Section 133B - Power to Collect Certain Information
Case Laws & Commentary - Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) - bharattax.co Treatise
Provision: Section 133B - power of an income-tax authority to enter business/profession premises during business hours to collect specified information (by way of a prescribed proforma), without the wider inspection/verification powers of a survey; the authority may not remove books or impound, and may not examine on oath.
Chapter / Part: Chapter XIII, Part C - Powers.
FA 2026 status: Not amended by the Finance Act, 2026.
Nature: A narrow information-collection (door-to-door survey) power, distinct from and weaker than section 133A. Sparse case law (candour rule).
A. SECTION COMMENTARY
A limited information-collection power
Section 133B was introduced to enable the Department to conduct a limited, structured collection of information - essentially a door-to-door survey using a prescribed proforma - to widen the tax base. The authority may enter a place of business or profession during business hours and require the proprietor or person attending to furnish the information called for in the prescribed form. The power is deliberately narrow: unlike section 133A, it does not extend to inspecting and impounding books, verifying cash and stock, or recording statements that may be used in proceedings, and the authority has no power to remove anything from the premises or to examine any person on oath. It is a fact-gathering, base-widening measure rather than an enforcement tool.
Litigation profile
Section 133B has generated little reported litigation, reflecting its modest and non-coercive character; this is stated candidly. The governing propositions are those that flow from the text and from the general principle (common to sections 133A and 133B) that a power conferred for limited information-collection cannot be used as a back-door route to the coercive powers of search or to the recording of evidentiary statements. Information collected under section 133B may inform the Department's enquiries, but it does not carry the evidentiary consequences attaching to a search; the contrast the courts have drawn for section 133A applies a fortiori to the still-narrower section 133B.
B. STATUTORY POSITION (verbatim text)
Reproduced below is section 133B as it stands in the bare Act.
133B. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other provision of this Act, an income-tax authority may, for the purpose of collecting any information which may be useful for, or relevant to, the purposes of this Act, enter—
(a) any building or place within the limits of the area assigned to such authority ; or
(b) any building or place occupied by any person in respect of whom he exercises jurisdiction, at which a business or profession is carried on, whether such place be the principal place or not of such business or profession, and require any proprietor, employee or any other person who may at that time and place be attending in any manner to, or helping in, the carrying on of such business or profession to furnish such information as may be prescribed.
(2) An income-tax authority may enter any place of business or profession referred to in sub-section (1) only during the hours at which such place is open for the conduct of business or profession.
(3) For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that an income-tax authority acting under this section shall, on no account, remove or cause to be removed from the building or place wherein he has entered, any books of account or other documents or any cash, stock or other valuable article or thing.
Explanation.—In this section, "income-tax authority" means a Joint Commissioner, an Assistant Director or Deputy Director or an Assessing Officer, and includes an Inspector of Income-tax who has been authorised by the Assessing Officer to exercise the powers conferred under this section in relation to the area in respect of which the Assessing Officer exercises jurisdiction or part thereof.
Note: Section 133B has not been the subject of significant reported decisions; the principles stated are drawn from the text and from the cognate section 133A jurisprudence (no oath, no seizure, limited purpose).
C. AUTHORITIES
Cluster 1 - A limited power cannot be expanded into a coercive one (cognate)
There being no significant direct authority, the controlling principle is drawn from the section 133A line and from the general rule confining statutory powers to their purpose.
CIT v. S. Khader Khan Son (2013) 352 ITR 480 (SC) - applied by analogy
Forum / Citation: Supreme Court of India, 20 September 2012 (dismissing the Department's appeal). Reported: (2013) 352 ITR 480 (SC); (2012) 25 taxmann.com 413; (2012) 210 Taxman 248; (2012) 254 CTR 228; (2012) 79 DTR 184. Affirming CIT v. S. Khader Khan Son (2008) 300 ITR 157 (Mad).
Held: A survey-type power that does not include the power to administer an oath cannot yield a statement of evidentiary value; coercive/evidentiary consequences attach only where the statute expressly confers them (section 132(4)).
Principle: Information collected under a limited power such as section 133B does not acquire the evidentiary force of a search statement.
Relevance: Supplies, by analogy, the limit on the use of information gathered under section 133B.
Income-tax Officer v. Seth Brothers (1969) 74 ITR 836 (SC) - powers confined to their purpose
Forum / Citation: Supreme Court of India, 15 July 1969. Reported: (1969) 74 ITR 836 (SC); AIR 1970 SC 292; (1969) 2 SCC 324; (1970) 1 SCR 601.
Held: Statutory powers must be exercised strictly for the purpose for which they are conferred; they cannot be used for a collateral object.
Principle: Section 133B must be used for its limited information-collection purpose and not as a substitute for survey or search.
Relevance: Confines the section 133B power to its statutory object.
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 bare Act (Chapter XIII, ss. 116-138). Each authority is cited with its full parallel reporter citations as reported; Supreme Court, High Court and Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) rulings are identified as such. Where a section has not been directly construed, that is stated candidly and the nearest governing authority is given. For professional reference; not legal advice.
