Rule 28 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026

Where this rule sits

Rule 28 gives effect to Section 44 and Section 51 of the Income-tax Act, 2025. A rule cannot go beyond the section it serves: where the two seem to differ, the section governs.

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What this rule does

The rule prescribes a single form. Where an assessee other than a company or a co-operative society has to furnish a report of audit of its accounts under section 44(6), which deals with the deduction for certain preliminary expenses, or under section 51(7), which deals with expenditure on prospecting for certain minerals, that report is to be furnished in Form No. 6.

Why it is there

Both section 44(6) and section 51(7) make the deduction conditional on an audit report but leave the form of the report to be prescribed. The rule fills that gap, and does it once for both deductions rather than twice, so a single form carries the accountant's certification for either claim. It also marks out who is outside the requirement: a company or a co-operative society, whose accounts are audited under their own governing law.

Who it applies to

• An assessee, other than a company or a co-operative society, claiming a deduction for preliminary expenses under section 44
• An assessee, other than a company or a co-operative society, claiming a deduction for expenditure on prospecting for certain minerals under section 51
• The accountant auditing the accounts and reporting in Form No. 6

The forms it prescribes

• Form No. 6 — report of audit of accounts of an assessee other than a company or a co-operative society, for a claim under section 44(6) or section 51(7)

What this means in practice

The rule settles form, not entitlement: it does not create the deduction, and it does not say when the report must be furnished or what the accountant must examine — those come from section 44(6) and section 51(7) themselves. The exclusion of a company and a co-operative society is an exclusion from this rule's audit-report requirement in that form, and the two sections govern what such entities must do instead. A firm or an individual claiming either deduction who files a report in some other format has not met the condition the sections impose.

An example

A firm amortising preliminary expenses under section 44 gets its accounts for the tax year audited by an accountant and furnishes the report in Form No. 6 in support of the claim. Had the same expenditure been claimed by a company, the requirement to report in Form No. 6 under this rule would not have applied to it.

Where you meet this rule

A reader meets this rule when a deduction under section 44 or section 51 is claimed in the return and the audit report has to accompany or support it, and again if the claim is queried and the report is called for.

The words themselves

What people get wrong

• Using a different audit report format because the accounts were already audited for another purpose. Rule 28 requires the report under section 44(6) or section 51(7) to be in Form No. 6.
• Treating the rule as fixing the time limit for the report. Rule 28 prescribes only the form; the timing follows from section 44(6) and section 51(7).
• Assuming a co-operative society must file Form No. 6. The rule expressly leaves out a company and a co-operative society.
• Filing two separate reports where both deductions are claimed on the assumption that each section needs its own form. Rule 28 prescribes Form No. 6 for a report under either provision.