Rule 150 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026

Where this rule sits

Rule 150 gives effect to Section 247 of the Income-tax Act, 2025. A rule cannot go beyond the section it serves: where the two seem to differ, the section governs.

← Rule 149  ·  Rule 151 →

What this rule does

Sub-rule (1) prescribes how fair market value is to be determined for the purposes of section 247(9), in three classes.

For immovable property, being land or building or both, the value is in accordance with the value adopted or assessed or assessable by any authority of the Central Government or a State Government for the purpose of payment of stamp duty in respect of that property, along with the cost of construction and improvements, if any, on the date or dates on which the property is required to be valued as per the reference made under section 247(9).

For jewellery, archaeological collections, drawings, paintings, sculptures, any work of art, and shares or securities referred to in rule 57, the value is that determined in the manner provided in rule 57, and for this purpose the reference to the valuation date in rules 56 and 57 is to be read as the date or dates on which the property is required to be valued as per the reference made under section 247(9).

For any other property, and for property where valuation in the manner specified in the first two clauses is not feasible, the value is the price the property would ordinarily fetch on sale in the open market on the date or dates on which it is required to be valued as per that reference.

Sub-rule (2) requires the person to whom the reference was made by the authorised officer under section 247(9) — the Valuation Officer, a person registered under section 514, or any person or entity approved under section 247(9) — to submit the report of valuation in Form No. 170 to that authorised officer.

Why it is there

Section 247(9) lets an authorised officer refer property found in the course of a search to a valuer, but a value is only useful if everyone knows how it was arrived at and as on what date. The rule chooses a source for each kind of property — the stamp duty value plus construction and improvement cost for land and building, the existing rule 57 machinery for jewellery, art and shares, and open market price for everything else — and moves the valuation date from the date those other rules would use to the date or dates named in the reference. Sub-rule (2) then fixes a single form in which the report comes back.

Who it applies to

• The authorised officer making a reference under section 247(9)
• A Valuation Officer to whom the reference is made
• A person registered under section 514, or any person or entity approved under section 247(9), to whom the reference is made
• A person whose property is valued pursuant to a search

The figures, and what each one turns on

The forms it prescribes

• Form No. 170 — report of valuation submitted to the authorised officer on a reference under section 247(9)

What this means in practice

The date is set by the reference, not by the calendar convention of the borrowed rules. Rules 56 and 57 work off a valuation date of their own; sub-rule (1)(b) displaces it and substitutes the date or dates named in the section 247(9) reference, and the same date governs the immovable property and open market limbs. For land or building the stamp duty figure is not the whole answer: the cost of construction and improvements, if any, is added to it, so a bare stamp duty value understates what the rule requires. The word "assessable" in clause (a) means a property for which no stamp duty value has actually been adopted or assessed is still valued on that basis. Clause (c) is a fallback in two situations, not one — property outside clauses (a) and (b), and property inside them where valuation in the specified manner is not feasible — and in both it asks for the open market price on the reference date. The report goes to the authorised officer who made the reference, in Form No. 170.

An example

In the course of a search an authorised officer refers a house and a set of jewellery for valuation as on the date of the search. Under clause (a) the house is valued at the stamp duty value adopted or assessable for it, plus the cost of construction and improvements on that date. The jewellery is valued in the manner provided in rule 57, but with the valuation date taken as the date named in the reference rather than the date rule 56 or 57 would otherwise use. A collection of vintage machinery, which falls in neither class, is valued under clause (c) at the price it would ordinarily fetch on sale in the open market on that date. The valuer submits the report in Form No. 170 to the authorised officer.

Where you meet this rule

A person whose premises have been searched meets it as the Form No. 170 valuation report relied on in the assessment that follows, and in any objection to the value adopted for the property found.

The words themselves

What people get wrong

• Taking the stamp duty value alone for land or building. Clause (a) adds the cost of construction and improvements, if any.
• Applying the valuation date used in rules 56 and 57. Clause (b) substitutes the date or dates named in the section 247(9) reference.
• Assuming clause (c) applies only to unlisted classes of property. It also applies where valuation under clauses (a) and (b) is not feasible.
• Reading "assessable" as requiring an actual stamp duty assessment. Clause (a) covers a value adopted or assessed or assessable.
• Sending the valuation report to the Assessing Officer. Sub-rule (2) requires it to be submitted in Form No. 170 to the authorised officer who made the reference.

Read with

• Rule 56
• Rule 57