Rule 236 — Form of statement to be furnished by producers of cinematograph films or persons engaged in specified activity. Made under s.507 of the Income-tax Act, 2025.
Rule 236 gives effect to Section 507 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. 164 for the statement required to be furnished under section 507 by a person carrying on the production of a cinematograph film, or engaged in a specified activity, or both, for each tax year. Sub-rule (2) requires Form No. 164 to be furnished within sixty days from the end of the tax year.
Sub-rule (3) prescribes the authority for the purposes of section 507 as the Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or any person authorised by him, and sub-rule (4) requires that authority to forward Form No. 164 to the Assessing Officer. Sub-rule (5) takes "specified activity" from section 507(3).
Section 507 requires a statement from film producers and persons engaged in a specified activity but leaves the form, the time and the authority to the rules. The rule supplies a single annual form, a sixty-day period after the tax year, and a central recipient, with the statement then routed to the Assessing Officer who can use it.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time to furnish Form No. 164 | Within sixty days from the end of the tax year | One statement for each tax year | Sub-rule (2) |
The obligation is annual and runs from the end of the tax year, not from the completion or release of a film, so a producer whose film spans years still files for each tax year. The statement goes to the Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or his authorised person, not to the Assessing Officer, and sub-rule (4) puts the onward transmission on that authority. What counts as a specified activity is not defined here — sub-rule (5) takes the meaning from section 507(3).
A production company completes shooting one film and works on another during the tax year ending 31 March 2027. It must furnish a single Form No. 164 for that tax year by 30 May 2027, that is within sixty days of the year end, to the Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or the person authorised by him, who forwards it to the Assessing Officer.
In the annual Form No. 164 filed after the tax year by a film producer or a person engaged in a specified activity, and later in the Assessing Officer's hands when the payments reported in it are checked.
shall be in Form No. 164 for each tax year
Form No. 164 shall be furnished within sixty days from the end of the tax year.