Form 81 Income Tax Rules 2026 pdf download and Key points
FORM NO. 81
[See rule 146(1)(e)]
Audit Report under section 232(21) for tonnage tax scheme
Under the Income-tax Rules, 2026, Form No. 81 replaces the erstwhile Form 66. It is governed by Section 232(21) of the Income-tax Act, 2025, and Rule 146 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026.
Here are all the comprehensive key points regarding Form No. 81:
1. Purpose of the Form Form 81 is a statutory Audit Report for a company that has opted for taxation under the Tonnage Tax Scheme. It ensures independent verification of tonnage tax computations, certifying the correctness of the company’s books of account and its computation of income under the scheme.
2. Applicability and Verification
- Who Must File: The form is required to be furnished by a company engaged in the business of operating qualifying ships that is governed by the Tonnage Tax Scheme for the relevant tax year.
- Who Prepares It: The report must be prepared, signed, and formally verified by an accountant (as defined under section 515(3)(b) of the Act).
3. Due Date Form 81 must be furnished on or before the “specified date” prescribed under section 63 of the Act. This means it must be filed one month prior to the due date for furnishing the return of income under section 263(1) for the relevant tax year.
4. Structure of the Form The form is systematically divided into distinct parts to capture the company’s profile, computations, and the accountant’s certifications:
- Part A (Particulars of the company): Captures basic entity details, including the Name, Address, Permanent Account Number (PAN), Email ID, Contact number, and the relevant Tax Year.
- Part B (Particulars of books of account and computation details): Captures technical disclosures, including:
- Whether separate books of account are maintained for the business of operating qualifying ships.
- Charter-in Limits: Certification that the company has complied with the statutory restriction where the tonnage of chartered-in ships does not exceed 49% of the total tonnage.
- Shipping Income Computation: Details of profits from core activities, and whether profits from incidental activities exceed 0.25% of the turnover from core activities.
- Tonnage Tax Reserve Account: Details regarding the statutory reserve, including book profits, the minimum reserve required to be created, and whether it has been correctly utilized.
- Depreciation: Asset-wise or block-wise computation of depreciation (including rate, actual cost/WDV, and adjustments for subsidies or exchange variations).
- Verification: The formal certification section signed by the accountant.
5. Mandatory Annexures The accountant must furnish several supporting notes and documents as annexures to the form (wherever applicable), including:
- Certificates of charter-in or charter-out arrangements.
- A separate explanatory note on transactions with related parties (Annexure A-2).
- Notes on any assets (other than ships) not used exclusively for the tonnage tax business.
- Notes on losses relating to the business of operating qualifying ships.
6. Other Important Filing Rules
- Qualifications: If the accountant answers any matter in the negative or with a qualification, they must explicitly state the reasons for it within the report.
- Currency: All monetary amounts must be reported in Indian Rupees (₹) unless otherwise specified.
- Pre-filling: Certain information in the form may be pre-filled based on data available with the Income-tax Department, but the ultimate responsibility for the correctness of the particulars remains with the assessee and the reporting accountant.