notification no. 22/2026 f. no. 370142/41/2025 tpl / g.s.r. 198 e · 20 Mar 2026

[भाग II—खण्‍ड 3(i)] भारत‍का‍राजपत्र‍:‍असाधारण 1533 MINISTRY OF FINANCE (Department of Revenue) (CENTRAL BOARD OF DIRECT TAXES) NOTIFICATION New Delhi, the 20th March, 2026 G.S.R. 198(E).—In exercise of powers conferred by section 533 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (30 of 2025), the Central Board of Direct Taxes hereby makes the following rules, namely:– 1. Short title and commencement.–(1) These rules may be called the Income-tax Rules, 2026. (2) They shall come into force on the 1st April, 2026. 2. Definitions.– (1) In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,— (a) "Act" means the Income-tax Act, 2025 (30 of 2025); (b) "authorised bank" means any bank as may be appointed by the Reserve Bank of India as its agent under the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 45 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 (2 of 1934); (c) ―Form‖ means a Form in Appendix III appended to these rules; (d) "section" means a section of the Act. (2) Words and expressions used herein and not defined but defined in the Act shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Act. 3. Arrangements for declaration and payment of dividends within India.–The arrangements referred to in section 2(42) to be made by a company for the declaration and payment of dividends (including dividends on preference shares) within India shall be as follows: (a) the share-register of the company for all shareholders shall be regularly maintained at its principal place of business within India, in respect of any tax year from a date not later than the 1st April of such year; (b) the general meeting for passing the accounts of the tax year and for declaring any dividends in respect thereof shall be held only at a place within India; and (c) the dividends declared, if any, shall be payable only within India to all shareholders. 4. Conditions that a stock exchange is required to fulfil to be notified as a recognised stock exchange under section 2(92).– For the purposes of section 2(92), a stock exchange shall fulfil the following conditions in respect of trading in derivatives:- (a) the stock exchange shall have the approval of the Securities and Exchange Board of India established under the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 (15 of 1992) in respect of trading in derivatives and shall function in accordance with the guidelines or conditions laid down in this behalf by the Securities and Exchange Board of India; (b) the stock exchange shall ensure that the particulars of the client (including unique client identity number and Permanent Account Number) are duly recorded and stored in its databases; (c) the stock exchange shall maintain a complete audit trail of all transactions (in respect of cash and derivative market) for a period of seven tax years on its system; (d) the stock exchange shall ensure that transactions (in respect of cash and derivative market) once registered in the system are not erased; (e) the stock exchange shall ensure that the transactions (in respect of cash and derivative market) once registered in the system, are modified only in cases of genuine error; and (f) the stock exchange shall maintain data regarding all transactions (in respect of cash and derivative market) registered in the system which have been modified and submit a monthly statement in Form No. 1 to the Director General of Income-tax (Systems), within fifteen days from the last day of each month to which such statement relates. 5. Procedure for notification of a recognised stock exchange for the purposes of section 2(92).– (1) An application for notification of a stock exchange as a recognised stock exchange for the purposes of section 2(92) may be made to the Member (Income Tax), Central Board of Direct Taxes, New Delhi. (2) The application referred to in sub-rule (1) shall be accompanied with the following documents,:- (a) approval granted by the Securities and Exchange Board of India for trading in derivatives; (b) up-to-date rules, bye-laws and trading regulations of the stock exchange; 1534 THE GAZETTE OF INDIA : EXTRAORDINARY [PART II—SEC. 3(i)] (c) confirmation regarding fulfilling the conditions referred to in clause (b) to (f) of rule 4; and (d) such other information as the stock exchange may like to place before the Central Government. (3) The Central Government may call for such other information from the applicant as it deems necessary for taking a decision on the application. (4) The Central Government, after examining the information furnished by the stock exchange under sub-rule (2) or sub-rule (3), shall notify the stock exchange as a recognised stock exchange for the purposes of section 2(92) or issue an order rejecting the application before the expiry of six months from the end of the month in which the application is received. (5) The notification referred to in sub-rule (4) shall be effective until the approval granted by the Securities and Exchange Board of India is withdrawn or expires, or the said notification is rescinded by the Central Government. 6. Method of determination of period of holding of capital assets in certain cases.– (1) For the purposes of section 2(101)(c)(D), the period for which such capital asset is held by an assessee, shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of this rule. (2) For the capital asset mentioned in column B of the Table below, the period for which the capital asset is held by the assessee shall be determined in accordance with column C thereof: Table Sl.No. Nature of Assets Period of holding A B C 1. Shares or debentures of a company, which becomes the property of the assessee under the circumstances mentioned in section 70(1)(z). The period of holding shall include the period for which the bond, debenture, debenture-stock or deposit certificate, as the case may be, was held by the assessee prior to the conversion. 2. Capital asset declared under the Income Declaration Scheme, 2016 made under the Finance Act, 2016 (28 of 2016). (i) In the case of an immovable property, the period for which such property is held is to be reckoned from the date on which such property is acquired, if the date of acquisition is evidenced by a deed registered with any authority of a State Government; and (ii) in any other case, the period for which such asset is held shall be reckoned from the 1st June, 2016. 3. Capital asset which became the property of the Indian subsidiary company in consequence to conversion of a branch of a foreign company referred to in section 219(1). The period of holding shall include the following: (i) the period for which the asset was held by the said branch of the foreign company; or (ii) the period for which the asset was held by the previous owner, if any, who has acquired the capital asset by a mode of acquisition referred to in section 73(1) [Sl.No.1. C.A] or section 219(1). (3) In case of the amount which is chargeable to income-tax as income of a specified entity under section 67(10) under the head ―Capital gains‖,– (a) the amount or a part of it shall be considered to be from transfer of short-term capital asset, if it is attributed to,– (i) the capital asset which is short-term capital asset at the time of taxation of amount under section 67(10); or (ii) capital asset forming part of block of asset; or (iii) capital asset being self-generated asset and self-generated goodwill as defined in section 67(11); and (b) the amount or a part of it shall be considered to be from transfer of long-term capital asset or assets, if it is attributed to capital asset which is not covered by sub-clause (i) of clause (a) and is long-term capital asset at the time of taxation of amount section 67(10). 7. Procedure for notification of zero coupon bond.– (1) An application by an entity, being an infrastructure capital company or infrastructure capital fund or infrastructure debt fund or a public sector company under section 2(112), for notification of any zero coupon bond proposed to be issued by it shall be made in Form No.2 at least three months before the date of issue of such bond. (2) An application made under sub-rule (1) shall not be made for notification of a bond which is to be issued beyond a period of two financial years following the financial year in which such application is made.