Ministry of Finance
Notification No. 55/2026 [F. No. 370142/15/2026-TPL] / G.S.R. 241(E) was published on 31 March 2026. Its subject is Ministry of Finance.
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.
Made under section 533 read with section 183 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, these are the Income-tax (Amendment) Rules, 2026, which amend rule 128 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026 on the application of the general anti-avoidance provisions. Sub-rule (1)(d) is substituted so that the carve-out covers income accruing or arising, or deemed to accrue or arise, to or received or deemed to be received by any person from the transfer of investments made by that person before 1 April 2017. Sub-rule (2) is substituted to provide that Chapter XI applies to any arrangement irrespective of when it was entered into, in respect of the tax benefit obtained from the arrangement on or after 1 April 2017, except income from the transfer of such pre-1 April 2017 investments.
| Under the 1961 Act | Now |
|---|---|
| s.3 | s.3 |
| s.183 | no counterpart recorded |
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
(Department of Revenue)
(CENTRAL BOARD OF DIRECT TAXES)
NOTIFICATION
New Delhi, the 31st March, 2026.
INCOME-TAX
G.S.R. 241(E).—In exercise of the powers conferred by section 533 read with section 183 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (30 of 2025), the Central Board of Direct Taxes hereby makes the following rules to amend the Income-tax Rules, 2026, namely: ___
1. (1) These rules may be called the Income-tax (Amendment) Rules, 2026.
(2) They shall come into force on the 1st April, 2026.
2. In the Income-tax Rules, 2026, in rule 128, —
(a) for sub-rule (1)(d), the following shall be substituted, namely: —
"(d) any income accruing or arising to, or deemed to accrue or arise to, or received or deemed to be received by, any person from transfer of such investments which were made before the 1st April, 2017 by such person.";
(b) for sub-rule (2), the following sub-rule shall be substituted, namely: —
"(2) The provisions of Chapter XI shall apply to any arrangement, irrespective of the date on which it has been entered into, in respect of the tax benefit obtained from the arrangement on or after the 1st April, 2017, except for that income which accrues or arises to, or deemed to accrue or arise to, or is received or deemed to be received by, any person from transfer of such investments which were made before the 1st April, 2017 by such person.".
[Notification No. 55/2026/F. No. 370142/15/2026-TPL]
ROHIT SINGH, Under Secy. TPL-I, CBDT
Note : The Income-tax Rules, 2026 were published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part-II, section 3, sub-section (i) vide number G.S.R. 198(E), dated the 20th March, 2026.
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.
1 April 2026.
In any general anti-avoidance proceeding under Chapter XI of the Income-tax Act, 2025 — a reference by the assessing officer, the approving panel's directions, or an assessment invoking an impermissible avoidance arrangement — where the date of the investment or of the tax benefit is in issue.
A person who acquired shares before 1 April 2017 under an arrangement entered into in 2015 transfers them in the tax year 2026-27. The income from that transfer is outside Chapter XI by force of the substituted sub-rule (1)(d), but any other tax benefit the same arrangement produced on or after 1 April 2017 remains open to challenge under the substituted sub-rule (2).
Rules it names. Rule 128 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.
← F. No. ADG(S)-1/PAN/M/3699/2026-AD-DD SYSTEMS 1-5 DELHI · Notification No. 54/2026 [F. No. 370142/15/2026-TPL] / G.S.R. 240(E) →
Source: the Income Tax Department’s own published text — its page for this instrument.