Mr. Samar, a 62-year-old resident individual, operates a small retail shop. For the P.Y. 2025-26, Mr. Samar furnished the following information: Mr.…

9. (i) Since Mr. Samar's total income does not exceed ₹ 4,00,000, being the basic exemption limit as per the default tax regime u/s 115BAC, he is not required to file return of income under section 139(1). However, any person other than a company or a firm, who is not required to furnish a return of income under section 139(1), is required to file income-tax return inter alia if he incurs an expenditure exceeding ₹ 1,00,000 towards the consumption of electricity during the previous year or if the aggregate of TDS and TCS during the previous year is ₹ 50,000 or more (in case of a senior citizen) or gross receipts/turnover from business exceed ₹ 60 lakhs during the previous year. In the present case, since Mr. Samar's electricity expenditure does not exceed the threshold limit of ₹ 1 lakh or tax deducted at source is also less than ₹ 50,000 and gross receipts from business also does not exceed ₹ 60 lakhs during the P.Y. 2025-26, he is not mandatorily required to file his return of income for A.Y. 2026-27. (ii) Rule 114B prescribes specific transactions where quoting of PAN is mandatory. Rule 114B specifies that making a payment to a hotel or restaurant against a bill or bills at any one time requires quoting of PAN if the payment is made in cash and exceeds ₹ 50,000. Since Mr. Samar made a single payment of ₹ 60,000 entirely in cash, he is required to mandatorily quote his PAN. Further, PAN also needs to be quoted if the premium towards life insurance aggregates to more than ₹ 50,000, in a financial year. Since, Mr. Samar's made payment of only ₹ 48,000 via an account payee cheque, he is not required to quote his PAN.