Section 239 — Information to be maintained and reported

(1) The following information shall be maintained and reported by a reporting financial institution in respect of each reportable account: —
(a) the name, address, taxpayer identification number (assigned to the account holder by the country or territory of his residence for tax purposes) and dateand place of birth (in the case of an individual) of each reportable person, that is an account holder of the account but that in the case of an accountother than a U.S. reportable account, a reporting financial institution shall also,—I. maintain and report whether the account holder has provided a valid self-certification;II. report whether the account is a joint account, including the number of joint account holders;(b) in the case of any entity which is an account holder and which, after application of due diligence procedures as provided in rule 240, is identified ashaving one or more controlling persons that is a reportable person, -(i) the name and address of the entity, taxpayer identification number assigned to the entity by the country or territory of its residence; and(ii) the name, address, date and place of birth of each such controlling person and taxpayer identification number assigned to such controllingperson by the country or territory of his residence; but that in the case of an account other than a U.S. reportable account, a reporting financial institution shall also, —I. maintain and report the role(s) by virtue of which each reportable person is a controlling person of the entity and whether a valid self-certification has been provided for each reportable person;II. report whether the account is a joint account, including the number of joint account holders;(c) the account number (or functional equivalent in the absence of an account number), but that in the case of an account other than a U.S. reportableaccount, a reporting financial institution shall also maintain and report the type of account and whether the account is a pre-existing account or a newaccount;(d) the account balance or value (including, in the case of a cash value insurance contract or annuity contract, the cash value or surrender value) at the endof relevant calendar year or, if the account was closed during such year, immediately before closure;(e) in the case of any custodial account, —(i) the total gross amount of interest, the total gross amount of dividends, and the total gross amount of other income generated with respect to theassets held in the account, in each case paid or credited to the account (or with respect to the account) during the calendar year; and(ii) the total gross proceeds from the sale or redemption of financial assets paid or credited to or with respect to the account during the calendaryear with respect to which the reporting financial institution acted as a custodian, broker, nominee, or otherwise as an agent for the accountholder;(f) in the case of any depository account, the total gross amount of interest paid or credited to the account during the relevant calendar year;
(g) in the case of any account other than that referred to in clause (e) or (f), the total gross amount paid or credited to the account holder with respect to theaccount during the relevant calendar year with respect to which the reporting financial institution is the obligor or debtor, including the aggregateamount of any redemption payments made to the account holder during the relevant calendar year;(h) in the case of any account held by a non-participating financial institution, for calendar years 2015 and 2016, the name of each non-participatingfinancial institution to which payments have been made and the aggregate amount of such payments; but that the information to be reported,—(i) with respect to calendar year 2014, is the information referred to in clauses (a), (b), (c) and (d), with regard to U.S. reportable accounts;(ii) with respect to calendar year 2015, is the information referred to in clauses (a), (b), (c), (d), (f), (g), (h) and sub-clause (i) of clause (e), withregard to U.S. reportable accounts;(iii) with respect to calendar year 2016, is the information referred to in clauses (a) to (h), with regard to all reportable accounts;(iv) with respect to calendar year 2017 and subsequent years, is the information referred to in clauses (a) to (g), with regard to all reportableaccounts;(v) with respect to each U.S. reportable account which is maintained by a reporting financial institution as on the 30th June, 2014, the taxpayeridentification number of any relevant person is not required to be reported if such taxpayer identification number is not in the records of thereporting financial institution.(i) in the case of an account other than U.S. reportable account, where any equity interest is held in an investment entity that is a legal arrangement, theroles by virtue of which the reportable person is an equity interest holder;(2) For the purposes of sub-rule (1),—
(a) "account holder" means the person listed or identified as the holder of a financial account by the financial institution that maintains the account:
Provided that a person, other than a financial institution, holding a financial account for the benefit or on account of another person as agent,custodian, nominee, signatory, investment advisor, or intermediary, is not treated as holding the account, and such other person is treated as holding theaccount: Provided further that in the case of a cash value insurance contract or an annuity contract, the account holder is any person entitled to receive apayment upon the maturity of the contract or any person entitled to access the cash value or change the beneficiary of the contract and if no person canaccess the cash value or change the beneficiary, the account holder is any person named as the owner in the contract and any person with a vestedentitlement to payment under the terms of the contract;(b) "taxpayer identification number" means a number assigned to a person in the country or territory in which he is resident for tax purposes and includes afunctional equivalent in case no such number is assigned.(3) Where the person is a resident of more than one country or territory outside India under the tax laws of such country or territory, the reporting financialinstitution shall maintain the taxpayer identification number in respect of each such country or territory.
