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Income-tax Act, 2025 | Section 60

Section 60 - Deduction of head office expenditure in case of non-residents

A non-resident’s head-office expenditure attributable to Indian business is capped by the statutory formula.

Reviewed by CA Nikhil Gupta · Updated 9 October 2026

Section 60: operativeEffective 1 April 2026Tax Year 2026-27 onwardReviewed 8 October 2026
Current-law control

Section 60 is presented using the consolidated Income-tax Act, 2025 as amended by the Finance Act, 2026. The general commencement date is 1 April 2026. Earlier years and saved proceedings may remain governed by the Income-tax Act, 1961 and the repeal/savings framework.

2-minute professional decode

A non-resident’s head-office expenditure attributable to Indian business is capped by the statutory formula.

Professional checkpoint: Apply the provision only after checking the defined person, tax year, evidence, thresholds and any connected Rule or Schedule.

Who should test this section?

Section 60 should be tested by businesses, professionals, non-residents and advisers whenever the computation touches deduction of head office expenditure in case of non-residents; the special rule must be checked before the ordinary business-profit machinery is applied.

Evidence to retain

For section 60, retain the contracts, ledgers, invoices, banking evidence, prescribed reports and computation papers that specifically prove the factual trigger and quantum for deduction of head office expenditure in case of non-residents.

1961 Act bridge

Legacy provisionLegacy headingMapping
44CDeduction of head office expenditure in the case of non-residents.Renumbered / mapped

The bridge is a research aid. Legacy case law carries over only after the current wording and transition rules are matched.

Rules and forms linked to this section

No provision-specific Rule was independently mapped from the current Rules register for this section. That does not mean the wider Rules are irrelevant.

Worked application

An overseas enterprise attributes head-office expenditure to its Indian operations. The deduction cannot be taken from the management allocation alone; compute the statutory ceiling and preserve the allocation basis.

Common mistake

A recurring section 60 error is to carry the book or ordinary tax treatment into deduction of head office expenditure in case of non-residents without first testing the provision-specific override, eligibility conditions and linked Rule/Form requirements.

Compliance approach

Identify the statutory trigger for section 60, lock the relevant tax year, reconcile the facts to the operative sub-section, preserve the evidence trail and separately test every linked Rule, Form, Schedule and exception before finalising the return position.

Numeric / timing checkpoints in the operative text

Related provisions

Current statutory text

60. (1) Irrespective of anything to the contrary contained in sections 26 to 54, in the case of a non-resident assessee, deduction of head office expenditure incurred by such assessee as is attributable to his business or profession in India, shall be allowed in computing the income chargeable under the head “Profits and gains of business or profession” subject to provisions of sub-section (2). (2) The deduction allowable under sub-section (1) shall be restricted— (a) if the adjusted total income of the assessee is a loss, to an upper monetary limit of 5% of the average adjusted total income of the assessee; or (b) in any other case, to an upper monetary limit of 5% of the adjusted total income of the assessee. (3) For the purposes of this section,— (a) “adjusted total income” means the total income computed under this Act, without giving effect to the allowance referred to in this section or in section 33(11) or the deduction referred to in section 32(i)(A) or any loss carried forward under section 111(1) or 112(1) or 113(2) or 115(2) or the deductions under Chapter VIII; (b) “average adjusted total income” means,— (i) if the assessee is assessable for each of the three tax years imme- diately preceding the relevant tax year, the arithmetic mean of his adjusted total income over those three tax years; (ii) if the assessee is assessable only for two of the said three tax years, the arithmetic mean of his adjusted total income over those two tax years; (iii) if the assessee is assessable only for one of the said three tax years, his adjusted total income for that tax year; (c) “head office expenditure” means executive and general administration expenditure incurred by the assessee outside India, including expendi- ture incurred in respect of— (i) rent, rates, taxes, repairs or insurance of any premises outside India used for the business or profession; (ii) salary, wages, annuity, pension, fees, bonus, commission, gratuity, perquisites or profits in lieu of, or in addition to, salary, whether paid or allowed to any employee or other person employed in, or managing the affairs of, any office outside India; (iii) travelling by any employee or other person employed in, or man- aging the affairs of, any office outside India; and (iv) such other matters connected with executive and general admin- istration, as may be prescribed.

Primary-source trail

Source status: full Section 60 statutory text in the local source corpus; reconciled to the current consolidated Act control on 8 October 2026.

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