Rule 245 — Annual Information Statement. Made under s.510, s.159 of the Income-tax Act, 2025.
Rule 245 gives effect to Section 510 and Section 159 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) requires the Director General of Income-tax (Systems), or any person authorised by him, to upload in the registered account of the assessee, under section 510, an annual information statement in Form No. 168 containing the information in his possession, within ninety days from the end of the month in which the information is received by him. The listed categories are information relating to tax deducted or collected at source; specified financial transactions; payment of taxes; demand and refund; pending proceedings; completed proceedings; and any other information authorised under sub-rule (2).
Sub-rule (2) allows the Board to authorise the Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or any person authorised by him to upload, in that statement, any information received from any officer, authority or body performing any function under any law in force, or information received under an agreement referred to in section 159, or information received from any other person, to the extent it deems fit in the interest of the revenue.
Section 510 provides for an annual information statement, and the rule settles what goes into it, who puts it there, in what form and by when. The ninety-day clock runs from receipt of the information rather than from the end of the year, so the statement builds up through the year as third-party reports come in. Sub-rule (2) leaves room for information from outside the tax system — other authorities and treaty partners — to be added by Board authorisation.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time to upload information into the annual information statement | Within ninety days from the end of the month in which the information is received | Applies to information in the possession of the Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or the person authorised by him | Rule 245(1) |
The statement is not a return and imposes no duty on the assessee; it is a Departmental upload into the registered account, and the only time limit in the rule binds the Department, not the taxpayer. The ninety days run from the end of the month in which the information is received, so an item reported late by a third party appears late, and the statement for a year is not complete on any fixed date. The seven categories in sub-rule (1) are not closed: clause (g) picks up whatever the Board authorises under sub-rule (2), which expressly reaches information received from other authorities and under an agreement referred to in section 159. Because the content is drawn from what the Department has been told, a discrepancy is a reason to check the source of the entry rather than proof of the assessee's position.
A bank reports a specified financial transaction in the month of August. The Director General of Income-tax (Systems) must upload that information into the assessee's Form No. 168 annual information statement within ninety days from the end of August. An item received under an exchange of information with a treaty partner appears only if the Board has authorised it under sub-rule (2).
You meet it in the registered account before filing a return, where Form No. 168 is checked against the income and the credits claimed, and again when an assessment picks up an entry the return did not reflect.
shall, under section 510, upload in the registered account of the assessee, an annual information system Form No. 168 containing the following information, which is in his possession within ninety days from the end of the month in which the information is received by him