Section 115BBF

Section 115BBF of the Income Tax Act: Tax on income from patent

(1) Where the total income of an eligible assessee includes any income by way of royalty in respect of a patent developed and registered in India, the income-tax payable shall be the aggregate of—

(a) the amount of income-tax calculated on the income by way of royalty in respect of the patent at the rate of ten per cent; and

(b) the amount of income-tax with which the assessee would have been chargeable had his total income been reduced by the income referred to in clause (a).

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, no deduction in respect of any expenditure or allowance shall be allowed to the eligible assessee under any provision of this Act in computing his income referred to in clause (a) of sub-section (1).

(3) The eligible assessee may exercise the option for taxation of income by way of royalty in respect of a patent developed and registered in India in accordance with the provisions of this section, in the prescribed manner, on or before the due date specified under sub-section (1) of section 139 for furnishing the return of income for the relevant previous year.

(4) Where an eligible assessee opts for taxation of income by way of royalty in respect of a patent developed and registered in India for any previous year in accordance with the provisions of this section and the assessee offers the income for taxation for any of the five assessment years relevant to the previous year succeeding the previous year not in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1), then, the assessee shall not be eligible to claim the benefit of the provisions of this section for five assessment years subsequent to the assessment year relevant to the previous year in which such income has not been offered to tax in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1).

Explanation.—For the purposes of this section,—

(a) “developed” means at least seventy-five per cent of the expenditure incurred in India by the eligible assessee for any invention in respect of which patent is granted under the Patents Act, 1970 (39 of 1970) (herein referred to as the Patents Act);

(b) “eligible assessee” means a person resident in India and who is a patentee;

(c) “invention” shall have the meaning assigned to it in clause (j) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Patents Act;

(d) “lump sum” includes an advance payment on account of such royalties which is not returnable;

(e) “patent” shall have the meaning assigned to it in clause (m) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Patents Act;

(f) “patentee” means the person, being the true and first inventor of the invention, whose name is entered on the patent register as the patentee, in accordance with the Patents Act, and includes every such person, being the true and first inventor of the invention, where more than one person is registered as patentee under that Act in respect of that patent;

(g) “patented article” and “patented process” shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in clause (o) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Patents Act;

(h) “royalty”, in respect of a patent, means consideration (including any lump sum consideration but excluding any consideration which would be the income of the recipient chargeable under the head “Capital gains” or consideration for sale of product manufactured with the use of patented process or the patented article for commercial use) for the—

(i) transfer of all or any rights (including the granting of a licence) in respect of a patent; or

(ii) imparting of any information concerning the working of, or the use of, a patent; or

(iii) use of any patent; or

(iv) rendering of any services in connection with the activities referred to in sub-clauses (i) to (iii);

(i) “true and first inventor” shall have the meaning assigned to it in clause (y) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Patents Act.