Rules 2026s.59

Rule 43 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026

Rule 43 — Form of report of audit to be furnished under section 59(4) for computation of royalty and fee for technical services. Made under s.59 of the Income-tax Act, 2025.

Where this rule sits

Rule 43 gives effect to Section 59 of the Income-tax Act, 2025. A rule cannot go beyond the section it serves: where the two seem to differ, the section governs.

← Rule 42 · Rule 44 →

What this rule does

The rule prescribes the form of one audit report. The report of audit of accounts of a non-resident (not being a company) or of a foreign company, for computation of royalty and fee for technical services, which is required to be furnished under section 59(4), shall be in Form No. 24. The rule says nothing about who must obtain the audit, by when it must be furnished or what it must contain; those are matters for section 59(4). It settles the form and nothing else.

Why it is there

Section 59(4) requires a report of audit to be furnished but leaves the form to be prescribed. Without a prescribed form the requirement could be met by any document calling itself an audit report, and the Department would have no standard set of particulars to work from. The rule supplies the single form the section points at.

Who it applies to

A non-resident, not being a company, required to furnish a report of audit under section 59(4)
A foreign company required to furnish a report of audit under section 59(4)
The accountant preparing the report for computation of royalty and fee for technical services

The forms it prescribes

Form No. 24 — report of audit of accounts of a non-resident (not being a company) or a foreign company for computation of royalty and fee for technical services under section 59(4)

What this means in practice

The obligation to have the audit and to furnish the report comes from section 59(4); the rule only says what the report looks like. Both classes of person named in the rule are covered on the same footing — a non-resident that is not a company and a foreign company — so there is no separate form for the corporate case. Because the rule is confined to computation of royalty and fee for technical services, a report in Form No. 24 does not stand in for any other audit report the Act may require of the same person.

Where you meet this rule

A non-resident or foreign company with Indian royalty or fees for technical services meets it when the section 59(4) report is prepared and furnished alongside the return; the payer of the royalty or fees does not file it.

The words themselves

The report of audit of accounts of a non-resident (not being a company) or a foreign company for computation of royalty and fee for technical services, which is required to be furnished under section 59(4), shall be in Form No. 24.

Rule 43, Income-tax Rules, 2026.

What people get wrong

Looking to the rule for the due date. Rule 43 prescribes the form only; the requirement and its timing come from section 59(4).
Assuming a foreign company files something different. The rule covers a non-resident not being a company and a foreign company in the same breath, both in Form No. 24.
Using Form No. 24 as a general audit report. The rule confines it to the computation of royalty and fee for technical services under section 59(4).

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.