The Central Board of direct Taxes (CBDT), vide notification no. S.O. 4828(E) issued on 7th November 2023 has notified the Income Tax exemption to the Press Council of India under Section 10(46) of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

The income exempted from income tax are: Levy of fees on publishers and news papers; and Interest earned on FDRs and Savings bank accounts of the Press Council of India.

However, this notification shall be effective subject to the conditions that Press council of India: shall not engage in any commercial activity; activities and the nature of the specified income shall remain unchanged throughout the financial years; and shall file return of income in accordance with the provision of clause

(g) of sub-section (4C) of section 139 of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

This notification shall be deemed to have been applied for the assessment year 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021- 2022, 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 relevant to financial years 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022 and 2022- 2023 respectively.