Section 115VU — Minimum Training Requirement for Tonnage Tax Company

CHAPTER XII-G — SPECIAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO INCOME OF SHIPPING COMPANIES (TONNAGE TAX)

Section 115VU — Minimum training requirement for tonnage tax company

Case Laws & Commentary · Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) · bharattax.co Treatise

Chapter / Part: Chapter XII-G (Special Provisions Relating to Income of Shipping Companies — the Tonnage Tax Scheme), inserted by the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2004 w.e.f. 1-4-2005 (AY 2005-06).

Finance Act, 2026: No amendment. The Finance Act, 2026 does not touch any section of Chapter XII-G (verified against the Finance Act, 2026 text).

Finance Act, 2025: Extended the Scheme to inland vessels (Inland Vessels Act, 2021) — inland-vessel words inserted across the Chapter w.e.f. 1-4-2026; s.115VP timeline/IFSC provisos also added. Text below is the in-force position for AY 2026-27.

A. SECTION COMMENTARY

1. Training trainee officers as a condition

Section 115VU makes a non-fiscal, sectoral obligation a condition of the tax benefit: after approval, the tonnage tax company must comply with the minimum training requirement for trainee officers under guidelines framed by the Director-General of Shipping and notified by the Central Government [sub-s.(1)], and must file the DG Shipping compliance certificate with its s.139 return each year [sub-s.(2)]. Non-compliance for FIVE consecutive years causes the option to cease from the year following the fifth [sub-s.(3)].

2. Policy and reading

The training condition reflects the Scheme's twin object — a competitive tax regime AND the development of Indian maritime manpower. It is one of the three continuing conditions (with ss.115VT and 115VV) whose breach triggers cessation under s.115VQ(2)(b) and the re-entry bar in s.115VS, but its tolerance band is the longest (five consecutive years before cessation).

B. STATUTORY POSITION (verbatim operative text)

Section 115VU, Income-tax Act, 1961 (Chapter XII-G):

115VU. (1) A tonnage tax company, after its option has been approved under sub-section (3) of section 115VP, shall comply with the minimum training requirement in respect of trainee officers in accordance with the guidelines framed by the Director-General of Shipping and notified in the Official Gazette by the Central Government.

(2) The tonnage tax company shall be required to furnish a copy of the certificate issued by the Director-General of Shipping along with the return of income under section 139 to the effect that such company has complied with the minimum training requirement in accordance with the guidelines referred to in sub-section (1) for the previous year.

(3) If the minimum training requirement is not complied with for any five consecutive previous years, the option of the company for tonnage tax scheme shall cease to have effect from the beginning of the previous year following the fifth consecutive previous year in which the failure to comply with the minimum training requirement under sub-section (1) had occurred.

Unamended by the Finance Act, 2025 and the Finance Act, 2026.

C. AUTHORITIES

Candour note: No reported decision construes s.115VU directly. The provision is a sectoral condition administered through DG Shipping guidelines; the Supreme Court's framing of the Scheme governs its construction.

C-1 Conditions of a beneficial Scheme (Supreme Court framing)

CIT v. Trans Asian Shipping Services (P) Ltd — (2016) 385 ITR 637 (SC) / [2016] 71 taxmann.com 35 / (2016) 241 Taxman 30 (SC)

Forum / Bench: Supreme Court of India; T.S. Thakur CJI, A.K. Sikri J and R. Banumathi J. Judgment dated 5 July 2016, affirming the Kerala High Court and the Cochin Bench of the Tribunal.

Provisions: Sections 115VA, 115VB, 115VF, 115VG (including the s.115VG(4) Explanation on 'deemed tonnage') and 115VX, read with Rule 11Q; Chapter XII-G generally.

Issue: Whether income from 'slot charter' operations of a tonnage tax company can be included in 'tonnage income' under the Tonnage Tax Scheme (TTS) even where those operations are carried on in ships that are NOT the company's own 'qualifying ships' — and whether production of the tonnage certificate referred to in s.115VX is a pre-condition for computing such slot-charter income.

Held: Allowing the assessee, the Court held that although only income from operating a 'qualifying ship' is computed under Chapter XII-G, s.115VB expressly treats a company as 'operating a ship' even where only a PART of a ship has been chartered in under an arrangement such as slot charter, space charter or joint charter. A slot-charter arrangement is made with a shipping line and not in relation to an identified ship, so the carrying vessel (and its certificate) cannot be identified. The 'deemed tonnage' mechanism in the Explanation to s.115VG(4) — covering purchase of slots, slot charter and sharing of break-bulk vessel — was introduced precisely to capture such arrangements; to insist on a s.115VX certificate for slot charters would render deemed tonnage otiose. The s.115VX certificate requirement therefore does NOT apply to slot/space-charter operations and the slot-charter income is includible in tonnage income.

Ratio / why it matters: The leading — and only — Supreme Court authority on Chapter XII-G. It settles the architecture of the Scheme: (i) the charging provision is s.115VA read with s.115VF and s.115VG; (ii) the TTS is a 'preferential regime of taxation' to be construed to advance its object of making Indian shipping globally competitive (Rakesh Mohan Committee, January 2002); and (iii) 'deemed tonnage' is a distinct head of tonnage not dependent on a ship-specific certificate. The Court relied on CBDT Circular No. 5/2005 dated 15-7-2005 and reaffirmed that CBDT circulars explaining a scheme bind the Department.

Compiled for the bharattax.co Treatise on the Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026). Statutory text reproduced verbatim from the Income-tax Act, 1961 (text as in force on and after 1 April 2026, incorporating the inland-vessel insertions made by the Finance Act, 2025 with effect from 1 April 2026). Citations are stated as reported; tribunal and stay-stage orders are flagged as such. Where a section has not been judicially construed, that is stated candidly and the nearest governing authority is given. This material is for professional reference and is not legal advice.