The new rules, which have replaced the earlier ones specified in 1998, bring some clarity on issues such as the sources and quantum of the fund and also the purposes for which it should be put to use. The corpus of the fund has been pegged at Rs 100 crore, which is to be entirely contributed by the Government. So far, only about Rs 70 crore has flown into the fund, according to highly placed sources in the tax department.

The sources also said the new rules provide that only the interest earned from the fund and the accretions and not the fund itself could be utilised for meeting its objectives. This is a departure from the earlier rules which allowed the use of the corpus for meeting the funds welfare objectives.

Accretions would comprise 10 per cent of the excess amount earned by the department from auction of properties purchased by the Government under certain provisions of the Act and also 10 per cent of the rewards sanctioned to the staff under any reward scheme.

The seed for the Income-Tax Welfare Fund was sown in 1998, when the Government launched a successful voluntary disclosure of income scheme.