Rule 222 — Notice of demand under section 289. Made under s.289, s.407 of the Income-tax Act, 2025.
Rule 222 gives effect to Section 289 and Section 407 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 form of one particular notice of demand and overrides the general provision to do it. Irrespective of anything contained in rule 179, a notice of demand under section 289 to be served upon the assessee in pursuance of an order under section 407 shall be in Form No. 151.
It says nothing else: not who serves it, not by when, and not what the demand may contain.
Section 289 requires a notice of demand to be served when a sum is payable in consequence of an order, and rule 179 prescribes the general form for that notice. A demand arising from an order under section 407 is different enough in content that a separate form is needed, and rule 222 supplies it with a non obstante opening so there is no argument about which of the two forms applies.
The trigger is the source of the demand, not its size or subject: any notice of demand under section 289 that follows an order under section 407 takes Form No. 151, and the general form under rule 179 does not apply to it, because rule 222 opens with an express override. The rule prescribes a form and nothing more, so the consequences of the demand — when the sum falls due, and what follows non-payment — are found in section 289 and the sections that work with it, not here.
An order is passed under section 407 and a sum becomes payable in consequence of it. The notice of demand served on the assessee under section 289 has to be in Form No. 151. A notice issued for that demand in the general form under rule 179 does not answer rule 222, which applies irrespective of anything contained in that rule.
You meet it as the demand notice itself, arriving with or after an order under section 407: the Form number on it is what shows whether rule 222 or rule 179 was applied.
Irrespective of anything contained in rule 179, the notice of demand under section 289 to be served upon the assessee in pursuance of an order under section 407, shall be in Form No. 151.