Form 79 Income Tax Rules 2026 pdf download and Key points
FORM NO. 79
[See rule 145]
Statement of income paid or credited by investment fund to be furnished under section 224
Under the Income-tax Rules, 2026, Form No. 79 replaces the erstwhile Form 64D. It is governed by Section 224 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (which replaces the old Section 115UB) and is prescribed under Rule 145 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026.
Here are all the comprehensive key points regarding Form No. 79:
1. Purpose of the Form Form 79 is a consolidated annual statement filed by Investment Funds with the Income Tax Department to report the income paid or credited to all its unit holders. Its primary purpose is to facilitate the pass-through taxation mechanism, ensuring that the fund itself is exempt from tax and the income flows smoothly to the unit holders. It also ensures that proper income distribution records are maintained for audit and verification purposes.
2. Applicability (Who Should File) The form must be filed by the person responsible for making payments or crediting income on behalf of an Investment Fund. This strictly applies to:
- Category I or Category II Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) registered under SEBI (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulations, 2012.
- Funds registered under regulation 18(2) of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) (Fund Management) Regulations, 2022.
- Note: The fund must have pass-through taxation status to be required to file this form.
3. Frequency and Due Date
- Frequency: The statement must be filed annually for the relevant tax year.
- Due Date: It must be filed by 15th June of the financial year immediately following the tax year in which the income was paid or credited to the investors.
4. Structure of the Form Form 79 is systematically structured to capture the entity’s profile and detailed distribution data:
- Basic Details: Name, PAN, complete registered office address, email ID, phone number, and Legal Status (e.g., company, trust, LLP, body corporate).
- Management Details: Name, PAN, Aadhaar, and Address of all Directors, Partners, or Trustees of the Investment Fund.
- SEBI/IFSCA Registration: Details of the fund’s registration.
- Income Distribution: Captures the aggregate amount distributed and provides a detailed unit holder-wise breakup, categorizing the income under specific tax heads (Business/Profession, Long-Term Capital Gains, Short-Term Capital Gains, Dividend, and Other Sources).
5. Mandatory Documents Required To successfully file Form 79, the filer must have the following documents in their possession:
- Books of account and audited financial statements of the Investment Fund.
- Details of income earned from various sources during the tax year.
- A complete list of unit holders along with their PAN, Aadhaar, and addresses.
- Income distribution details for each unit holder, explicitly including the date of payment/credit.
- Details of brought forward losses and set-off computations.
- SEBI/IFSCA registration certificate.
6. Process Flow and Mode of Filing
- Verification by Accountant: Before filing, the form must be verified by a qualified accountant (Chartered Accountant as per Section 515(3)(b)), who examines the books of account and income particulars.
- Online Only: Form 79 must be submitted electronically under a digital signature on the Income Tax e-Filing portal by an authorized person (Fund Manager or designated official). Offline submission is not allowed.
- Generation of Child Form (Form 78): Once Form 79 is successfully processed, an individual statement called Form No. 78 is automatically generated by the system for each unit holder. The Investment Fund must download these statements and furnish them to the respective unit holders by 30th June.
7. Key Updates and Solutions in the 2026 Rules
- Addition of “Date of Payment or Credit”: Under the old regime, the date of payment was missing in the parent form (Form 64D) but required in the child form (Form 64C), which caused system auto-population failures and advance tax computation issues for investors. Form 79 now explicitly includes this field to ensure seamless data flow.
- Standardized Capital Gains Tax Codes: Previously, unit holders faced ambiguity regarding which tax rates to apply to their capital gains. Form 79 (and its child Form 78) now uses standardized capital gains codes (Codes 1, 2, 3, 4 for LTCG; 6, 7, 8 for STCG) with specific references to applicable statutory sections and tax rates, enabling accurate reporting in the unit holders’ Income Tax Returns.
- System-Friendly Formatting: Fields that were previously grouped together (Name, Designation, Address, PAN) have been separated into distinct data boxes to enable smoother e-filing.