Finance Act 2020
Rules For Computation Of Net Agricultural Income
Net Agricultural Income
“net agricultural income” in relation to a person, means the total amount of agricultural income, from whatever source derived, of that person computed in accordance with the rules contained in Part IV of the First Schedule;
Rule 1. – Agricultural income of the nature referred to in sub-clause (a) of clause (1A) of section 2 of the Income-tax Act shall be computed as if it were income chargeable to income-tax under that Act under the head “Income from other sources” and the provisions of sections 57 to 59 of that Act shall, so far as may be, apply accordingly:
Provided that sub-section (2) of section 58 shall apply subject to the modification that the reference to section 40A therein shall be construed as not including a reference to sub-sections (3), (3A) and (4) of section 40A.
Rule 2. – Agricultural income of the nature referred to in sub-clause (b) or sub-clause (c) of clause (1A) of section 2 of the Income-tax Act [other than income derived from any building required as a dwelling-house by the receiver of the rent or revenue of the cultivator or the receiver of rent-in-kind referred to in the said sub-clause (c)] shall be computed as if it were income chargeable to income-tax under that Act under the head “Profits and gains of business or profession” and the provisions of sections 30, 31, 32, 36, 37, 38, 40, 40A [other than sub-sections (3), (3A) and (4) thereof], 41, 43, 43A, 43B and 43C of the Income-tax Act shall, so far as may be, apply accordingly.
Rule 3. – Agricultural income of the nature referred to in sub-clause (c) of clause (1A) of section 2 of the Income-tax Act, being income derived from any building required as a dwelling-house by the receiver of the rent or revenue or the cultivator or the receiver of rent-in-kind referred to in the said sub-clause (c) shall be computed as if it were income chargeable to income-tax under that Act under the head “Income from house property” and the provisions of sections 23 to 27 of that Act shall, so far as may be, apply accordingly.
Rule 4. – Notwithstanding anything contained in any other provisions of these rules, in a case-
(a) where the assessee derives income from sale of tea grown and manufactured by him in India, such income shall be computed in accordance with rule 8 of the Income-tax Rules, 1962, and sixty per cent. of such income shall be regarded as the agricultural income of the assessee;
(b) where the assessee derives income from sale of centrifuged latex or cenex or latex based crepes (such as pale latex crepe) or brown crepes (such as estate brown crepe, re-milled crepe, smoked blanket crepe or flat bark crepe) or technically specified block rubbers manufactured or processed by him from rubber plants grown by him in India, such income shall be computed in accordance with rule 7A of the Income-tax Rules, 1962, and sixty-five per cent. of such income shall be regarded as the agricultural income of the assessee;
(c) where the assessee derives income from sale of coffee grown and manufactured by him in India, such income shall be computed in accordance with rule 7B of the Income-tax Rules, 1962, and sixty per cent. or seventy-five per cent., as the case may be, of such income shall be regarded as the agricultural income of the assessee.
Rule 5. – Where the assessee is a member of an association of persons or a body of individuals (other than a Hindu undivided family, a company or a firm) which in the previous year has either no income chargeable to tax under the Income-tax Act or has total income not exceeding the maximum amount not chargeable to tax in the case of an association of persons or a body of individuals (other than a Hindu undivided family, a company or a firm) but has any agricultural income then, the agricultural income or loss of the association or body shall be computed in accordance with these rules and the share of the assessee in the agricultural income or loss so computed shall be regarded as the agricultural income or loss of the assessee.
Rule 6. – Where the result of the computation for the previous year in respect of any source of agricultural income is a loss, such loss shall be set off against the income of the assessee, if any, for that previous year from any other source of agricultural income:
Provided that where the assessee is a member of an association of persons or a body of individuals and the share of the assessee in the agricultural income of the association or body, as the case may be, is a loss, such loss shall not be set off against any income of the assessee from any other source of agricultural income.
Rule 7. – Any sum payable by the assessee on account of any tax levied by the State Government on the agricultural income shall be deducted in computing the agricultural income.