CHAPTER XIII - INCOME-TAX AUTHORITIES
Section 133B - Power to Collect Certain Information
Case Laws & Commentary - Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) - bharattax.co Treatise
Provision: Section 133B - power of an income-tax authority to enter business/profession premises during business hours to collect specified information (by way of a prescribed proforma), without the wider inspection/verification powers of a survey; the authority may not remove books or impound, and may not examine on oath.
Chapter / Part: Chapter XIII, Part C - Powers.
FA 2026 status: Not amended by the Finance Act, 2026.
Nature: A narrow information-collection (door-to-door survey) power, distinct from and weaker than section 133A. Sparse case law (candour rule).
A. SECTION COMMENTARY
A limited information-collection power
Section 133B was introduced to enable the Department to conduct a limited, structured collection of information - essentially a door-to-door survey using a prescribed proforma - to widen the tax base. The authority may enter a place of business or profession during business hours and require the proprietor or person attending to furnish the information called for in the prescribed form. The power is deliberately narrow: unlike section 133A, it does not extend to inspecting and impounding books, verifying cash and stock, or recording statements that may be used in proceedings, and the authority has no power to remove anything from the premises or to examine any person on oath. It is a fact-gathering, base-widening measure rather than an enforcement tool.
Litigation profile
Section 133B has generated little reported litigation, reflecting its modest and non-coercive character; this is stated candidly. The governing propositions are those that flow from the text and from the general principle (common to sections 133A and 133B) that a power conferred for limited information-collection cannot be used as a back-door route to the coercive powers of search or to the recording of evidentiary statements. Information collected under section 133B may inform the Department's enquiries, but it does not carry the evidentiary consequences attaching to a search; the contrast the courts have drawn for section 133A applies a fortiori to the still-narrower section 133B.
B. STATUTORY POSITION (verbatim text)
Reproduced below is section 133B as it stands in the bare Act.
133B. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other provision of this Act, an income-tax authority may, for the purpose of collecting any information which may be useful for, or relevant to, the purposes of this Act, enter—
(a) any building or place within the limits of the area assigned to such authority ; or
(b) any building or place occupied by any person in respect of whom he exercises jurisdiction, at which a business or profession is carried on, whether such place be the principal place or not of such business or profession, and require any proprietor, employee or any other person who may at that time and place be attending in any manner to, or helping in, the carrying on of such business or profession to furnish such information as may be prescribed.
(2) An income-tax authority may enter any place of business or profession referred to in sub-section (1) only during the hours at which such place is open for the conduct of business or profession.
(3) For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that an income-tax authority acting under this section shall, on no account, remove or cause to be removed from the building or place wherein he has entered, any books of account or other documents or any cash, stock or other valuable article or thing.
Explanation.—In this section, "income-tax authority" means a Joint Commissioner, an Assistant Director or Deputy Director or an Assessing Officer, and includes an Inspector of Income-tax who has been authorised by the Assessing Officer to exercise the powers conferred under this section in relation to the area in respect of which the Assessing Officer exercises jurisdiction or part thereof.
Note: Section 133B has not been the subject of significant reported decisions; the principles stated are drawn from the text and from the cognate section 133A jurisprudence (no oath, no seizure, limited purpose).
C. AUTHORITIES
Cluster 1 - A limited power cannot be expanded into a coercive one (cognate)
There being no significant direct authority, the controlling principle is drawn from the section 133A line and from the general rule confining statutory powers to their purpose.
CIT v. S. Khader Khan Son (2013) 352 ITR 480 (SC) - applied by analogy
Forum / Citation: Supreme Court of India, 20 September 2012 (dismissing the Department's appeal). Reported: (2013) 352 ITR 480 (SC); (2012) 25 taxmann.com 413; (2012) 210 Taxman 248; (2012) 254 CTR 228; (2012) 79 DTR 184. Affirming CIT v. S. Khader Khan Son (2008) 300 ITR 157 (Mad).
Held: A survey-type power that does not include the power to administer an oath cannot yield a statement of evidentiary value; coercive/evidentiary consequences attach only where the statute expressly confers them (section 132(4)).
Principle: Information collected under a limited power such as section 133B does not acquire the evidentiary force of a search statement.
Relevance: Supplies, by analogy, the limit on the use of information gathered under section 133B.
Income-tax Officer v. Seth Brothers (1969) 74 ITR 836 (SC) - powers confined to their purpose
Forum / Citation: Supreme Court of India, 15 July 1969. Reported: (1969) 74 ITR 836 (SC); AIR 1970 SC 292; (1969) 2 SCC 324; (1970) 1 SCR 601.
Held: Statutory powers must be exercised strictly for the purpose for which they are conferred; they cannot be used for a collateral object.
Principle: Section 133B must be used for its limited information-collection purpose and not as a substitute for survey or search.
Relevance: Confines the section 133B power to its statutory object.
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 bare Act (Chapter XIII, ss. 116-138). Each authority is cited with its full parallel reporter citations as reported; Supreme Court, High Court and Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) rulings are identified as such. Where a section has not been directly construed, that is stated candidly and the nearest governing authority is given. For professional reference; not legal advice.