Court fee or stamp duty payable on power of attorney or vakalatnama filed before Income-tax Officer/on applications or petitions filed before Commissioner and other income-tax authorities

Court-fee vs stamp duty on authorisations: authorisations before income-tax authorities are generally stamped as powers of attorney, Punjab is exception.

A document authorising a person who is not a pleader or mukhtar under the Legal Practitioners Act is to be treated as a power of attorney and stamped under the Indian Stamp Act; the Board maintained this rule generally for income tax authorities, except where local judicial precedent (notably in Punjab) requires treating such authorisations under the Court Fees Act. The Board also clarified that applications invoking statutory jurisdiction before income tax authorities attract court fees under article 1(c) of Schedule II, and provided illustrative categories and a schedule of applicable court fees.