Rule 133 — Modes of payment for the purpose of section 187. Made under s.187 of the Income-tax Act, 2025.
Rule 133 gives effect to Section 187 of the Income-tax Act, 2025. A rule cannot go beyond the section it serves: where the two seem to differ, the section governs.
The rule prescribes the electronic modes of payment a large business or profession must offer for the purposes of section 187. Every person carrying on business or profession whose total sales, turnover or gross receipts in business or profession exceeds fifty crore rupees during the immediately preceding tax year must provide a facility for accepting payment through four modes: a Debit Card powered by RuPay; Unified Payments Interface (upi) (bhim-upi); Unified Payments Interface Quick Response Code (upi qr Code) (bhim-upi qr Code); and Tier-III: Full kyc Central Bank Digital Currency wallets, P-cbdc, Wholesale or Cross-border cbdc. The rule states that these are in addition to the facility for other electronic modes of payment, if any, already being provided by that person.
Section 187 requires certain persons to provide facilities for accepting payment through prescribed electronic modes, and leaves both the class of person and the modes to be prescribed. The rule fixes the size at which the obligation attaches and names four specific modes, so that the requirement cannot be answered by whatever payment channel the business happens to prefer. The closing words make clear the four are a floor added to what is already offered, not a replacement for it.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turnover threshold at which the facility must be provided | Exceeds fifty crore rupees | Total sales, turnover or gross receipts, as the case may be, in business or profession during the immediately preceding tax year | Rule 133, opening words |
| Number of electronic modes that must be offered | Four, listed at (i) to (iv) | In addition to the facility for other electronic modes of payment, if any, being provided by such person | Rule 133, clauses (i) to (iv) |
The test year is the immediately preceding tax year, so the obligation for the current year is settled by last year's figures and does not wait for this year's results. It is one threshold for both business and profession — fifty crore rupees of total sales, turnover or gross receipts as the case may be — and not the lower professional figure used elsewhere in the Act. All four modes must be provided; offering upi alone does not answer a rule that lists the RuPay debit card, upi, the upi qr Code and the cbdc wallet category separately. The obligation is to provide the facility for accepting payment, so it is about what the customer can use, not about how many customers in fact use it, and the closing words confirm that existing electronic channels neither substitute for these four nor are displaced by them.
A firm's gross receipts in the immediately preceding tax year were Rs 62 crore. From the current year it must provide facilities to accept payment by RuPay-powered debit card, by upi, by upi qr Code and through Tier-III full kyc cbdc wallets, alongside the card gateway and net banking option it already offers. A firm whose receipts in that preceding year were Rs 48 crore is outside the rule for the current year, whatever its receipts turn out to be this year.
A business meets it at the point of sale and in its payment gateway configuration, and again in any enquiry into compliance with section 187; a customer meets it only as the set of payment options presented at checkout.
Every person, carrying on business or profession, if his total sales, turnover or gross receipts, as the case may be, in business or profession exceeds fifty crore rupees during the immediately preceding tax year shall provide facility for accepting payment through the following electronic modes
in addition to the facility for other electronic modes of payment, if any, being provided by such person
