Application for certificate authorising receipt of interest and other sums without deduction of tax.
(1) Any person entitled to receive any interest, or other sum, on which income-tax has to be deducted under sub-section (1) of section 195 may, if he fulfils the conditions specified in sub-rule (2), make an application for the grant of a certificate under sub-section (3) of section 195 authorising him to receive without deduction of tax under sub-section (1) of that section any such income as is specified hereinbelow, namely :—
(i) where the person concerned is a [banking company or an insurer] which is neither an Indian company nor a company which has made the prescribed arrangements for the declaration and payment of dividends within India, and which carries on operations in India through a branch, any income by way of interest, not being ["interest on securities (other than interest payable on securities referred to in proviso to section 193)"], or any other sum, not being dividends;
(ii) in the case of any other person who carries on a business or profession in India through a branch, any sum, not being interest or dividends,
insofar as such interest or other sum is receivable by such branch on its own account and not on behalf of its head office or any branch situated outside India, or any other person.
(2) The conditions referred to in sub-rule (1) are the following, namely :—
(i) the person concerned has been regularly assessed to income-tax in India and has furnished the returns of income for all assessment years for which such returns became due on or before the date on which the application under sub-rule (1) is made;
(ii) he is not in default or deemed to be in default in respect of any tax (including advance tax and tax payable under section 140A), interest, penalty, fine, or any other sum payable under the Act;
(iii) [***]
(iv) where the person concerned is not a [banking company or an insurer] referred to in clause (i) of sub-rule (1)—
(a) he has been carrying on business or profession in India continuously for a period of not less than five years immediately preceding the date of the application, and
(b) the value of the fixed assets in India of such business or profession as shown in his books for the previous year which ended immediately before the date of the application or, where the accounts in respect of such previous year have not been made up before the said date, the previous year immediately preceding that year, exceeds fifty lakhs of rupees.
(3) The application under sub-rule (1) by a [banking company or an insurer] shall be in Form No. 15C and by any other person [referred to in clause (ii) of sub-rule (1)] shall be in Form No. 15D.
(4) The Assessing Officer may give a certificate authorising the person con-cerned to receive the income specified in clause (i) or clause (ii) of sub-rule (1), without deduction of tax under sub-section (1) of section 195, if he is satisfied that all the conditions laid down in sub-rule (2) are fulfilled and the issue of any such certificate will not be prejudicial to the interests of revenue.
(5) The certificate shall be valid for the financial year specified therein, unless it is cancelled by the Assessing Officer at any time before the expiry of the said financial year. An application for a fresh certificate may be made, if required, after the expiry of the period of validity of the earlier certificate, or within three months before the expiry thereof.
[Explanation.—For the purposes of this rule, "insurer" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in sub-clause (d) of clause (9) of section 2 of the Insurance Act, 1938 (4 of 1938).]
(6) [* * *].