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Income-tax Act, 2025 | Section 152

Section 152 - Deduction in respect of royalty on patents

A resident individual patentee who is the true and first inventor can deduct qualifying patent royalty, capped at ₹3 lakh, for patents registered on or after 1 April 2003.

Reviewed by CA Nikhil Gupta · Updated 9 October 2026

Section 152: operativeEffective 1 April 2026Tax Year 2026-27 onwardLegally reviewed 8 October 2026

Current law and effective date

Section 152 is controlled against the consolidated Income-tax Act, 2025 as amended by the Finance Act, 2026. The Act and Income-tax Rules, 2026 operate from 1 April 2026; earlier years and saved proceedings require the repeal-and-savings framework rather than automatic migration.

Primary statute: Income Tax Department consolidated Act   |   Rules: Notified Income-tax Rules, 2026

2-minute decode

A resident individual patentee who is the true and first inventor can deduct qualifying patent royalty, capped at ₹3 lakh, for patents registered on or after 1 April 2003.

Who should use this section

Resident individual inventors who are true and first inventors and receive qualifying royalty from an eligible registered patent.

Old-law bridge

Section 80RRB

The old-law bridge is navigational, not automatic precedent transfer. Match the 1961 Act wording, saved proceedings, current 2025 Act text and effective date before importing an older interpretation.

Finance Act 2026 / current-law note

No section-specific Finance Act, 2026 textual substitution is separately flagged for section 152; the consolidated post-Finance-Act-2026 text remains the controlling version and must be used instead of pre-1 April 2026 extracts.

Professional alert

Rules 71 and 72 require Forms 37 and 38 where applicable. Assignment, co-ownership, foreign remittance and patent registration facts matter.

Connected Income-tax Rules, 2026 and Forms

RuleCurrent controlForm
Rule 71Patent royalty certificate for qualifying Indian royalty37
Rule 72Certificate for qualifying foreign-source patent royalty38

Worked application

A qualifying inventor receives ₹2.7 lakh patent royalty under the registered patent terms. Subject to certificates and definitions, ₹2.7 lakh can be deducted.

Evidence / compliance checklist

  • Preserve the primary agreement, certificate, account statement or transaction record that establishes the facts relevant to section 152 (Deduction in respect of royalty on patents).
  • Reconcile the section 152 amount to books, return schedules and third-party evidence so the computation can be reproduced without relying on a narrative assertion.
  • Keep the current-law source and any prescribed Rule/Form evidence with the tax-year file for section 152; do not rely on a legacy 1961 Act form merely because the section has an old-law bridge.
  • Where section 152 contains a threshold, election or time limit, retain dated evidence proving that the condition was satisfied before the return or proceeding was finalised.

Common mistake

A common section 152 error is to apply the old-law label or headline rate without rebuilding the current statutory conditions. For “Deduction in respect of royalty on patents”, the safer control is to test the exact taxpayer/transaction facts, the operative tax year, every linked Rule/Form and the Finance Act 2026 consolidated wording. Rules 71 and 72 require Forms 37 and 38 where applicable. Assignment, co-ownership, foreign remittance and patent registration facts matter.

Recommended approach

For section 152, start with the legal trigger in “Deduction in respect of royalty on patents”, document the evidence for that trigger, then run the computation or procedural step against the current text. As a cross-check, verify this provision-specific checkpoint: Resident individual patentee must be the true and first inventor.

Thresholds, periods and timing checkpoints

Related provisions and interaction map

Section 152 sits within the Chapter VIII deduction framework; also test section 202 restrictions where relevant and the return/audit provisions governing this specific claim.

Current statutory text

152. (1) An assessee, being an individual, who is— (a) resident in India; (b) a patentee; (c) in receipt of income by way of royalty in respect of a patent registered on or after the 1st April, 2003 under the Patents Act, 1970 (39 of 1970); and (d) having gross total income for the tax year which includes royalty, shall be allowed a deduction from such income computed in the manner specified in sub-sections (2) to (7). (2) The deduction under this section shall be equal to the whole of such income referred to in sub-section (1) or ₹ 300000, whichever is less. (3) Where a compulsory licence is granted in respect of any patent under the Patents Act, 1970 (39 of 1970), the income by way of royalty for the purpose of allowing deduction under this section shall not exceed the amount of royalty under the terms and conditions of a licence settled by the Controller under that Act. (4) In respect of any income earned from any source outside India, so much of the income, shall be taken into account for the purpose of this section as is brought into India by, or on behalf of, the assessee in convertible foreign exchange within six months from the end of the tax year in which such income is earned or within such further period as the competent authority referred to in section 151(8)(c)may allow in this behalf. (5) No deduction under this section shall be allowed unless the assessee furnishes a certificate in the prescribed form, duly signed by the authority as may be prescribed, along with the return of income setting forth such particulars as may be prescribed. (6) No deduction under this section shall be allowed in respect of any income earned from any source outside India, unless the assessee furnishes a certificate in such form, from the authority or authorities, as may be prescribed, along with the return of income. (7) Where a deduction for any tax year has been claimed and allowed in respect of any income referred to in this section, no deduction in respect of such income shall be allowed under any other provision of this Act in any tax year. (8) For the purposes of this section,— (a) “Controller” means the authority as defined in section 2(1)(b) of the Patents Act, 1970 (39 of 1970); (b) “lump sum” includes a non-returnable advance payment for royalties; (c) “patent” means any patent granted, including a patent of addition, under the Patents Act, 1970 (39 of 1970); (d) “patentee” means the true and first inventor recorded as the patentee under the Patents Act, 1970 (39 of 1970), including joint patentees recorded as such true and first inventors; (e) “patent of addition” shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in section 2(1)(q) of the Patents Act, 1970 (39 of 1970); (f) “patented article” and “patented process” shall have the same meanings as assigned to them in section 2(1)(o) of the Patents Act, 1970 (39 of 1970); (g) “royalty” in respect of a patent, means consideration for— (i) the transfer of all or any rights (including the granting of a licence) in respect of a patent; or (ii) the imparting of any information concerning the working of, or the use of, a patent; or (iii) the use of any patent; or (iv) the rendering of any services in connection with the activities referred to in sub-clauses (i) to (iii), but does not include any consideration,— (A) which would be the income of the recipient chargeable under the head “Capital gains”; or (B) for sale of product manufactured with the use of patented process or of the patented article for commercial use; (h) “true and first inventor” shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in section 2(1)(y) of the Patents Act, 1970 (39 of 1970). D.—Deductions in respect of other incomes

Primary-source trail

Statute: Income-tax Act, 2025 as amended by Finance Act, 2026

Rules: Income-tax Rules, 2026

Law navigation: Income Tax Department 2025 Act / Rules hub

Quoting note: Use the official consolidated Act for verbatim legislative language.

FAQs

Does an old Income-tax Act, 1961 case automatically decide section 152?

No. The old-law bridge helps research, but transferability depends on materially matching language, transition rules and any Finance Act 2026 change.

Which text should be quoted in advice or litigation?

Quote the consolidated official statute for the relevant tax year. If this page presents a provision summary rather than complete statutory text, use the official consolidated Act for verbatim legislative language.

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