The Fourth Schedule
Recognised Provident Funds
[See
sections 2(38), 10(12), 10(25), 36(1)(iv), 87(1)(d),
111, 192(4)]
Application of Part.
1. This Part shall not apply to any provident
fund to which the Provident Funds Act, 1925 (19 of 1925), applies.
Definitions.
2. In this Part, unless the context otherwise
requires,—
(a) “employer” means any person who
maintains a provident fund for the benefit of his or its employees, being—
(i) a Hindu undivided family, company, firm or
other association of persons, or
(ii) an individual engaged in a business or profession the profits and
gains whereof are assessable to income-tax under the head “Profits and gains of
business or profession”;
(b) “employee” means an employee
participating in a provident fund, but does not include a personal or domestic
servant;
(c) “contribution” means any sum credited by
or on behalf of any employee out of his salary, or by an employer out of his
own moneys, to the individual account of an employee, but does not include any
sum credited as interest;
(d) “balance to the credit of an employee”
means the total amount to the credit of his individual account in a provident
fund at any time;
(e) “annual accretion”, in relation to the
balance to the credit of an employee, means the increase to such balance in any
year, arising from contributions and interest;
(f) “accumulated balance due to an employee”
means the balance to his credit, or such portion thereof as may be claimable by
him under the regulations of the fund, on the day he ceases to be an employee
of the employer maintaining the fund;
(g) “regulations of a fund” means
the special body of regulations governing the constitution and administration
of a particular provident fund; and
(h) “salary” includes dearness allowance, if
the terms of employment so provide, but excludes all other allowances and
perquisites.
According and withdrawal of recognition.
3. (1) The [Chief Commissioner or Commissioner]
may accord recognition to any provident fund which, in his opinion, satisfies
the conditions prescribed in rule 4 and the rules made by the Board in this
behalf, and may, at any time, withdraw such recognition if, in his opinion, the
provident fund contravenes any of those conditions.
The following proviso shall be inserted to
sub-rule (1) of rule 3 in Part A of the Fourth Schedule by the Finance Act,
2006, w.e.f. 1-4-2007 :
Provided that in a case where recognition has been accorded to any provident
fund on or before the 31st day of March, 2006 and such provident fund does not
satisfy the conditions set out in clause (ea) of rule 4, the recognition
to such fund shall be withdrawn, if such fund does not satisfy, on or before
the 31st day of March, 2007, the conditions set out in the said clause and any
other condition which the Board may, by rules specify, in this behalf.
(2) An order
according recognition shall take effect on such date as the [Chief Commissioner
or Commissioner] may fix in accordance with any rules the Board may make in
this behalf, such date not being later than the last day of the financial year
in which the order is made.
(3) An order
withdrawing recognition shall take effect from the date on which it is made.
(4) An order
according recognition to a provident fund shall not, unless the [Chief
Commissioner or Commissioner] otherwise directs, be affected by the fact that
the fund is subsequently amalgamated with another provident fund on the
occurrence of an amalgamation of the undertakings in connection with which the
two funds are maintained, or that it subsequently absorbs the whole or a part
of another provident fund belonging to an undertaking which is wholly or in
part transferred to or merged in the undertaking of the employer maintaining
the first-mentioned fund.
Conditions to be satisfied by recognised provident funds.
