Notification No. 20/2020 [F. No.189/3/2020-ITA-I] / SO 1189(E) — 2 the Gazette of INDIA : Extraordinary [Part Ii—sec. 3(ii)]

What this is

Notification No. 20/2020 [F. No.189/3/2020-ITA-I] / SO 1189(E) was published on 20 March 2020. Its subject is 2 the Gazette of INDIA : Extraordinary [Part Ii—sec. 3(ii)].

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

Under clause (b) of section 164 and section 178 of the Finance Act, 2016 read with sub-sections (1) and (2) of section 120 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, the Central Board of Direct Taxes authorises the Assessing Officer working in the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income-tax (International Taxation) Region, having jurisdiction in respect of the assessees for the purposes of the Income-tax Act, 1961, to exercise or perform all or any of the powers and functions conferred on or assigned to an Assessing Officer for the purposes of Chapter VIII of the Finance Act, 2016.

Who it reaches

Non-residents and others within Chapter VIII of the Finance Act, 2016
Payers liable to deduct and pay the levy under that Chapter
Assessing Officers in the International Taxation charges
Advisers contesting jurisdiction in a Chapter VIII proceeding

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.120	s.241, s.243
s.164	s.307
s.178	s.322

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.

2 THE GAZETTE OF INDIA : EXTRAORDINARY [PART II—SEC. 3(ii)]

MINISTRY OF FINANCE
(Department of Revenue)
(CENTRAL BOARD OF DIRECT TAXES)

NOTIFICATION

New Delhi, the 20th March, 2020

(INCOME TAX)

S.O. 1189(E).— In exercise of the powers conferred by clause(b) of section 164 and section 178 of the Finance Act, 2016 (28 of 2016) read with sub-sections(1) and (2) of section 120 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, (43 of 1961) the Central Board of Direct Taxes hereby authorizes the Assessing Officer working in the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income-tax (international Taxation) Region having Jurisdiction in respect of the assessees for the purpose of the Income-tax Act, 1961, to exercise or perform all or any of the powers and functions conferred on, or, assigned to an Assessing Officer for the purpose of Chapter VIII of Finance Act, 2016.

[Notification No. 20/F. No.189/3/2020-ITA-I]

PRAJNA PARAMITA, Director

Uploaded by Dte. of Printing at Government of India Press, Ring Road, Mayapuri, New Delhi-110064
and Published by the Controller of Publications, Delhi-110054.

What to watch

The authorisation is tied to the officer's existing jurisdiction over the assessee under the Income-tax Act, 1961.
It confers all or any of the Assessing Officer's powers for Chapter VIII of the Finance Act, 2016, and not powers under the Income-tax Act itself.
No commencement date is stated in the text; the notification is dated 20 March 2020.
The notification names no assessee or class of assessee beyond the jurisdictional description, so the charge must be identified from the International Taxation jurisdiction orders.

Where you meet it

In a notice or order made under Chapter VIII of the Finance Act, 2016 and in any objection to the jurisdiction of the officer issuing 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. 155/2025 [F. No. CB/362/2025-O/o Addl. DIT 6 CPC Bengaluru-187/10/2024-ITA-I] /SO 4901(E) — [भाग II—खण् ड 3(ii)] भारत का रािपत्र : असाधारण 3 27 October 2025
Notification No. 50/2024 [F. No. 187/6/2024-TPL] / SO 2209(E) — Minstry of Finance 6 June 2024
Notification No. 47/2023 [F. No. 187/3/2020-ITA-I] / SO 2992(E) — Ministry of Finance 6 July 2023
Notification No. 14/2023 [F. No. 279/Misc./66/2014-ITJ(Pt.)] / SO 1329(E) — Ministry of Finance 21 March 2023
Notification No. 10/2023 [F.No. 187/3/2020-ITA-I] / SO 951(E) — 2 the Gazette of INDIA : Extraordinary [Part Ii—sec. 3(ii)] 1 March 2023
Notification No.121/2022 [F.No.187/3/2020-ITA-I] / SO 5255(E) — 2 the Gazette of INDIA : Extraordinary [Part Ii—sec. 3(ii)] 14 November 2022

← Notification No. 19/2020 [F.No.300196/63/2018-ITA-I] / SO 1188(E) · Notification No. 21/2020 [F.No. IT(A)/1/2020-TPL] / SO 1195(E) →

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.