Notification No. 23

Following amendment shall be made in clause (b) of Para 1 of Article 15 of the said Convention annexed to the notification number directed under section 90

What this is

Notification No. 23 was published on 2 February 2005. Its subject is Following amendment shall be made in clause (b) of Para 1 of Article 15 of the said Convention annexed to the notification number directed under section 90.

This one is about a tax treaty. India’s treaties enter Indian law by notification under section 90; where the instrument below is that notification, its date decides from when the treaty may be applied, and where it is a circular, it is the Board telling its officers how it reads the treaty — which is not the same thing.

What it does

The Central Government, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 90 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, directs an amendment to the Convention between the Government of the Republic of India and the Republic of the Philippines for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income, as annexed to G.S.R. 173(E) dated 2 April 1996. In Article 15, in paragraph 1, clause (b) is substituted to read that the recipient is present in the other State for a period or periods exceeding in the aggregate 183 days in the relevant 'previous year' in the case of the Republic of India or 'calendar year' in the case of the Republic of the Philippines. The Convention itself came into force on 21 March 1994 on the notifications by both States of completion of the required procedures.

Why it was issued

The modification has been agreed to by the competent authorities of the two countries.

Who it reaches

residents of India or of the Philippines rendering personal services in the other State
employers computing the taxability of employees on assignment between the two countries
assessing officers counting days of presence under Article 15

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.90	s.159

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. 23/2005, DATED 2-2-2005

S.O. 125(E).—Whereas the Convention between the Government of the Republic of India and Republic of Philippines for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income that came into force on the 21st day of March, 1994, after the notification by both the Contracting States to each other of the completion of the procedures required under their laws for bringing into force the said Convention;
And whereas the Central Government in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 90 of the Income-tax Act. 1961 (43 of 1961) had directed that all the provisions of the aforesaid Convention annexed to the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) (Foreign Tax Division) number G.S.R. 173(E) dated the 2nd April, 1996, shall be given effect to in the Union of India;
Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 90 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961), the Central Government hereby directs that the following amendment shall be made in clause (b) of Para 1 of Article 15 of the said Convention annexed to the notification number G.S.R. 173(E) dated the 2nd April, 1996.
1. In the Convention annexed to the said notification, in Article 15, in paragraph 1, for clause (b), the following clause shall be substituted, namely :—
"If the recipient is present in the other State for a period or periods exceeding in the aggregate 183 days in the relevant 'previous year' in the case of Republic of India or 'calendar year' in the case of Republic of the Philippines".
2. The foregoing modification has been agreed to by the competent authorities of the two countries and shall come into effect from the date of publication of the notification in the Official Gazette.
[F. No. 501/7/74-FTD]

From when

the date of publication in the Official Gazette.

What to watch

The modification comes into effect from the date of publication of the notification in the Official Gazette, and not from the date the Convention came into force.
The substituted clause fixes the reckoning period by reference to the State: the 'previous year' for India and the 'calendar year' for the Philippines, so the same stay may fall differently on either side.
The threshold is presence exceeding 183 days in the aggregate, so days of presence must be counted across the whole of the relevant period and not on a single continuous stay.
Only clause (b) of paragraph 1 of Article 15 is touched; the rest of the Convention annexed to G.S.R. 173(E) dated 2 April 1996 stands as it is.

Where you meet it

In a claim that salary earned on a short assignment in the other State is not taxable there, and in the day count set out in support of it.

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. 56/2026 [F. No. 500/22/2022-FT&TR-V] / S.O. 1715(E) — Ministry of Finance 2 April 2026
Notification No. 32/2025 [F. No. 370142/9/2025-TPL] / SO 1650(E) — Under the Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Scheme notified under section 89 8 April 2025
Circular No. 20/2024 — Extension of due date for determining amount payable as per column (3) of Table specified in section 90 of Direct Tax Vi 30 December 2024
Circular No. 19/024 — On provisions of the direct tax vivad se vishwas scheme 2024 16 December 2024
Notification No. 33/2024 [F.No. 503/2/1986-FTD-I] / SO 1484(E) — Ministry of Finance 19 March 2024
Notification No. 1/2024 — Specifying forms returns statements reports orders by whatever name called prescribed in appendix ii to be furnished ele 26 February 2024

← Notification No. 24 · Notification No. 22 →

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.