4. In order that a provident fund may receive and retain recognition, it
shall, subject to the provisions of rule 5, satisfy the conditions set out
below and any other conditions which the Board may, by rules, specify—
(a) all employees shall be employed in
India, or shall be employed by an employer whose principal place of business is
in India;
(b) the contributions of an employee in any
year shall be a definite proportion of his salary for that year, and shall be
deducted by the employer from the employee’s salary in that proportion, at each
periodical payment of such salary in that year, and credited to the employee’s
individual account in the fund;
(c) the contributions of an employer to the
individual account of an employee in any year shall not exceed the amount of
the contributions of the employee in that year, and shall be credited to
the employee’s individual account at intervals not exceeding one year;
(d) the fund shall be vested in two or more
trustees or in the Official Trustee under a trust which shall not be revocable,
save with the consent of all the beneficiaries;
(e) the fund shall consist of contributions
as above specified, received by the trustees, of accumulations thereof, and of
interest credited in respect of such contributions and accumulations, and of
securities purchased therewith and of any capital gains arising from the
transfer of capital assets of the fund, and of no other sums;
The following clause (ea) shall
be inserted after clause (e) of rule 4 in Part A of the Fourth Schedule by the
Finance Act, 2006, w.e.f. 1-4-2007 :
(ea) the
fund of an establishment to which the provisions of sub-section (3) or
sub-section (4) of section 1 of the Employees’ Provident Funds and
Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 (19 of 1952) apply, and such establishment
has been exempted under section 17 of the said Act from the operation of all or
any of the provisions of any Scheme referred to in that section;
(f) the employer shall not be entitled to
recover any sum whatsoever from the fund, save in cases where the employee is
dismissed for misconduct or voluntarily leaves his employment otherwise than on
account of ill-health or other unavoidable cause before the expiration of the
term of service specified in this behalf in the regulations of the fund :
Provided that in such
cases the recoveries made by the employer shall be limited to the contributions
made by him to the individual account of the employee, and to interest credited
in respect of such contributions in accordance with the regulations of the fund
and the accumulations thereof;
(g) the accumulated balance due to an
employee shall be payable on the day he ceases to be an employee of the
employer maintaining the fund;
(h) save as provided in clause (g) or
in accordance with such conditions and restrictions as the Board may, by rules,
specify, no portion of the balance to the credit of an employee shall be
payable to him.
Relaxation of conditions.
5. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in
clause (a) of rule 4, the [Chief Commissioner or Commissioner] may, if
he thinks fit and subject to such conditions, if any, as he thinks proper to
attach to the recognition, accord recognition to a fund maintained by an
employer whose principal place of business is not in India, provided the
proportion of employees employed outside India does not exceed ten per cent.
(2)
Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (b) of rule 4, an employee
who retains his employment while serving in the armed forces of the Union or
when taken into or employed in the national service under any law for the time
being in force, may, whether he receives from the employer any salary or not,
contribute to the fund during his service in the armed forces of the Union or
while so taken into or employed in the national service a sum not exceeding the
amount he would have contributed had he continued to serve the employer.
(3)
Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (e) or clause (g) of
rule 4,—
(a) at the request made in writing by the
employee who ceases to be an employee of the employer maintaining the fund, the
trustees of the fund may consent to retain the whole or any part of the
accumulated balance due to the employee to be drawn by him at any time on
demand;
(b) where the accumulated balance due to an
employee who has ceased to be an employee is retained in the fund in accordance
with the preceding clause, the fund may consist also of interest in respect of
such accumulated balance;
[(c) the fund may also consist of any amount transferred
from the individual account of an employee in any recognised
provident fund maintained by his former employer and the interest in respect
thereof.]
(4) Subject
to any rules which the Board may make in this behalf, the [Chief Commissioner
or Commissioner] may, in respect of any particular fund, relax the provisions
of clause (c) of rule 4,—
(a) so as to permit the payment of larger
contributions by an employer to the individual accounts of employees whose
salaries do not in each case exceed five hundred rupees per mensem;
and
(b) so as to permit the crediting by
employers to the individual accounts of employees of periodical bonuses or
other contributions of a contingent nature, where the calculation and payment
of such bonuses or other contributions is provided for on definite principles
by the regulations of the fund.
(5)
Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (h) of rule 4, in order to
enable an employee to pay the amount of tax assessed on his total income as
determined under sub-rule (4) of rule 11, he shall be entitled to withdraw from
the balance to his credit in the recognised provident
fund a sum not exceeding the difference between such amount and the amount to
which he would have been assessed if the transferred balance referred to in
sub-rule (2) of rule 11 had not been included in his total income.
Employer’s annual
contributions, when deemed to be income received by employee.
