2018.

Why it was issued

The financial year 2016-17 was the first reporting year for the Country-by-Country report and the rules for furnishing it were still under consideration.

Who it reaches

Indian parent entities of international groups within section 286
Constituent entities in India required to furnish the report for 2016-17
Transfer pricing teams and advisers of multinational groups

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.119	s.239
s.139	s.2, s.263, s.349
s.286	s.511

The instrument, as the Board published it

The department publishes this one only as a PDF, so the words below were read out of that PDF by machine. That reading can carry its own mistakes — a misread number, a broken line. Check the signed document before you rely on a figure in it.

CIRCULAR No. 26/2017
F. No. 370142/25/2017-TPL
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Direct Taxes
TPL Division
****
New Delhi, Dated 25th October, 2017
Order under section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 ('the Act')

In keeping with India's commitment to implement the recommendations of 2015 Final Report on Action 13, titled "Transfer Pricing Documentation and Country-by-Country Reporting", identified under the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project, section 286 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 ('the Act') was inserted vide Finance Act, 2016, providing for furnishing of a Country-by-Country report (CbCR) in respect of an international group by its constituent or parent entity. Under sub-section (2) of section 286 of the Act, the 'due date' for furnishing the Country-by-Country Report is the date specified under section 139(1) for furnishing the return of income for the relevant accounting year.

FY 2016-17 will be the first reporting year for furnishing of CbCR. The rules for furnishing of CbCR are also still under consideration.

On consideration of the matter, the Central Board of Direct Taxes, in exercise of its powers conferred under section 119 of the Act, in respect of all assessees covered under subsection (2) of section 286 of the Act, hereby extends the 'due date' prescribed therein for furnishing of report in respect of international group for reporting accounting year 2016-17 to 31st March, 2018.

(Sanyam Suresh Joshi)
DCIT (OSD) (TPL)-I

Copy to:
1. PS to FM/OSD to FM/PS to MoS(F)/OSD to MoS(F)
2. PS to Secretary (Revenue)
3. Chairman, CBDT
4. All Members, CBDT
5. All Pr. DGsIT/Pr. CCsIT
6. All Joint Secretaries/CsIT, CBDT
7. Directors/Deputy Secretaries/Under Secretaries of CBDT
8. DIT (RSP&PR)/Systems, New Delhi
9. The C&AG of India (30 copies)
10. The JS & Legal Adviser, Ministry of Law & Justice, New Delhi
11. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
12. All Chambers of Commerce
13. CIT (M&TP), Official Spokesperson of CBDT
14. O/o Pr. DGIT (Systems) for uploading on official website
15. JCIT (Database Cell) for uploading on departmental website

What to watch

The extension covers the report under sub-section (2) of section 286 only; it does not touch the notification obligations or the master file.
It is limited to the reporting accounting year 2016-17, the first year of the regime.
The extended date, 31 March 2018, has passed, so the circular is spent and is now relevant only to whether a 2016-17 report was in time.
Section 286 came in through the Finance Act, 2016 to implement the OECD BEPS Action 13 report, and the due date otherwise tracks the section 139(1) return date, which moves with the assessee.

Where you meet it

On a penalty proceeding under section 271GB for failure to furnish the Country-by-Country report for the reporting accounting year 2016-17.

What it names

It mentions. Circular No. 26/2017

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. 6/2026 — Condonation of delay in filing Form No. 10AB electronically for approval under clause(ii) of the first proviso to sectio 2 July 2026
Circular No. 2/2026 — Order under section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 for extension of timeline for issuance of tax deducted at source (TD 25 March 2026
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. 10/2025 — Relaxation of time limit for processing of returns of income filed electronically which were incorrectly invalidated by 28 July 2025
Circular No. 7/2025 — Relaxation of time limit for processing of valid returns of income filed electronically pursuant to order u/s 119(2)(b) 25 June 2025
Circular No. 6/2025 — Extension of due date for furnishing return of income for the Assessment Year 2025-26 27 May 2025

← Circular No. 27/2017 · Circular No. 25/2017 →

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.