Notification No. 34 — Amendment of the Income-tax Rules under section 2 of the Income-tax Act, 1961

What this is

Notification No. 34 was published on 13 March 2008. Its subject is Amendment of the Income-tax Rules under section 2 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 (Fourth Amendment) Rules, 2008, made under sub-section (1) of section 295 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, the Central Board of Direct Taxes inserts rule 125 in the Income-tax Rules, 1962, after rule 124. Rule 125 requires that a company, and a person other than a company to whom the provisions of section 44AB apply, shall pay tax electronically on or after 1 April 2008. To pay tax electronically means payment by the internet banking facility of the authorised bank or by credit or debit cards, and "tax" carries the meaning assigned to it in clause (43) of section 2 of the Act and includes interest and penalty.

Who it reaches

companies paying advance tax, self-assessment tax or any other tax
persons other than companies whose accounts are subject to audit under section 44AB
banks receiving such payments through internet banking or card

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.2	s.2, s.346, s.355
s.44AB	s.2, s.58, s.63
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. 34/2008, DATED 13-3-2008

In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 295 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 (Fourth Amendment) Rules, 2008.
(2) They shall come into force from the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.
2. In the Income-tax Rules, 1962, after rule 124, the following rule shall be inserted, namely:-
"Electronic-payment of tax.
125. (1) The following persons shall pay tax electronically on or after the 1st day of April, 2008:-
(a) a company; and
(b) a person (other than a company), to whom provisions of section 44AB are applicable.
(2) For the purposes of this rule :-
(a) "pay tax electronically" shall mean, payment of tax by way of-
(i) internet banking facility of the authority bank; or
(ii) credit or debit cards;
(b) the word "tax" shall have the meaning as assigned to it in clause (43) of section 2 of the Act and shall include interest and penalty".
[F.No. 134/37/2007-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 125	rule 333
Rule 124	no counterpart recorded

From when

the date of publication in the Official Gazette, the obligation applying to payments on or after 1 April 2008.

What to watch

The rules come into force from the date of their publication in the Official Gazette, but the obligation itself bites on payments made on or after 1 April 2008.
The obligation is not confined to tax as commonly understood: by sub-rule (2)(b) it extends to interest and penalty as well, through the definition in clause (43) of section 2.
The permitted modes are exhaustive, being internet banking of the authorised bank or a credit or debit card, so payment over the counter will not answer the rule for those covered.
Whether a person other than a company is covered turns on the applicability of section 44AB to him for the year.

Where you meet it

At the point of paying advance tax or self-assessment tax, and in the challan particulars quoted in the return of income.

What it names

Rules it names. Rule 124 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. 89/2026-CBDT [F. No. 164/1/2026-ITA-1] / SO 3936(E) — Ministry of Finance 17 July 2026
Notification No. 75/2026 [F. No. 275/18/2026-IT(B)] / SO 3610(E) : TDS Exemption on Ship Lease Payments to IFSC Units — 4 the Gazette of INDIA : Extraordinary [Part Ii—sec. 3(ii)] 3 July 2026
Notification No. 74/2026 [F. No. 275/16/2026-IT(B)] / SO 3609(E) : TDS Exemption on Aircraft Lease Payments to IFSC Units — 4 the Gazette of INDIA : Extraordinary [Part Ii—sec. 3(ii)] 3 July 2026
Notification No. 65/2025 [F. No. 300196/4/2019-ITA-I] / S.O. 2739(E) — Ministry of Finance 19 June 2025
Notification No. 56 /2025 [F.No.300164/4/2024-ITA-1] / SO 2576(E) — 2 the Gazette of INDIA : Extraordinary [Part Ii—sec. 3(ii)] 12 June 2025
Notification No. 52/2025 [F. No. 300164/5/2024-ITA-1] / SO 2447(E) — Ministry of Finance 30 May 2025

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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.