Notification No. 203

Amendment of the Income-tax Rules under section 10A of the Income-tax Act, 1961

What this is

Notification No. 203 was published on 26 August 2003. Its subject is Amendment of the Income-tax Rules under section 10A of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

This amends the Income-tax Rules. What it changes is the Rules, not the Act — and a rule can never take away what the section gives.

What it does

In exercise of the powers under section 295 read with clause (b) of sub-section (1B) of section 10A of the Income-tax Act, 1961, the Central Board of Direct Taxes makes the Income-tax (Fifteenth Amendment) Rules, 2003, inserting rule 16DD after rule 16D and Form No. 56FF in Appendix II after Form No. 56F. Rule 16DD provides that the particulars required to be furnished by the assessee along with the return of income under clause (b) of sub-section (1B) of section 10A shall be in Form No. 56FF. Form No. 56FF calls for details of the Special Economic Zone Reinvestment Allowance Reserve Account: the eligible profits debited to the profit and loss account and credited to that reserve in the current previous year and each of the three preceding previous years with the total; the amounts withdrawn in those years, separated between amounts used for eligible purposes and amounts not so used, with the total; and the net amount outstanding in the reserve on the last day of the current previous year. Part B calls for details of the new plant or machinery purchased out of amounts withdrawn from the reserve, giving the make and model number, the name and address of the supplier, the dates of acquisition and the dates on which it was first put to use, followed by a verification by the proprietor, partner or director of the undertaking situated in the Special Economic Zone.

Who it reaches

undertakings in a Special Economic Zone claiming deduction under section 10A
assessees maintaining a Special Economic Zone Reinvestment Allowance Reserve Account
proprietors, partners and directors who must verify Form No. 56FF
assessing officers testing the utilisation of the reserve

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.10A	no counterpart recorded
s.295	s.533

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.

Notification No : 203

Section(s) Referred :

Date of Issue : 26/8/2003

Notification No. 203 of 2003, dt. 26th Aug., 2003

In exercise of powers conferred by section 295, read with clause (b) of subsection (1B) of section 10A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961), the Central Board of Direct Taxes hereby makes the following rules further to amend the Income-tax Rules, 1962, namely:

1. (1) These rules may be called the Income-tax (Fifteenth Amendment) Rules, 2003.

(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

2. In the Income-tax Rules, 1962,--

(i) after rule 16D, the following shall be inserted, namely

"16DD. Form of particulars to be furnished along th return of income for claiming deduction under clause (b) of sub-section (1B) of section 10A.-The particulars, which are required to be furnished by the assessee along with the return of income under clause (b) of sub-s. (1B) of section 10A shall be inserted in Form No. 56FF. "

(ii) in Appendix II, after From No. 56F, the following Form shall be inserted, namely :

"FORM NO. 56FF

[See rule 16DD]

PARTICULARS TO BE FURNISHED UNDER CLAUSE (b) OF SUB-SECTION (1B) OF

SECTION 10A OF THE INCOME TAX ACT, 1961

A. Details of Special Economic Zone Reinvestment Allowance Reserve Account (in rupees)

I. Amounts of eligible profits debited to the

profit and loss account and credited to the

Special Economic Zone Reinvestment

Allowance Reserve Account

(i) During the current previous year ending

on ...... .

(ii) During the previous year, immediately

preceding the previous year mentioned at (i)

ending on .......

(iii) During the previous year, immediately

proceeding the previous year mentioned at (ii)

ending on ........

(iv) During the previous year, immediately

preceding the previous year mentioned at (iii)

ending on .......

(v) Total (i) + (ii) + (iii) + (iv)

II. Amounts withdrawn from the Special Used for Not used

Economic Zone Reinvestment Allowance eligible for eligible

Reserve Account purposes purposes

(i) During the current previous year ending

on ........

(ii) During the previous year, immediately

preceding the previous year mentioned at (i)

ending on .......

(iii) During the previous year, immediately

preceding the previous year mentioned at (ii)

ending on

(iv) During the previous year immediately

preceding the previous year mentioned at (iii)

ending on

(v) Total amounts withdrawn [(i)+(ii)+(iii)+(iv)]

III. Net amount outstanding in the Special

Economic Zone Reinvestment Allowance

Reserve Account on the last day of the

current previous year ending on ..............

[II.(v)- I.(v)]

B. Details of new plantlmachinery purchased out of amounts withdrawn from Special Economic

Zone Reinvestinent Allowance Reserve Account.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

S. Details of the Name and Date(s) of Date(s) on

No. new plant/ address of the acquisition of which the new

machinery supplier of the plant/machinery plant/machinery

(give Make new was first put to

Number and plant/machinery use

Model Number)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VERIFICATION

I/We................................................................... S/o....................

......................................... being proprietor/partner/director of the undertaking

named .................... having PAN No.................... situated in the Special Economic

Zone............................... verify that the said undertaking has during the previous

year, acquired the new plant/machinery as mentioned above, for which the purchase price has been

paid by making withdrawal from the Special Economic Zone Reinvestment Allowance Reserve Account

maintained by the assessee.

Date : Signature, name and address of the

Place: proprietor/partner/director of the undertaking

[F.No. 142/21/2003-TPL]

What it changes

The rule numbers are the 1962 Rules’ own, as the notification names them. The right-hand column is the department’s own mapping into the Income-tax Rules, 2026, which renumbered nearly everything.

Rule of the 1962 Rules	Now, in the 2026 Rules
Rule 16D	no counterpart recorded
Rule 16DD	rule 67

Forms it touches. Form No. 56F, Form No. 56FF

From when

the date of publication in the Official Gazette.

What to watch

The rules come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.
Form No. 56FF must accompany the return of income; it is not merely to be retained.
The Form requires withdrawals to be split between those used for eligible purposes and those not so used, which is where a lapse in utilisation surfaces.
The Form looks back over the current previous year and the three preceding previous years, so the reserve is tracked across four years.
The verification is by the proprietor, partner or director and asserts that the purchase price of the new plant or machinery was paid by withdrawal from the reserve.

Where you meet it

In Form No. 56FF filed with the return of income by a Special Economic Zone undertaking, and in an assessment examining whether the reinvestment reserve was applied to new plant and machinery.

What it names

Forms it names. Form No. 56FF

Rules it names. Rule 16D, 16DD of the Income-tax Rules, 1962. The 1962 Rules were replaced by the Income-tax Rules, 2026, which renumbered nearly everything: a rule number quoted here almost never means the same rule today.

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. 2/2025 — Extension of due date for filing of form no. 56F under the income tax act 1961 18 February 2025
Circular No. 16/2020 — F .No .370142/35/2019-TPL-Pt 30 August 2020
Circular No. 12/ 2014 — Section 10A, read with section 10AA of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Free Trade Zone - Clarification on Allowability of Ded 18 July 2014
Circular 7/DV/2013, dated 16-7-2013 — Section 10A, read with Sections 10AA & 10B of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Free Trade Zone - Clarification on Issues Relat 16 July 2013
Press Release, dated 17-1-2013 — Clarification Regarding issues Relating to Export of Computer Software- Direct TAX Incentives 17 January 2013
Circular 1/2013 — Issues relating to export of computer software direct tax benefits clarification 17 January 2013

← Notification No. 204 · Notification No. 202 →

What a notification is. A notification is made under a power the Act itself gives, and within that power it is law — unlike a circular, which only binds the department. Its reach is the reach of the enabling provision and no wider, and the date it carries decides from when it works.

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