The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has notified the Income-tax (Second Amendment) Rules, 2026 through Notification No. 94/2026, dated 21 July 2026. The amendment has been issued under sections 533 and 262 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 and comes into force from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.
The amendment substitutes clause (c) of sub-rule (5) of rule 157 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026 and revises the definition of “specified fund”.
Under the revised definition, a specified fund includes a fund established or incorporated in India as a trust, company, limited liability partnership or body corporate, which is registered as a Category I or Category II Alternative Investment Fund and regulated either under the SEBI (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulations, 2012 or, where located in an International Financial Services Centre, under the IFSCA (Fund Management) Regulations, 2022.
The definition also covers any fund referred to in Schedule VI [Note 1(g)] of the Income-tax Act, 2025. The amendment provides clarity and alignment in the treatment of eligible investment funds under the new income-tax framework.
The Notification can be accessed at: https://a2ztaxcorp.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/CBDT-NN-94.pdf
