Rule 75 — Other documents and information to be provided for claiming double taxation relief under section 159(1) and (2). Made under s.159 of the Income-tax Act, 2025.
Rule 75 gives effect to 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 that, for claiming double taxation relief under an agreement mentioned in section 159(1) or (2), the other documents and information to be provided by an assessee who is not a resident, under section 159(8)(b), shall be as per Form No. 41.
Sub-rule (2) requires the assessee to keep and maintain such documents as are necessary to substantiate the information provided in Form No. 41, and allows the income-tax authority to call for those documents to verify the claim of relief.
Sub-rules (3) and (4) run the other way, for residents. An assessee resident in India seeking a certificate of residence for the purposes of an agreement referred to in section 159(1) and (2) applies in Form No. 42 to the Assessing Officer, and the Assessing Officer, on receipt of the application and on being satisfied in this behalf, issues a certificate of residence in Form No. 43.
Section 159(8)(b) makes relief under an agreement conditional on the non-resident providing such other documents and information as may be prescribed, without saying what they are. Sub-rule (1) makes that Form No. 41. Sub-rules (3) and (4) deal with the mirror problem — an Indian resident needing proof of residence to claim relief in the other country — by giving that a form and an issuing officer as well.
Form No. 41 is not the end of the evidentiary burden. Sub-rule (2) requires the assessee to keep and maintain the documents necessary to substantiate what the form says, and the income-tax authority may call for them, so the form is a declaration whose backing has to exist and be producible. The two halves of the rule serve different taxpayers: sub-rules (1) and (2) are for a non-resident claiming relief in India, sub-rules (3) and (4) for a resident who needs Indian residence certified for use abroad, and neither substitutes for the other. Under sub-rule (4) the certificate issues on the Assessing Officer being satisfied, so the application is not a mere filing.
A non-resident company claims a reduced rate on Indian-source income under an agreement mentioned in section 159(1). It provides Form No. 41 with its claim and keeps the contracts and board records behind the statements in it. When the Assessing Officer calls for those documents under sub-rule (2), the claim of relief stands or falls on their being produced.
A non-resident meets Form No. 41 when the relief is claimed, and again when an income-tax authority calls for the supporting documents. A resident meets Forms No. 42 and 43 when a foreign payer or tax authority asks for proof of Indian residence.
the other documents and information to be provided by an assessee (not being a resident) under section 159(8)(b) shall be as per Form No. 41
The Assessing Officer, on receipt of the application and on being satisfied in this behalf, shall issue a certificate of residence in Form No. 43.