Section 197 under the
Income-tax Act, 2025
Certificate for lower or nil deduction of tax at source
Topic
Certificate for lower or nil deduction of tax at source — TDS provisions under the Income-tax Act, 2025 (Act 30 of 2025).
What changed
SUBSTANTIVE BROADENING: s.395(1) opens with 'Where tax is required to be deducted on any income or sum under this Chapter' — i.e. a lower/nil deduction certificate is now available across the whole of Chapter XIX-B. The 1961 s.197 worked off a closed list of enumerated sections (192, 193, 194, 194A, 194C, 194D, 194G, 194H, 194-I, 194J, 194K, 194LA, 194LBB, 194LBC, 194M, 194-O, 195), so payments outside that list had no certificate route. This is a genuine taxpayer-favourable widening.
Source
Verified against bare text of s.395(1) in ICAI publication; corroborated by toolisky.com ('197 -> Section 395(1)').
CBDT publishes its own correspondence utility on incometaxindia.gov.in and that is the authority. Spot-check anything high-stakes there before you rely on it.
Frequently asked
Did lower-deduction certificates get wider under the Income-tax Act, 2025?
Yes. Section 395(1) applies wherever tax is required to be deducted 'under this Chapter', so the certificate route now covers the whole of Chapter XIX-B. The 1961 Section 197 worked off a closed list of enumerated sections, leaving payments outside that list with no certificate route at all.
Careful — does '197' still mean lower-deduction certificate?
No, and this is a live source of confusion. Under the Income-tax Act, 2025, Section 197 is tax on long-term capital gains (old Section 112). The lower-deduction certificate is Section 395. Always say which Act you are citing.
This is a navigational aid for the 1961 → 2025 transition, not tax advice. It helps you find the right place in the new Act when you already know the old section. Confirm every citation against the bare Act and against CBDT's own correspondence utility before relying on it in a return, certificate, notice reply or opinion. The source text used here is the Act as passed, so any rate or threshold amended by the Finance Act, 2026 is not reflected; section numbers are unaffected.