Notification No. 298 — Amendment of the Income-tax Rules under section 44DA of the Income-tax Act, 1961

What this is

Notification No. 298 was published on 20 November 2003. Its subject is Amendment of the Income-tax Rules under section 44DA 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

By the Income-tax (Twenty-Seventh Amendment) Rules, 2003, made under section 295 read with sub-section (2) of section 44DA of the Income-tax Act, 1961, the Central Board of Direct Taxes inserts, after rule 6G of the Income-tax Rules, 1962, a new heading CCC-A, "Report of audit in case of income by way of royalties etc. in case of non-residents", and rule 6GA under it. Rule 6GA provides that the report of audit of the accounts of a non-resident, not being a company, or of a foreign company, required to be furnished under sub-section (2) of section 44DA, shall be in Form No. 3CE. The form is inserted in Appendix II after Form No. 3CD.

Who it reaches

non-residents, other than companies, with income by way of royalties or fees for technical services falling under section 44DA
foreign companies in the same position
accountants auditing their accounts and signing the report

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.44DA	s.59, s.66
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 : 298

Section(s) Referred : Section 295

Date of Issue : 20/11/2003

Notification No : 298 Date of Issue : 20/11/2003

In exercise of the powers conferred by section 295, read with Sub-section (2) of Section 44DA, 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 (Twenty-Seventh Amendment) Rules, 2003. (2) They shall come into force from the date of publication in the Official Gazette. 2. In the Income-tax Rules, 1962,- (i) after the rule 6G, the following shall be inserted, namely:- "CCC-A.- Report of audit in case of income by way of royalties etc. in case of non-residents. 6GA. Form of report of audit to be furnished under sub-section (2) of section 44DA. The report of audit of accounts of the non-resident (not being a company) or a foreign company, which is required to be furnished under sub-section (2) of section 44DA shall be in Form No. 3CE."; (ii) in Appendix II, after Form No. 3CD, the following Form shall be inserted, namely:- FORM ANNEXURE

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 6GA	rule 43
Rule 6G	rule 47

Forms it touches. Form No. 3CE

From when

the date of publication in the Official Gazette.

What to watch

The rules come into force from the date of publication in the Official Gazette.
The report must be in Form No. 3CE, and it is the form prescribed for the purposes of sub-section (2) of section 44DA alone, distinct from the tax audit report forms that precede it in Appendix II.
The obligation reaches both a non-resident who is not a company and a foreign company.

Where you meet it

In the audit report accompanying the return of a non-resident claiming deduction of expenditure against royalties or fees for technical services effectively connected with a permanent establishment.

What it names

Forms it names. Form No. 3CD, Form No. 3CE

Rules it names. Rule 6G 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.

Notification No. 54/2026 [F. No. 370142/15/2026-TPL] / G.S.R. 240(E) — Ministry of Finance 31 March 2026
Notification No. 52/2026 [F.No. 370142/13/2026-TPL] / G.S.R. 233(E) — (Central Board of Direct Taxes) 30 March 2026
Notification No. 141/2025 [F. No. 370142/30/2025-TPL] / G.S.R. 598(E) — Ministry of Finance 1 September 2025
Notification No. 136/2025 [F. No. 370142/29/2025-TPL] / G.S.R 566(E) — Ministry of Finance 21 August 2025
Notification No. 133/2025 [F. No. 370142/27/2025-TPL] / G.S.R 555(E) — Ministry of Finance 18 August 2025
Notification No. 132/2025 [F. No. 370142/34/2025-TPL] / G.S.R. 553(E) — Ministry of Finance 14 August 2025

← Notification No. 299 · Notification No. 297 →

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.