6. That portion of the annual accretion in any previous
year to the balance at the credit of an employee participating in a recognised provident fund as consists of—
(a) contributions made by the employer in
excess of [twelve] per cent of the salary of the employee, and
(b) interest credited on the balance to the
credit of the employee in so far as it [***] is allowed at a rate exceeding
such rate as may be fixed by the Central Government in this behalf by
notification in the Official Gazette,
shall be
deemed to have been received by the employee in that previous year and shall be
included in his total income for that previous year, and shall be liable to
income-tax [***].
[Exemption for employee’s contributions.
7. An employee participating in a recognised provident fund shall, in respect of his own contributions
to his individual account in the fund in the previous year, be entitled to a
deduction in the computation of his total income of an amount determined in
accordance with [section 80C].]
Exclusion from total income of accumulated
balance.
8. The accumulated balance due and becoming
payable to an employee participating in a recognised
provident fund shall be excluded from the computation of his total income—
(i) if he has rendered continuous service with his
employer for a period of five years or more, or
(ii) if, though he has not rendered such
continuous service, the service has been terminated by reason of the employee’s
ill-health, or by the contraction or discontinuance of the employer’s business or
other cause beyond the control of the employee, [or]
60[(iii) if,
on the cessation of his employment, the employee obtains employment with any
other employer, to the extent the accumulated balance due and becoming payable
to him is transferred to his individual account in any recognised
provident fund maintained by such other employer.
Explanation.—Where the accumulated balance due and
becoming payable to an employee participating in a recognised
provident fund maintained by his employer includes any amount transferred from
his individual account in any other recognised
provident fund or funds maintained by his former employer or employers, then,
in computing the period of continuous service for the purposes of clause (i) or clause (ii) the period or periods for
which such employee rendered continuous service under his former employer or
employers aforesaid shall be included.]
Tax on accumulated balance.
9. (1) Where the accumulated balance due to an
employee participating in a recognised provident fund
is included in his total income owing to the provisions of rule 8 not being
applicable, the [Assessing] Officer shall calculate the total of the various
sums of [tax] which would have been payable by the employee in respect of his
total income for each of the years concerned if the fund had not been a recognised provident fund, and the amount by which such
total exceeds the total of all sums paid by or on behalf of such employee by
way of tax for such years shall be payable by the employee in addition to any
other [tax] for which he may be liable for the previous year in which the
accumulated balance due to him becomes payable.
(2) Where
the accumulated balance due to an employee participating in a recognised provident fund which is not included in his
total income under the provisions of rule 8 becomes payable, an amount equal to
the aggregate of the amounts of super-tax on annual accretions that would have
been payable under section 58E of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 (11 of 1922),
for any assessment year up to and including the assessment year 1932-33, if the
Indian Income-tax (Second Amendment) Act, 1933 (18 of 1933), had come into
force on the 15th day of March, 1930, shall be payable by the employee in
addition to any other tax payable by him for the previous year in which such
balance becomes payable.
Deduction at source of tax payable on
accumulated balance.
10. The trustees of a recognised
provident fund, or any person authorised by the regulations
of the fund to make payment of accumulated balances due to employees, shall, in
cases where sub-rule (1) of rule 9 applies, at the time an accumulated balance
due to an employee is paid, deduct therefrom the
amount payable under that rule and all the provisions of Chapter XVII-B shall
apply as if the accumulated balance were income chargeable under the head
“Salaries”.
Treatment of balance in newly recognised provident fund.
11. (1) Where recognition is accorded to a
provident fund with existing balances, an account shall be made of the fund up
to the day immediately preceding the day on which the recognition takes effect,
showing the balance to the credit of each employee on such day, and containing
such further particulars as the Board may prescribe.
(2) The
account shall also show in respect of the balance to the credit of each
employee the amount thereof which is to be transferred to that employee’s
account in the recognised provident fund, and such
amount (hereinafter called his transferred balance) shall be shown as the
balance to his credit in the recognised provident
fund on the date on which the recognition of the fund takes effect, and
sub-rule (4) of this rule and sub-rule (5) of rule 5 shall apply thereto.
