Rule 231 — Form of application under section 440. Made under s.439, s.440, s.478, s.479 of the Income-tax Act, 2025.
Rule 231 gives effect to Section 439, Section 440, Section 478 and Section 479 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 for an application under section 440. An application to the Assessing Officer to grant immunity from imposition of penalty under section 439 and from initiation of proceedings under section 478 or section 479 is to be made in Form No. 161.
Section 440 allows an assessee to ask for immunity but leaves the form of the request to be prescribed. The rule supplies it, and in doing so records in one place what the single application covers: immunity from penalty under section 439 and from initiation of proceedings under section 478 or section 479.
One application in Form No. 161 covers both limbs, the penalty under section 439 and the initiation of proceedings under sections 478 and 479, so separate requests are not called for. The rule fixes only the form and the addressee, the Assessing Officer; the conditions on which immunity may be granted, and the consequences of an application, are in section 440.
You meet it after an assessment where penalty and prosecution are in prospect, as the application in Form No. 161 filed with the Assessing Officer.
An application to the Assessing Officer to grant immunity from imposition of penalty under section 439 and from initiation of proceedings under section 478 or section 479 shall be made in Form No. 161.