Rule 8. – (1) Where the assessee has, in the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2020, any agricultural income and the net result of the computation of the agricultural income of the assessee for any one or more of the previous years relevant to the assessment years commencing on the 1st day of April, 2012 or the 1st day of April, 2013 or the 1st day of April, 2014 or the 1st day of April, 2015 or the 1st day of April, 2016 or the 1st day of April, 2017 or the 1st day of April, 2018 or the 1st day of April, 2019, is a loss, then, for the purposes of sub-section (2) of section 2 of this Act, –
(i) the loss so computed for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2012, to the extent, if any, such loss has not been set off against the agricultural income for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2013 or the 1st day of April, 2014 or the 1st day of April, 2015 or the 1st day of April, 2016 or the 1st day of April, 2017 or the 1st day of April, 2018 or the 1st day of April, 2019,
(ii) the loss so computed for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2013, to the extent, if any, such loss has not been set off against the agricultural income for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2014 or the 1st day of April, 2015 or the 1st day of April, 2016 or the 1st day of April, 2017 or the 1st day of April, 2018 or the 1st day of April, 2019,
(iii) the loss so computed for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2014, to the extent, if any, such loss has not been set off against the agricultural income for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2015 or the 1st day of April, 2016 or the 1st day of April, 2017 or the 1st day of April, 2018 or the 1st day of April, 2019,
(iv) the loss so computed for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2015, to the extent, if any, such loss has not been set off against the agricultural income for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2016 or the 1st day of April, 2017 or the 1st day of April, 2018 or the 1st day of April, 2019,
(v) the loss so computed for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2016, to the extent, if any, such loss has not been set off against the agricultural income for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2017 or the 1st day of April, 2018 or the 1st day of April, 2019,
(vi) the loss so computed for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2017, to the extent, if any, such loss has not been set off against the agricultural income for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2018 or the 1st day of April, 2019,
(vii) the loss so computed for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2018, to the extent, if any, such loss has not been set off against the agricultural income for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2019,
(viii) the loss so computed for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2019,
shall be set off against the agricultural income of the assessee for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2020.
(2) Where the assessee has, in the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2021, or, if by virtue of any provision of the Income-tax Act, income-tax is to be charged in respect of the income of a period other than the previous year, in such other period, any agricultural income and the net result of the computation of the agricultural income of the assessee for any one or more of the previous years relevant to the assessment years commencing on the 1st day of April, 2013 or the 1st day of April, 2014 or the 1st day of April, 2015 or the 1st day of April, 2016 or the 1st day of April, 2017 or the 1st day of April, 2018 or the 1st day of April, 2019 or the 1st day of April, 2020, is a loss, then, for the purposes of sub-section (10) of section 2 of this Act, –
(i) the loss so computed for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2013, to the extent, if any, such loss has not been set off against the agricultural income for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2014 or the 1st day of April, 2015 or the 1st day of April, 2016 or the 1st day of April, 2017 or the 1st day of April, 2018 or the 1st day of April, 2019 or the 1st day of April, 2020,
(ii) the loss so computed for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2014, to the extent, if any, such loss has not been set off against the agricultural income for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2015 or the 1st day of April, 2016 or the 1st day of April, 2017 or the 1st day of April, 2018 or the 1st day of April, 2019 or the 1st day of April, 2020,
(iii) the loss so computed for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2015, to the extent, if any, such loss has not been set off against the agricultural income for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2016 or the 1st day of April, 2017 or the 1st day of April, 2018 or the 1st day of April, 2019 or the 1st day of April, 2020,
(iv) the loss so computed for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2016, to the extent, if any, such loss has not been set off against the agricultural income for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2017 or the 1st day of April, 2018 or the 1st day of April, 2019 or the 1st day of April, 2020,
(v) the loss so computed for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2017, to the extent, if any, such loss has not been set off against the agricultural income for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2018 or the 1st day of April, 2019 or the 1st day of April, 2020,
(vi) the loss so computed for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2018, to the extent, if any, such loss has not been set off against the agricultural income for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2019 or the 1st day of April, 2020,
(vii) the loss so computed for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2019, to the extent, if any, such loss has not been set off against the agricultural income for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2020,
(viii) the loss so computed for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2020,
shall be set off against the agricultural income of the assessee for the previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2021.
(3) Where any person deriving any agricultural income from any source has been succeeded in such capacity by another person, otherwise than by inheritance, nothing in sub-rule (1) or sub-rule (2) shall entitle any person, other than the person incurring the loss, to have it set off under sub-rule (1) or, as the case may be, sub-rule (2).
(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in this rule, no loss which has not been determined by the Assessing Officer under the provisions of these rules or the rules contained in the First Schedule to the Finance Act, 2012 (23 of 2012) or the First Schedule to the Finance Act, 2013 (17 of 2013) or the First Schedule to the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2014 (25 of 2014) or the First Schedule to the Finance Act, 2015 (20 of 2015) or the First Schedule to the Finance Act, 2016 (28 of 2016) or the First Schedule to the Finance Act, 2017 (7 of 2017) or the First Schedule to the Finance Act, 2018 (13 of 2018) or the First Schedule of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2019 (23 of 2019) shall be set off under sub-rule (1) or, as the case may be, sub-rule (2).
Rule 9. – Where the net result of the computation made in accordance with these rules is a loss, the loss so computed shall be ignored and the net agricultural income shall be deemed to be nil.
Rule 10. – The provisions of the Income-tax Act relating to procedure for assessment (including the provisions of section 288A relating to rounding off of income) shall, with the necessary modifications, apply in relation to the computation of the net agricultural income of the assessee as they apply in relation to the assessment of the total income.
Rule 11. – For the purposes of computing the net agricultural income of the assessee, the Assessing Officer shall have the same powers as he has under the Income-tax Act for the purposes of assessment of the total income.