Rule 213 - Application for lower-rate or no-deduction/no-collection certificate

Lower rate TDS/TCS certificate application. 213. (1) An application shall be made in Form No. 128 for grant of a certificate for the deduction of income-tax at a lower rate, or no deduction, under section 395(1), or for collection of income-tax at a lower rate under section 395(3). (2) Sub-rule (1) does not apply to a person eligible for a certificate of no deduction of tax under rule 209. (3) The Assessing Officer may issue the certificate after considering: the tax payable on the estimated income for the relevant tax year; tax paid or payable on the returned, assessed, or estimated income of the last four tax years; existing liability under the Act and the repealed Income-tax Act, 1961; and advance tax, TDS or TCS already credited to the taxpayer as on the application date for the relevant tax year. (4) For a specified entity under section 263(9)(c) or a registered non-profit organisation, the Assessing Officer shall additionally consider whether the entity is approved for tax exemption both as of the application date and the date of the certificate, and whether it has filed returns for the last four tax years due before the application. (5) For a certificate concerning dividend income under section 393(1) [Table: Sl. No. 7], additional conditions apply: the shares must be shares in public companies, and must either stand in the applicant's name and be beneficially owned by him with dividends not includible in another person's total income under sections 96 to 99, or stand in the applicant's name held on behalf of a registered non-profit organisation whose dividends are exempt under Chapter XIX-B. (6) Such a certificate ceases to operate, to the extent of the corresponding shares, from the date the company is notified of a transfer of those shares to another person. (7) A certificate under this rule is valid for the period of the tax year specified in it, unless cancelled earlier by the Assessing Officer. (8) The certificate is issued in the name of the person responsible for deducting or collecting tax, with advice to the applicant, and is valid only for a specified payment from a specified deductor, or a specified receipt from a specified collector, up to the amount stated in the certificate. (9) Where the number of persons responsible for deducting tax is likely to exceed one hundred and their details are not available to the applicant at the time of application, the lower-rate certificate may instead be issued in the applicant's own name, authorising him to receive specified payments at the appropriate rate and to generate and provide the appropriate certificate to each deductor via the Income-tax Department's portal.