Rule 69 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026

Where this rule sits

Rule 69 gives effect to Section 147 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 68  ·  Rule 70 →

What this rule does

Rule 69 prescribes the form of a single report. Where section 147(4)(a) requires the assessee to furnish a report of an accountant, that report shall be in Form No. 35, and the accountant is the accountant as defined in section 515(3)(b).

The rule fixes nothing else. The obligation to furnish, the occasion for it and the consequence of not furnishing all sit in section 147(4)(a); the rule supplies the form and the qualification of the person who signs it.

Why it is there

Section 147(4)(a) requires an accountant's report but does not say what it must contain or who counts as an accountant for it. Prescribing Form No. 35 gives the report a fixed shape the Department can process, and the reference to section 515(3)(b) closes off any argument that some other professional could sign.

Who it applies to

• An assessee required to furnish a report under section 147(4)(a)
• An accountant as defined in section 515(3)(b) who makes and signs the report

The forms it prescribes

• Form No. 35 — report of an accountant required to be furnished by the assessee under section 147(4)(a)

What this means in practice

This is a form-prescribing rule and nothing more, so a reader looking here for when the report is due, or for the consequence of filing late, is looking in the wrong place — section 147(4)(a) governs both. The one substantive point the rule does settle is who may sign: only an accountant within section 515(3)(b), which rules out a report from an adviser who is not one however close to the transaction. Because Form No. 35 is prescribed, a report in a different format, however complete, does not answer the requirement.

An example

A company's claim falls within section 147(4)(a) and the section requires an accountant's report. The company has its own finance director prepare a detailed certificate on the working; that does not satisfy the section, because rule 69 requires the report to be in Form No. 35 and to be the report of an accountant as defined in section 515(3)(b). The company engages such an accountant, who reports in Form No. 35, and the section is answered.

Where you meet this rule

An assessee meets it as the Form No. 35 filing that accompanies a claim under section 147, and a reader meets it again in any query on that claim, where the existence and contents of the Form No. 35 report are the first thing checked.

The words themselves

What people get wrong

• Reading a due date into the rule. Rule 69 prescribes only the form; the requirement and its timing come from section 147(4)(a).
• Accepting a report from someone who is not an accountant within section 515(3)(b). The rule ties the report to that definition.
• Filing the working in a free-form certificate. The rule prescribes Form No. 35, so the report must be in that form.