Rule 191 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026

Where this rule sits

Rule 191 gives effect to Section 358 and Section 501 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 190  ·  Rule 192 →

What this rule does

Sub-rule (1) provides that the intimation of any order referred to in section 358(3)(b) shall be served in the same manner as is laid down in section 501 for the service of a notice or requisition. Sub-rule (2) deals with everything else: any other order, not being a notice or requisition, which is to be sent or communicated to, or served on, any person shall be sent, communicated or served either by post, or as if it were a summons issued by a Court under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

Why it is there

Section 501 lays down how notices and requisitions are served, but an order is neither. Sub-rule (1) borrows that machinery for the one class of order that section 358(3)(b) makes it necessary to serve properly, and sub-rule (2) supplies a general fallback for all other orders, using the ordinary methods of post and of service of a summons issued by a Court.

Who it applies to

• An income-tax authority sending, communicating or serving an order
• A person on whom the intimation of an order referred to in section 358(3)(b) is served
• A person on whom any other order, not being a notice or requisition, is served

What this means in practice

Two different regimes sit in one rule, and which applies depends on what is being served. Only the intimation of an order referred to in section 358(3)(b) takes the section 501 route; every other order falls into sub-rule (2), where post and the summons route are alternatives, not a sequence. Nothing in the rule creates a mode of service beyond those, so an order communicated in some other way has to be justified elsewhere.

Where you meet this rule

You meet it at the receiving end, in the manner an order reaches you, and in any dispute over whether an order was validly served and from when time began to run.

The words themselves

What people get wrong

• Applying section 501 to every order. Sub-rule (1) extends it only to the intimation of an order referred to in section 358(3)(b).
• Reading sub-rule (2) as requiring both methods. Post and the summons route are alternatives.
• Treating sub-rule (2) as covering notices and requisitions. It applies to any other order, not being a notice or requisition.