(3) Any
portion of the balance to the credit of an employee in the existing fund which
is not transferred to the recognised fund shall be
excluded from the accounts of the recognised fund and
shall be liable to income-tax [***] in accordance with the provisions of this
Act, other than this Part.
(4) Subject
to such rules as the Board may make in this behalf, the [Assessing] Officer
shall make a calculation of the aggregate of all sums comprised in a
transferred balance which would have been liable to income-tax if this Part had
been in force from the date of the institution of the fund, without regard to
any tax which may have been paid on any sum, and such aggregate (if any) shall
be deemed to be income received by the employee in the previous year in which
the recognition of the fund takes effect and shall be included in the
employee’s total income for that previous year, and, for the purposes of
assessment, the remainder of the transferred balance shall be disregarded, but
no other exemption or relief, by way of refund or otherwise, shall be granted
in respect of any sum comprised in such transferred balance :
Provided that, in cases of serious accounting
difficulty, the [Chief Commissioner or Commissioner] may, subject to the said
rules, make a summary calculation of such aggregate.
(5) Nothing
in this rule shall affect the rights of the persons administering an unrecognised provident fund or dealing with it, or with the
balance to the credit of any individual employee before recognition is
accorded, in any manner which may be lawful.
Accounts of recognised
provident funds.
12. (1) The accounts of a recognised
provident fund shall be maintained by the trustees of the fund and shall be in
such form and for such periods, and shall contain such particulars, as the
Board may prescribe.
(2) The
accounts shall be open to inspection at all reasonable times by income-tax
authorities, and the trustees shall furnish to the [Assessing] Officer such
abstracts thereof as the Board may prescribe.
Appeals.
13. (1) An employer objecting to an order of the
[Chief Commissioner or Commissioner] refusing to recognise
or an order withdrawing recognition from a provident fund may appeal, within
sixty days of such order, to the Board.
(2) The
appeal shall be in such form and shall be verified in such manner and shall be
subject to the payment of such fee as the Board may prescribe.
Treatment of fund transferred by employer to
trustee.
14. (1) Where an employer, who maintains a
provident fund (whether recognised or not) for the
benefit of his employees and has not transferred the fund or any portion of it,
transfers such fund or portion to trustees in trust for the employees
participating in the fund, the amount so transferred shall be deemed to be of
the nature of capital expenditure.
(2) When an
employee participating in such fund is paid the accumulated balance due to him therefrom, any portion of such balance as represents his
share in the amount so transferred to the trustees (without addition of
interest, and exclusive of the employee’s contributions and interest thereon)
shall, if the employer has made effective arrangements to secure that tax shall
be deducted at source from the amount of such share when paid to the employee,
be deemed to be an expenditure by the employer within the meaning of section
37, incurred in the previous year in
which the accumulated balance due to the employee is paid.
Provisions relating to rules.
15. (1) In addition to any power conferred by
this Part, the Board may make rules—
(a) prescribing the statements and other
information to be submitted along with an application for recognition;
(b) limiting the contributions to a recognised provident fund by employees of a company who are
shareholders in the company;
[(bb) regulating
the investment or deposit of the moneys of a recognised
provident fund :
Provided that no rule
made under this clause shall require the investment of more than fifty per cent
of the moneys of such fund in Government securities as defined in section 2 of
the Public Debt Act, 1944 (18 of 1944);]
(c) providing for the assessment by way of
penalty of any consideration received by an employee for an assignment of, or
creation of a charge upon, his beneficial interest in a recognised
provident fund;
(d) determining the extent to and the manner
in which exemption from payment of [tax] may be granted in respect of
contributions and interest credited to the individual accounts of employees in
a provident fund from which recognition has been withdrawn; and
(e) generally, to carry out the purposes of
this Part and to secure such further control over the recognition of provident
funds and the administration of recognised provident
funds as it may deem requisite.
(2) All
rules made under this Part shall be subject to the provisions of section
296.
