Income-tax Rules, 2026 | Rule 187 of 333

Rule 187 - Books and documents to be maintained by a registered NPO

Reviewed by CA Nikhil Gupta · Last reviewed 29 August 2026

Local extract available Legacy mapping: 17AA

187Rule number

2006Local text characters

0Linked Forms

Previous Rule · Rules index · Next Rule

Source and status control

Primary authority: Notification No. 22/2026 / G.S.R. 198(E)

Currentness control: Base Rules effective 1 April 2026. Check later amendments, corrigenda and portal implementation before action.

Local statutory extract - official source controls

Rule text held in the production corpus

NPO books and document maintenance. 187. (1) Every registered non-profit organisation shall keep and maintain— (a) books of account, including cash book, ledger, journal, copies of bills (whether machine-numbered or otherwise serially numbered), receipts, and any other book required to give a true and fair view of its affairs; (b) books of account for any business undertaking referred to in section 344; (c) books of account for any other business activity outside section 344; and (d) other documents, including: records of projects and institutions run, with their names, addresses and objectives; records of income by source category; records of application of income both within India and outside India; records of income accumulated or set apart; donation records, including any corpus designation; records of donations received at a temple, mosque, church, gurdwara, or other place of public religious worship; details of loans and borrowings; records of both immovable and movable property; records of transactions with related persons; and other relevant documentation. (2) These records may be kept in written form, electronic form, digital form, or as printouts of data stored in electronic or digital form. (3) The books of account and other documents shall ordinarily be kept and maintained at the registered office of the non-profit organisation. (4) The organisation may keep such books and documents at a different location if its management passes a resolution to that effect, and gives written notice to the Assessing Officer, specifying the address of that other location, within seven days of the resolution. (5) The books of account and other documents shall be kept and maintained for a period of six years from the end of the relevant tax year. (6) Where an assessment for a tax year has been reopened under section 279, the books of account and other documents relating to that tax year shall continue to be kept and maintained until the assessment proceedings are completed.

Local extract SHA-256: 5009c13f829f6a9977071ba9c73e86867d3de1b8983e97afa59efed078b2eba5. This hash authenticates the local extract only; it does not certify that every amendment, table or Gazette footnote has been consolidated.

Rule map

Related sections

Use the title and official text to identify the governing section; no local section reference is asserted.

Related Forms

No Form link identified in the current crosswalk.

Finin2min implementation framework

Trigger and scope

Determine whether the facts fall within the Rule heading and linked section. Verify commencement and the tax year involved.

Evidence and control

Preserve the return, statement, report, certificate, computation, source records and acknowledgement relevant to this Rule.

Consequence

Non-compliance may affect computation, exemption, deduction, procedural validity, reporting, recovery, appeal or penalty depending on the governing section.

Transaction application

Identify the actor, event date, governing tax year or reporting period, authority, document version and every cumulative condition. Record why each limb is satisfied, disputed or not applicable.

Authority, consent and execution

Confirm legal capacity, authorised signatory, digital-signature requirements, professional certification and portal credentials before filing or relying on the document.

Evidence and retention checklist

Retain source data, approvals, computations, correspondence, filing acknowledgement, payment record, amended filing history and the version of the governing instrument used.

Limitation, forum and remedies

Do not assume a general limitation period. Check the specific Act, Rule, notification, portal window, condonation power, appeal route and judicial treatment applicable to the event date.

Cross-law overlays

Check the Income-tax Act, 2025, transition rules, relevant Schedule, tax treaty, Companies Act, GST, FEMA and accounting treatment where the transaction crosses regimes.

Finin2min Q&A

Is this page the notified Rule?

It contains a local statutory extract, but the linked official source and later amendments control.

What should be verified immediately before use?

Effective date, amendment history, forms or utilities, filing channel, authentication method, due date, fees, transition from the 1962 Rules and any judicial interpretation.

Source and review trail

Use the current official instrument, portal or regulator publication before acting. This panel separates the category authority from page-specific references.

Official starting point: www.incometaxindia.gov.in

Page source links

Notification No. 22/2026 / G.S.R. 198(E)

Rule use-check — filing, evidence and currentness

This rule page is a working reference for “Rule 187 - Books and documents to be maintained by a registered NPO”. Before using it, verify that the current rule/form text, effective date, portal schema and any amendment or corrigendum still match the transaction or filing period.

Before relying on this page

Confirm the relevant tax year / assessment-year transition and the governing Income-tax Act, 2025 provision.
Match the current notified form/rule with the live e-Filing utility, schema and instruction set; notification and portal availability are separate checks.
Retain computation, supporting schedules, acknowledgements and source documents used for every material field.

Current primary-source checkpoint

Verify against the current official source. Reviewed 22 August 2026; later amendments and portal releases can change the workflow.