Chapter XVII of the Income-tax Act, 2025 runs from section 302 to section 355 and covers special provisions relating to certain persons. Its 54 sections replace 47 sections of the Income-tax Act, 1961. This guide gives the complete section-by-section mapping between the two Acts.
What Chapter XVII covers
Chapter XVII covers persons who are taxed in a special way — legal representatives, representative assessees, trusts, firms, AOPs and companies in liquidation — and then, from section 332, carries an entirely new code for registered non-profit organisations.
Chapter XVII contains 54 sections (sections 302 to 355). Between them they carry forward the substance of 47 sections of the Income-tax Act, 1961.
The Income-tax Act, 2025 received Presidential assent on 21 August 2025 and takes effect from 1 April 2026. The Income-tax Act, 1961 continues to govern every tax year up to 31 March 2026, and all assessments, appeals, penalties and prosecutions relating to those years are completed under the old Act by virtue of the repeal and savings provision in section 536. The mapping on this page is drawn from the section-wise concordance published with the Act, including the corrigenda notified in the Gazette on 3 September 2025.
What changed in Chapter XVII
- Sections 302 to 331 carry the representative-assessee and firm provisions: section 302 (old 159), section 303 (old 160), section 304 (merging 161, 165, 166 and 167), section 323 (old 179, director liability) and section 325 (old 184, assessment as a firm).
- Sections 332 to 355 are a purpose-built non-profit code — registration, regular income, specified income, corpus donations, application and accumulation of income, books, audit, return, permitted investments, specified violations and accreted income.
- Many of these NPO sections have no single 1961 equivalent. They replace the scattered treatment across sections 11, 12, 12A, 12AB, 13, 80G, 115BBC, 115BBI, 115TD and 115TF.
- Section 350 carries permitted modes of investment and is read with Schedule XVI; section 352 is tax on accreted income, the old exit tax under section 115TD.
Chapter XVII: complete section mapping (2025 → 1961)
Every section of Chapter XVII is listed below with the section or sections of the Income-tax Act, 1961 that it corresponds to. Where a section is marked as read with a Schedule, the operative detail sits in that Schedule rather than in the section itself.
| New section (2025) | Provision | Corresponding 1961 section(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 302 | Legal representative | 159 |
| 303 | Representative assessee | 160 |
| 304 | Liability of representative assessee | 161, 165, 166, 167 |
| 305 | Right of representative assessee to recover tax paid | 162 |
| 306 | Who may be regarded as agent | 163 |
| 307 | Charge of tax where share of beneficiaries unknown | 164 |
| 308 | Charge of tax in case of oral trust | 164A |
| 309 | Method of computing a member's share in income of association of persons or body of individuals | 67A |
| 310 | Share of member of association of persons or body of individuals in income of association or body | 86 |
| 311 | Charge of tax where shares of members in association of persons or body of individuals unknown, etc | 167B |
| 312 | Executor | 168, 169 |
| 313 | Succession to business or profession otherwise than on death | 170 |
| 314 | Effect of order of tribunal or court in respect of business reorganisation | 170A |
| 315 | Assessment after partition of a Hindu undivided family | 171 |
| 316 | Shipping business of non-residents | 172 |
| 317 | Assessment of persons leaving India | 174 |
| 318 | Assessment of association of persons or body of individuals or artificial juridical person formed for a particular event or purpose | 174A |
| 319 | Assessment of persons likely to transfer property to avoid tax | 175 |
| 320 | Discontinued business | 176 |
| 321 | Association dissolved or business discontinued | 177 |
| 322 | Company in liquidation | 178 |
| 323 | Liability of directors of private company | 179 |
| 324 | Charge of tax in case of a firm | 167A |
| 325 | Assessment as a Firm | 184 |
| 326 | Assessment when section 325 not complied with | 185 |
| 327 | Change in constitution of a firm | 187 |
| 328 | Succession of one firm by another firm | 188 |
| 329 | Joint and several liability of partners for tax payable by firm | 188A |
| 330 | Firm dissolved or business discontinued | 189 |
| 331 | Liability of partners of limited liability partnership in liquidation | 167C, 11, 12A, 12AB, 80G |
| 332 | Application for registration | — (new provision) |
| 333 | Switching over of regimes | 11, 12, 13, 115BBC, 115BBI |
| 334 | Tax on income of registered non-profit organisation | — (new provision) |
| 335 | Regular income | — (new provision) |
| 336 | Taxable regular income | — (new provision) |
| 337 | Specified income | — (new provision) |
| 338 | Income not to be included in regular income | — (new provision) |
| 339 | Corpus donation | — (new provision) |
| 340 | Deemed corpus donation | — (new provision) |
| 341 | Application of income | — (new provision) |
| 342 | Accumulated income | — (new provision) |
| 343 | Deemed accumulated income | 2(15), 11 |
| 344 | Business undertaking held as property | — (new provision) |
| 345 | Restriction on commercial activities by a registered non-profit organisation | — (new provision) |
| 346 | Restriction on commercial activities by registered non-profit organisation, carrying out advancement of any other object of general public utility | 11, 12A, 139 |
| 347 | Books of account | — (new provision) |
| 348 | Audit | — (new provision) |
| 349 | Return of income | — (new provision) |
| 350 | Permitted modes of investment | 12AB, 12AC, 13, 115BBI, 115TD, 115TF |
| 351 | Specified violation | — (new provision) |
| 352 | Tax on accreted income | — (new provision) |
| 353 | Other violations | 80G |
| 354 | Application for approval for purpose of section 133(1)(b)(ii) | 2(15), 11, 12, 13, 115BBC, 115TD, 115TF |
| 355 | Interpretation | — (new provision) |
How to use this mapping
- Working on a year up to 2025-26? Use the 1961 section in the right-hand column. The old Act governs those years under section 536.
- Working on tax year 2026-27 onwards? Use the new section number in the left-hand column, and read the section text rather than assuming the old provision was copied verbatim.
- Drafting a reply or an appeal? Cite the section that applies to the year in dispute, not the section in force when you are writing.
- Updating templates and software? Sections that merged — shown where one new section maps to several old ones — need the most attention, because a single new provision now carries what were separate conditions.
This page is a structural mapping guide, not tax advice. A corresponding section is not always an identical section — several provisions were merged, split or re-worded when they were carried over. Always read the actual text of the new section before relying on it, and check for later amendments, rules and CBDT notifications.