(4) Irrespective of sub-rule (1), with respect to each reportable account which is a pre-existing account, the taxpayer identification number or date of birth isnot required to be reported if such taxpayer identification number or date of birth is not in the records of the reporting financial institution but the reportingfinancial institution shall obtain the taxpayer identification number and date of birth with respect to,—
(a) pre-existing accounts by the 31st December, 2016 and shall report it with respect to calendar year 2017 and subsequent years; and
(b) an account other than a U.S. reportable account, whenever it is required to update the information relating to the pre-existing account pursuant to therules made under the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002.(5) Irrespective of sub-rule (1) and sub-rule (4), the taxpayer identification number is not required to be reported if,—
(i) a taxpayer identification number (including its functional equivalent) is not issued by the relevant country or territory outside India in which the personis resident for tax purposes; or(ii) the domestic law of the relevant country or territory outside India does not require the collection of the taxpayer identification number issued by suchcountry or territory.(6) Irrespective of sub-rule (1), the place of birth is not required to be reported unless it is available in the electronically searchable data maintained by thereporting financial institution.
(7) Irrespective of sub-rule (1)(e)(ii) and unless the reporting financial institution elects otherwise with respect to any clearly identified group of accounts, thegross proceeds from the sale or redemption of a financial asset are not required to be reported to the extent such gross proceeds from the sale or redemption ofsuch financial asset are reported by the reporting financial institution under the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework but the provisions of this sub-rule shallapply in respect of an account other than U.S. reportable account.
(8) The statement of reportable account required to be furnished under section 508(1)(k) shall be furnished by a reporting financial institution in respect ofeach account which has been identified, pursuant to due diligence procedure specified in rule 240, as a reportable account but where pursuant to such duediligence procedures no account is identified as a reportable account, a nil statement shall be furnished by the reporting financial institution.
(9) The statement referred to in sub-rule (8) shall be furnished in Form No. 166 and in such manner, as may be specified by the Principal Director General ofIncome Tax (Systems) or the Director General of Income Tax (Systems), as the case may be, with the approval of the Board for every calendar year by the 31stday of May following that year.
(10) (a) The statement referred to in sub-rule (8) shall be furnished to the Director of Income-tax (Intelligence and Criminal Investigation) or the Joint Directorof Income-tax (Intelligence and Criminal Investigation) through online transmission of electronic data to a server designated for this purpose under the digitalsignature in accordance with the data structure specified in this regard by the Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems).
Explanation. — For the purposes of this sub-rule, "digital signature" means a digital signature issued by any Certifying Authority authorised to issue suchcertificates by the Controller of Certifying Authorities.
(b) Principal Director General of Income Tax (Systems) shall specify the procedures, data structures and standards for ensuring secure capture andtransmission of data, evolving and implementing appropriate security, archival and retrieval policies.
(11) (a) Every reporting financial institution shall communicate to the Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) the name, designation andcommunication details of the Designated Director and the Principal Officer and obtain a registration number;
(b) The statement referred to in sub-rule (8) shall be signed, verified and furnished by the Designated Director of the reporting financial institution on the basisof information available with the institution:
Provided that where the reporting financial institution is a non-resident, the statement may be signed, verified and furnished by a person who holds a validpower of attorney from such Designated Director;
(c) It shall be the duty of every reporting financial institution, its Designated Director, Principal Officer and employees to observe the procedure and themanner of maintaining information as specified by its regulator.
Explanation.—For the purposes of this sub-rule,—
(a) "Designated Director" means a person designated by the reporting financial institution to ensure overall compliance with the obligations imposedunder section 508 and the rules made thereunder and includes—(i) the Managing Director or a whole-time Director, as defined in the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013), duly authorised by the Board ofDirectors if the reporting financial institution is a company;(ii) the managing partner if the reporting financial institution is a partnership firm;(iii) the proprietor if the reporting financial institution is a proprietorship concern;(iv) the managing trustee if the reporting financial institution is a trust;(v) a person or individual, as the case may be, who controls and manages the affairs of the reporting financial institution if the reporting financialinstitution is an association of persons or a body of individuals, or any other person;(b) "Principal Officer" means an officer designated by the reporting financial institution;
(c) "regulator" means a person or an authority or a Government which is vested with the power to licence, authorise, register, regulate or supervise theactivities of the reporting financial institution.(12)(a) The regulator referred to in sub-rule (11)(c) shall issue instructions or guidelines to, —
(i) incorporate the requirements of reporting and due diligence procedure specified under rules 238 to 240;
(ii) provide the procedure and manner of maintaining the information by the reporting financial institution; and
(iii) ensure the availability of the information referred to in sub-rule (1) with the reporting financial institution for meeting its reporting obligation, if suchinformation is not maintained by it under any rule or regulation issued by the regulator.(b) Every reporting financial institution shall maintain information in respect of financial accounts in accordance with the procedure and manner as may bespecified by its regulator from time to time so as to enable reporting of information prescribed under this rule and perform due diligence procedure specifiedunder rule 240.
(13) Irrespective of sub-rule (1)(b) and sub-rule (1)(i) of this rule, with respect to each reportable Account other than a U.S. reportable account that ismaintained by a reporting financial institution as of 31st December, 2025 and for reporting periods ending by the second calendar year following such date,information with respect to the role(s) by virtue of which each reportable person is a controlling person or equity interest holder of the entity is only requiredto be reported if such information is available in the electronically searchable data maintained by the reporting financial institution.