The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on September 10, 2026, issued Format, Procedure and Guidelines for submission of Statement of Financial Transactions {SFT-2518) for Mutual Fund Transactions under section 508{1) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 read with sub-rule 6 of rule 237 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026 by Registrar and Share Transfer Agent.
The Income-tax Act, 2025 and Income-tax Rules, 2026 require specified reporting persons to furnish Statements of Financial Transactions (SFT). Under Rule 237(6), Registrar and Share Transfer Agents (RTAs) registered with SEBI are required to report information relating to capital gains arising from transfer of Mutual Fund units for the purpose of pre-filling income-tax returns. The DGIT (Systems) has prescribed the SFT preparation and submission guidelines, formats, data structures, validation rules and the control statement requirements.
RTAs are required to generate the prescribed data files from their internal systems and submit them through the SITP server using separately communicated credentials. A control statement, duly signed and verified by the Designated Director, must also be furnished. The SFT is to be submitted half-yearly—for the first half of the financial year by October 31, and for the second half by April 30.
Reporting entities must also provide the reported Mutual Fund transaction information to account holders to facilitate reconciliation with the Annual Information Statement (AIS). Any inaccuracies or defects identified in the submitted SFT must be rectified through appropriate correction/deletion statements. Further, reporting entities are required to maintain appropriate information-security, archival and retrieval policies and procedures, with clearly defined responsibilities, to safeguard submitted information and ensure its availability to competent authorities.
[Notification No. 2 of 2026]
