Rule 211 — Declaration by person claiming receipt of certain incomes without deduction of tax under section 393(6). Made under s.393 of the Income-tax Act, 2025.
Rule 211 gives effect to Section 393 of the Income-tax Act, 2025. A rule cannot go beyond the section it serves: where the two seem to differ, the section governs.
Sub-rule (1) prescribes Form No. 121 for a declaration under section 393(6). Sub-rule (2) allows the declaration to be furnished either electronically after duly verifying through an electronic process, or in paper form.
Sub-rule (3) requires the person responsible for paying any income or sum of any nature referred to in section 393(6) to allot a unique identification number to each declaration received by him in Form No. 121 during every quarter of the financial year, in accordance with the procedures, formats and standards specified by the Director General of Income-tax (Systems).
Sub-rule (4) requires that person to furnish the statement of deduction of tax referred to in rule 219 containing the particulars of the declarations received during each quarter of the tax year, along with the unique identification number, and to do so regardless of the fact that no tax has been deducted in that quarter. Sub-rule (5) allows an income-tax authority, before the end of seven years from the end of the tax year in which the declaration has been received, to require that person to furnish or make available the declaration for verification or for any proceeding under the Act.
Section 393(6) lets a recipient receive certain income without deduction of tax on a declaration, which takes the payment outside the deduction machinery and so outside the ordinary trail. The rule rebuilds that trail: a prescribed form, a unique identification number for every declaration, and reporting of the declarations in the quarterly statement even where nothing was deducted. Sub-rule (5) keeps the paper available for seven years so the exemption can be checked long after the payment.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Period within which an income-tax authority may call for the declaration | Before the end of seven years from the end of the tax year in which the declaration has been received | For the purposes of verification or any proceeding under the Act | Rule 211(5) |
| Frequency of allotting unique identification numbers and of reporting declarations | Every quarter of the financial year | Numbers allotted to declarations received in the quarter; particulars reported in the statement of deduction of tax under rule 219 | Rule 211(3) and 211(4) |
A declaration does not take the payer out of the reporting system. Sub-rule (4) requires the declarations to be reported in the rule 219 statement of deduction of tax regardless of the fact that no tax has been deducted in that quarter, so a nil-deduction quarter still produces a statement. The unique identification number is the payer's job, not the declarant's, and it has to be allotted to each declaration quarter by quarter under the procedures the Director General of Income-tax (Systems) specifies. Paper declarations remain permissible under sub-rule (2)(b), but the payer must be able to produce them for seven years from the end of the tax year of receipt.
A firm paying interest receives eleven declarations in Form No. 121 in a quarter and deducts no tax at all in that quarter. Under sub-rule (3) it allots a unique identification number to each of the eleven, and under sub-rule (4) it still files the statement of deduction of tax under rule 219 for that quarter, reporting the particulars of all eleven declarations with their numbers. It must be able to produce those declarations if called for before the end of seven years from the end of that tax year.
A declarant meets it as Form No. 121 given to the payer; the payer meets it as the unique identification numbers and the quarterly statement under rule 219, and as a call for the declarations years later.
shall allot a unique identification number to each declaration received by him in Form No. 121, during every quarter of the financial year
regardless of the fact that no tax has been deducted in the said quarter