Approved superannuation funds
[See
sections 2(6), 10(13), 10(25)(iii), 36(1)(iv),
87(1)(e), 192(5), [206]]
Definitions.
1. In this Part, unless the context otherwise
requires, “employer”, “employee”, “contribution” and “salary” have, in relation
to superannuation funds, the meanings assigned to those expressions in rule 2
of Part A in relation to provident funds.
Approval and withdrawal of
approval.
2. (1) The Chief Commissioner or Commissioner]
may accord approval to any superannuation fund or any part of a superannuation
fund which, in his opinion, complies with the requirements of rule 3, and may
at any time withdraw such approval, if, in his opinion, the circumstances of
the fund or part cease to warrant the continuance of the approval.
(2) The
[Chief Commissioner or Commissioner] shall communicate in writing to the
trustees of the fund the grant of approval with the date on which the approval
is to take effect, and, where the approval is granted subject to conditions,
those conditions.
(3) The
[Chief Commissioner or Commissioner] shall communicate in writing to the
trustees of the fund any withdrawal of approval with the reasons for such
withdrawal and the date on which the withdrawal is to take effect.
(4) The
[Chief Commissioner or Commissioner] shall neither refuse nor withdraw approval
to any superannuation fund or any part of a superannuation fund unless he has
given the trustees of that fund a reasonable opportunity of being heard in the
matter.
Conditions for approval.
3. In order that a superannuation fund may
receive and retain approval, it shall satisfy the conditions set out below and
any other conditions which the Board may, by rules, prescribe—
(a) the fund shall be a fund established
under an irrevocable trust in connection with a trade or undertaking carried on
in India, and not less than ninety per cent of the employees shall be employed
in India;
(b) the fund shall have for its sole purpose
the provision of annuities for employees in the trade or undertaking on their
retirement at or after a specified age or on their becoming incapacitated prior
to such retirement, or for the widows, children or dependants of persons who
are or have been such employees on the death of those persons ;
(c) the employer in the trade or undertaking
shall be a contributor to the fund ; and
(d) all annuities, pensions and other
benefits granted from the fund shall be payable only in India.
Application for approval.
4. (1) An application for approval of a
superannuation fund or part of a superannuation fund shall be made in writing
by the trustees of the fund to the [Assessing] Officer by whom the employer is
assessable, and shall be accompanied by a copy of the instrument under which
the fund is established and by two copies of the rules [and, where the fund has
been in existence during any year or years prior to the financial year in which
the application for approval is made, also two copies of the accounts of the
fund relating to such prior year or years (not being more than three years
immediately preceding the year in which the said application is made)] for
which such accounts have been made up, but the [Chief Commissioner or
Commissioner] may require such further information to be supplied as he thinks
proper.
(2) If any
alteration in the rules, constitution, objects or conditions of the fund is
made at any time after the date of the application for approval, the trustees
of the fund shall forthwith communicate such alteration to the [Assessing]
Officer mentioned in sub-rule (1), and in default of such communication any
approval given shall, unless the [Chief Commissioner or Commissioner] otherwise
orders, be deemed to have been withdrawn from the date on which the alteration
took effect.
Contributions by employer when deemed to be
income of employer.
5. Where any contributions by an employer
(including the interest thereon, if any) are repaid to the employer, the amount
so repaid shall be deemed for the purpose of income-tax [***] to be the income
of the employer of the previous year in which it is so repaid.
Deduction of tax on contributions paid to an
employee.
6. Where any contributions made by an employer,
including interest on contributions, if any, are paid to an employee during his
lifetime [in circumstances other than those referred to in clause (13)
of section 10], [tax] on the
amounts so paid shall be deducted at the average rate of [tax] at which the
employee was liable to [tax] during the preceding three years or during the
period, if less than three years, when he was a member of the fund, and shall
be paid by the trustees to the credit of the Central Government within the
prescribed time and in such manner as the Board may direct.
Deduction from pay of and contributions on
behalf of employee to be included in return.
7. Where an employer deducts from the emoluments
paid to an employee or pays on his behalf any contributions of that employee to
an approved superannuation fund, he shall include all such deductions or
payments in the return which he is required to furnish under [***] section
206.
