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Section 44AA of the Income Tax Act, along with Rule 6F, mandates books of account for income tax. These books of accounts are the official document that establishes the earnings and spending of a business.
This article deals with Section 44AA of the Income-tax Act, 1961. We will study in detail who must maintain the books of accounts and the documents required to be maintained, and the case when no books are to be kept.
Section 44AA of the Income Tax Act[1], along with Rule 6F, mandates the maintenance of books of accounts for income tax. These books of accounts are the official documents that established the earnings & spending of a business. It helps in concluding the tax liability.
Section 44AA talks about who keeps the records, what documents are required and the duration to keep the records. We will learn this in the next segment.
It is essential to maintain the books of accounts to determine the tax liability for a citizen. It determines the tax slab a person comes in and the amount to be deducted accordingly and helps check income variations. They also help in filing the IT Returns & audit-proof of the accounts.
According to Section 44AA and Rule 6F of the Income Tax Act, there is a list of who needs to maintain the books of accounts for income tax purposes.
The list is:
The CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes) can add professions to the list as it deems fit.
The rules under this section will also apply to a freelancer who comes under any category mentioned above if his gross receipts are more than Rs. 2, 50,000 a year.
In the case of the person carrying on the profession, if:
Then the assessee is required under Section 44AA read with Rule 6F to maintain the books of account for income tax purposes. The books of accounts are to be maintained at least until the Assessing officer has completed the assessment.
In the case of the person carrying on the business, if:
Then the assessee is required to maintain the books of accounts or documents for which the AO (Assessing officer) will complete the assessment; otherwise, the assessee is not necessary to maintain the books of accounts.
The books of accounts are to be maintained if:
According to Rule 6F of the Income Tax Act, the books of accounts to be maintained are:
As per Rule 6F (3), the books of accounts must be kept and maintained by the person at the principal place of business or profession.
As per Rule 6F (5), the books of account for each year must be kept for at least 6 years from the end of that year.
The books of accounts are not required when:
If a person fails to comply with the provisions of Section 44AA, he may attract a penalty of Rs. 25,000 u/s 271A. The penalty is imposed on failure to maintain books of accounts & other documents or to retain them. The AO (Assessing Officer) or the CIT can impose the penalty on such failure.
In some cases, failure to maintain the books of account for international transactions, then the penalty of 2% of each international transaction’s value will be levied.
Section 44AA of the Income Tax Act and Rule 6F mandate the maintenance of books of accounts for Income Tax. Thus, it is essential to maintain the books of accounts to determine tax liability. It determines the tax slab a person comes in and the amount to be deducted accordingly and helps check income variations.
Read our article:How to save Income Tax through Tax Planning in India?
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