Who is required to maintain books of account?

The following professions should maintain accounting records if their gross receipts are more than Rs. 1,50,000 in 3 preceding years for an existing profession. This also applies to a newly set up profession whose gross receipts are expected to be more than Rs. 1,50,000. The accounting records to be kept have been prescribed in Rule 6F:

Legal
Medical
Engineering
Architectural
Accountancy
Technical consultancy
Interior decoration
Authorized representative — A person who represents someone for a fee before a tribunal or any authority constituted under law. It does not include an employee of the person so represented or someone who is carrying on the profession of accountancy.
Film artist — This includes a producer, editor, actor, director, music director, art director, dance director, cameraman, singer, lyricist, story writer, screen play or dialogue writer and costume designers.
Company secretary

If you are a freelancer pursuing any of these listed professions and your gross receipts are more than Rs. 1,50,000, these rules shall apply to you.

If the gross receipts of the Professions listed above are not more than Rs 1,50,000 in any one or more of the preceding 3 years for an existing profession or for a newly set up profession whose gross receipts are expected to be less than Rs 1,50,000 – the professional has to maintain books of accounts. What all books or records should be kept has not been exactly specified. The only condition is the AO should be able to compute the taxable income of the professional from them.