Appeals.
8. (1) An employer objecting to an order of the
[Chief Commissioner or Commissioner] refusing to accord approval to a
superannuation fund or an order withdrawing such approval may appeal, within
sixty days of such order, to the Board.
(2) The
appeal shall be in such form and shall be verified in such manner and shall be
subject to the payment of such fee as may be prescribed
Liability of trustees on cessation of
approval.
9. If a fund or a part of a fund for any reason
ceases to be an approved superannuation fund, the trustees of the fund shall
nevertheless remain liable to tax on any sum paid on account of returned
contributions (including interest on contributions, if any), in so far as the
sum so paid is in respect of contributions made before the fund or part of the
fund ceased to be an approved superannuation fund under the provisions of this
Part.
Particulars to be furnished in respect of
superannuation funds.
10. The trustees of an approved superannuation
fund and any employer who contributes to an approved superannuation fund shall,
when required by notice from the [Assessing] Officer, within such period, not
being less than twenty-one days from the date of the notice, as may be
specified in the notice, furnish such return, statement, particulars or
information, as the [Assessing] Officer may require.
Provisions relating to rules.
11. (1) In addition to any power conferred by
this Part, the Board may make rules—
(a) prescribing the statements and other
information to be submitted along with an application for approval ;
(b) prescribing the returns, statements,
particulars, or information which the [Assessing] Officer may require from the
trustees of an approved superannuation fund or from the employer ;
(c) limiting the ordinary annual
contribution and any other contributions to an approved superannuation fund by
an employer ;
[(cc) regulating
the investment or deposit of the moneys of an approved superannuation fund :
Provided that no rule
made under this clause shall require the investment of more than fifty per cent
of the moneys of such fund in Government securities as defined in section 2 of
the Public Debt Act, 1944 (18 of 1944) ;]
(d) providing for the assessment by way of
penalty of any consideration received by an employee for an assignment of, or
creation of a charge upon, his beneficial interest in an approved
superannuation fund ;
(e) determining the extent to, and the
manner in, which exemption from payment of [tax] may be granted in respect of
any payment made from a superannuation fund from which approval has been
withdrawn ;
(f) providing for the withdrawal of approval
in the case of a fund which ceases to satisfy the requirements of this Part or
of the rules made thereunder ; and
(g) generally, to carry out the purposes of
this Part and to secure such further control over the approval of the
superannuation funds and the administration of approved superannuation funds as
it may deem requisite.
(2) All
rules made under this Part shall be subject to the provisions of section
296.
Approved gratuity funds
[See
sections 2(5), [10(25)(iv),] 17(1)(iii),
36(1)(v)]
Definitions.
1. In this Part, unless the context otherwise
requires “employer”, “employee”, “contribution” and “salary” have, in relation
to gratuity funds, the meanings assigned to those expressions in rule 2 of Part
A in relation to provident funds.
Approval
and withdrawal of approval.
2. (1)
The [Chief Commissioner or Commissioner] may accord approval to any gratuity
fund which, in his opinion, complies with the requirements of rule 3 and may at
any time withdraw such approval if, in his opinion, the circum-stances of the
fund cease to warrant the continuance of the approval.
(2) The
[Chief Commissioner or Commissioner] shall communicate in writing to the
trustees of the fund the grant of approval with the date on which the approval
is to take effect and where the approval is granted subject to conditions,
those conditions.
(3) The
[Chief Commissioner or Commissioner] shall communicate in writing to the
trustees of the fund any withdrawal of approval with the reasons for such
withdrawal and the date on which the withdrawal is to take effect.
(4) The
[Chief Commissioner or Commissioner] shall neither refuse nor withdraw approval
to any gratuity fund unless he has given the trustees of that fund a reasonable
opportunity of being heard in the matter.
Conditions for approval.
