Rules 2026

Rule 266 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026

Rule 266 — Procedure if no Inquiry Officer appointed.

Where this rule sits

What this rule does

The rule provides that the procedure prescribed in rules 264 and 265 shall also apply, to the extent possible, to the prescribed authority if it itself conducts the inquiry without appointing an Inquiry Officer.

Why it is there

Rules 264 and 265 lay down how proceedings before an Inquiry Officer are conducted and how the prescribed authority's order is made, on the assumption that an Inquiry Officer has been appointed. Where the prescribed authority holds the inquiry itself, that assumption fails and the procedural protections would otherwise fall away. The rule carries them across so the person under inquiry is dealt with the same way either route is taken.

Who it applies to

A prescribed authority conducting an inquiry itself, without appointing an Inquiry Officer
A person against whom such an inquiry is conducted

What this means in practice

The absence of an Inquiry Officer does not lower the procedure: rules 264 and 265 apply to the prescribed authority conducting the inquiry itself. The qualification is "to the extent possible", which accommodates the steps in those rules that assume two separate functionaries and cannot operate when one person does both, but it does not license departure from the rest.

Where you meet this rule

In an inquiry into the conduct of an authorised income-tax practitioner where the prescribed authority holds the inquiry itself rather than appointing an Inquiry Officer.

The words themselves

The procedure prescribed in rules 264 and 265 shall also apply, to the extent possible, to the prescribed authority, if it itself conducts the inquiry without appointing an Inquiry Officer.

Rule 266, Income-tax Rules, 2026.

What people get wrong

Assuming rules 264 and 265 apply only where an Inquiry Officer has been appointed. This rule extends them to the prescribed authority conducting the inquiry itself.
Reading "to the extent possible" as a general discretion to depart from the procedure. It accommodates only what cannot operate where there is no separate Inquiry Officer.
Assuming an Inquiry Officer must always be appointed. The rule contemplates the prescribed authority itself conducting the inquiry, and carries the same procedure across when it does.

Read with

What this page does not tell you. It does not reproduce the rule. Everything above was written from the rule’s own text as the Income Tax Department publishes it — the text is here. A rule is subordinate legislation: it prescribes the method, the form or the period, and it cannot enlarge the charge the section imposes. Where a figure matters, read the sub-rule it comes from.