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1961Section 163

163. Who may be regarded as agent.

In the 2025 Act1 match · Unreviewed

From the Income Tax Department's correspondence.

(1) For the purposes of this Act, "agent", in relation to a non-resident,includes any person in India—

(a) who is employed by or on behalf of the non-resident; or

(b) who has any business connection with the non-resident; or

(c) from or through whom the non-resident is in receipt of any income, whether directly or indirectly; or

(d) who is the trustee of the non-resident;

and includes also any other person who, whether a resident or non-resident, has acquired by means of a transfer, a capital asset in India :

Provided that a broker in India who, in respect of any transactions, does not deal directly with or on behalf of a non-resident principal but deals with or through a non-resident broker shall not be deemed to be an agent under this section in respect of such transactions, if the following conditions are fulfilled, namely:—

(i) the transactions are carried on in the ordinary course of business through the first-mentioned broker; and

(ii) the non-resident broker is carrying on such transactions in the ordinary course of his business and not as a principal.

Explanation.—For the purposes of this sub-section, the expression business connection" shall have the meaning assigned to it in Explanation 2 to clause (i) of sub-section (1) of Section 9 of this Act.

(2) No person shall be treated as the agent of a non-resident unless he has had an opportunity of being heard by the Assessing Officer as to his liability to be treated as such.

Income-tax Act, 1961: text as on 22 May 2026 · Official source ↗ ·