3. In order that a gratuity fund may receive and
retain approval, it shall satisfy the conditions set out below and any other
conditions which the Board may, by rules, prescribe—
(a) the fund shall be a fund established
under an irrevocable trust in connection with a trade or undertaking carried on
in India, and not less than ninety per cent of the employees shall be employed
in India ;
(b) the fund shall have for its sole purpose
the provision of a gratuity to employees in the trade or undertaking on their
retirement at or after a specified age or on their becoming incapacitated prior
to such retirement or on termination of their employment after a minimum period
of service specified in the rules of the fund or to the widows, children or
dependants of such employees on their death ;
(c) the employer in the trade or undertaking
shall be a contributor to the fund ; and
(d) all benefits granted by the fund shall
be payable only in India.
Application for approval.
4. (1) An application for approval of a gratuity
fund shall be made in writing by the trustees of the fund to the [Assessing]
Officer by whom the employer is assessable and shall be accompanied by a copy
of the instrument under which the fund is established and by two copies of the
rules [and, where the fund has been in existence during any year or years prior
to the financial year in which the application for approval is made, also two
copies of the accounts of the fund relating to such prior year or years (not
being more than three years immediately preceding the year in which the said
application is made)] for which such accounts have been made up, but the [Chief
Commissioner or Commissioner] may require such further information to be
supplied as he thinks proper.
(2) If any
alteration in the rules, constitution, objects or conditions of the fund is
made at any time after the date of the application for approval, the trustees
of the fund shall forthwith communicate such alterations to the [Assessing]
Officer mentioned in sub-rule (1), and in default of such communication, any
approval given shall, unless the [Chief Commissioner or Commissioner] otherwise
orders, be deemed to have been withdrawn from the date on which the alteration
took effect.
Gratuity deemed to be salary.
5. Where any gratuity is paid to an employee
during his lifetime, the gratuity shall be treated as salary paid to the
employee for the purposes of this Act.
Liability of trustees on cessation of
approval.
6. If a gratuity fund for any reason ceases to
be an approved gratuity fund, the trustees of the fund shall nevertheless
remain liable to tax on any gratuity paid to any employee.
Contributions by employer, when deemed to be
income of employer.
7. Where any contributions by an employer
(including the interest thereon, if any) are repaid to the employer, the amount
so repaid shall be deemed for the purposes of income-tax [***] to be the income
of the employer of the previous year in which they are so repaid.
Appeals.
8. (1) An employer objecting to an order of the
[Chief Commissioner or Commissioner] refusing to accord approval to a gratuity
fund or an order withdrawing such approval may appeal, within sixty days of
such order, to the Board.
(2) The
appeal shall be in such form and shall be verified in such manner and shall be
subject to the payment of such fee as may be prescribed.
[Particulars
to be furnished in respect of gratuity funds.
8A. The trustees of an approved gratuity fund and
any employer who contributes to an approved gratuity fund shall, when required
by notice from the [Assessing] Officer, furnish within such period, not being
less than twenty-one days from the date of the notice, as may be specified in
the notice, such return, statement, particulars or information, as the
[Assessing] Officer may require.]
Provisions relating to rules.
9. (1) In addition to any power conferred in
this Part, the Board may make rules—
(a) prescribing the statements and other
information to be submitted along with an application for approval ;
(b) limiting the ordinary annual and other
contributions of an employer to the fund ;
[(bb) regulating
the investment or deposit of the moneys of an approved gratuity fund :
Provided that no rule
made under this clause shall require the investment of more than fifty per cent
of the moneys of such fund in Government securities as defined in section 2 of
the Public Debt Act, 1944 (18 of 1944) ;]
(c) providing for the assessment by way of
penalty of any consideration received by an employee for an assignment of, or
the creation of a charge upon, his beneficial interest in an approved gratuity
fund ;
(d) providing for the withdrawal of the
approval in the case of a fund which ceases to satisfy the requirements of this
Part or the rules made thereunder ; and
(e) generally, to carry out the purposes of
this Part and to secure such further control over the approval of gratuity
funds and the administration of gratuity funds as it may deem requisite.
(2) All rules
made under this Part shall be subject to the provisions of section 296.