Rule 19 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026

Where this rule sits

Rule 19 gives effect to Section 17 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 18  ·  Rule 20 →

What this rule does

Rule 19 fixes a single number. For the purposes of section 17(3)(b), the prescribed gross total income is Rs. 800000.

The rule does nothing else. It states no condition, no proviso, no method of computing gross total income and no alternative figure for any class of person. Where section 17(3)(b) turns on a prescribed gross total income, this is the figure that fills that blank.

Why it is there

Section 17(3)(b) sets its test by reference to a gross total income that is to be prescribed rather than stated in the Act. Leaving the amount to a rule lets it be revised without amending the section. Rule 19 is the entry that supplies the figure, and it supplies only the figure.

Who it applies to

• Any person whose entitlement or liability under section 17(3)(b) depends on the prescribed gross total income

The figures, and what each one turns on

What this means in practice

The whole content of the rule is the amount, so everything else that decides the question — what gross total income means, whose gross total income is tested, and what follows from crossing the figure — comes from section 17(3)(b) and the Act's own definitions, not from here. The rule does not say the figure is a limit on a deduction or an exemption; it is the prescribed gross total income that the section refers to. Because the figure lives in a rule rather than in the section, it can be changed by amending the rule alone, so the year's text is what matters.

An example

A person's position under section 17(3)(b) turns on whether the prescribed gross total income is exceeded. Gross total income for the tax year works out to Rs 7,60,000, which is below the Rs 8,00,000 fixed by rule 19; on the following year's figures it is Rs 8,40,000, which is above it. Nothing in rule 19 itself decides the consequence of being on one side or the other — for that the reader goes back to section 17(3)(b).

Where you meet this rule

A reader meets it while working through section 17(3)(b) in a return or a computation, at the point where the section refers to a prescribed gross total income.

The words themselves

What people get wrong

• Treating Rs 800000 as a deduction, an exemption or a ceiling on relief. Rule 19 prescribes a gross total income figure for section 17(3)(b) and nothing more.
• Reading a definition of gross total income into the rule. The rule prescribes an amount; the meaning of gross total income comes from the Act.
• Assuming a different figure for a special class of person. The rule states one figure with no proviso and no Table.