Sub-section (1) provides that when an assessee is in default, or deemed to be in default, in making a payment of tax, the Tax Recovery Officer may draw up under his signature a statement in the prescribed form specifying the arrears due — that statement being the certificate for this section and sections 414 to 416 — and shall proceed to recover the amount by one or more of the listed modes, as per the prescribed rules: attachment and sale of movable property, attachment and sale of immovable property, and appointing a receiver for the management of the assessee's movable and immovable properties. That third clause was substituted by Act No. 4 of 2026 with effect from 1 April 2026 for the earlier clauses (c) and (d); the mode of arrest of the assessee and his detention in prison, which stood as clause (c) before the substitution, no longer appears in the section.
Sub-section (2) allows action whether or not recovery has been taken up by any other mode. Sub-section (3) bars the assessee from disputing the correctness of the certificate on any ground. Sub-section (4) allows the Tax Recovery Officer to cancel the certificate if he considers it necessary, or to correct a clerical or arithmetical mistake.
Sub-section (5) extends the property available for recovery to property transferred by the assessee, directly or indirectly, on or after 1 June 1973 to his spouse, minor child, son's wife or son's minor child, otherwise than for adequate consideration, which is held by or stands in the name of any of them; and provides that property so transferred to a minor child or son's minor child continues to be included even after that child attains majority, for arrears in respect of any period prior to that date.
Why it is there
Recovery needs a document that can be acted on without re-opening the merits, and the certificate is that document — hence the absolute bar in sub-section (3), which pushes every argument about the demand back to the assessment and appeal stages. Sub-section (5) exists because a defaulter's obvious response is to hold property in a family member's name, and it makes such property reachable without a separate proceeding.
Who it applies to
An assessee in default or deemed to be in default in making a payment of tax
The Tax Recovery Officer drawing up, acting on, cancelling or correcting the certificate
The spouse, minor child, son's wife or son's minor child holding property transferred on or after 1 June 1973 otherwise than for adequate consideration
The figures, and what each one turns on
Read the condition in the same row. A figure quoted without it is a wrong answer with a citation attached.
What
Figure
The condition on it
Where
Cut-off date for transfers to family members that remain reachable
On or after the 1st June, 1973
Transfer by the assessee, directly or indirectly, to his spouse, minor child, son's wife or son's minor child otherwise than for adequate consideration, where the property is held by or stands in the name of any of them
Sub-section (5)(a)
Continuation of the extension after the child grows up
Even after the date of attainment of majority
Property transferred to a minor child or son's minor child continues to be included, for recovering arrears due from the assessee in respect of any period prior to that date
Sub-section (5)(b)
What this means in practice
Sub-section (3) decides most recovery arguments: nothing about the certificate's correctness can be raised before the Tax Recovery Officer on any ground, so the assessee's remedies lie against the underlying demand. The modes are not sequential — sub-section (2) allows action whether or not another mode has been tried, and one or more may be used together. The live list is attachment and sale of movable property, attachment and sale of immovable property, and appointment of a receiver; the arrest and detention mode was removed when Act No. 4 of 2026 substituted clause (c) for the former clauses (c) and (d), so a demand for arrest under this section has no basis in the text as it now stands. Sub-section (5) reaches property standing in a family member's name without disturbing the certificate, and keeps it within reach after the child attains majority, though only for arrears relating to an earlier period.
An example
Illustrative only, and invented for this page. The figures are chosen to show the rule biting, not taken from any real matter.
An assessee is in default for Rs. 2 crore. The Tax Recovery Officer draws up a certificate and proceeds to attach and sell a commercial building standing in the name of the assessee's spouse, transferred to her in 2019 without consideration; sub-section (5)(a) makes it his property for recovery. He cannot resist by arguing before the Tax Recovery Officer that the assessed figure is wrong, because sub-section (3) bars any dispute about the certificate.
Where you meet this section
The assessee meets it as the recovery certificate drawn up in the prescribed form once he is in default, and then as the attachment of movable or immovable property, or the appointment of a receiver, that follows. A family member meets sub-section (5) when property standing in their name is attached for the assessee's arrears.
The words themselves
The assessee shall not be entitled to dispute the correctness of any certificate drawn up by the Tax Recovery Officer on any ground.
Section 413(3), Income-tax Act, 2025.
appointing a receiver for the management of movable and immovable properties of the assessee.
Section 413(1)(c), as substituted by Act No. 4 of 2026 w.e.f. 1-4-2026, Income-tax Act, 2025.
What people get wrong
Treating arrest and detention as an available mode. Act No. 4 of 2026 substituted clause (c) for the former clauses (c) and (d) with effect from 1 April 2026, and that mode no longer appears in sub-section (1).
Disputing the certificate before the Tax Recovery Officer. Sub-section (3) bars it on any ground; the challenge lies against the underlying demand.
Assuming one mode must be exhausted before another. Sub-section (2) allows action whether or not another mode has been taken up.
Assuming property in a spouse's or child's name is out of reach. Sub-section (5)(a) includes property transferred to them on or after 1 June 1973 otherwise than for adequate consideration.
Assuming the extension lapses when the child turns eighteen. Sub-section (5)(b) keeps such property within reach after majority, for arrears of any earlier period.
What this replaced
The correspondence is the Income Tax Department’s own, from its comparison utility for the 1961 and 2025 Acts. A renumbering is the easy half; whether the words changed is the half that decides cases.
222 - Certificate to Tax Recovery Officer
224 - Validity of certificate and cancellation or amendment thereof
Rules of the Income-tax Rules, 2026 that work section 413. Where the rule’s own heading names the section we say so; the rest are marked on reading the rule, which is our derivation and not the department’s. A rule that serves the section silently and that we have missed will not appear here.
Rule 224 — Form of statement under section 413 or section 414
Rule 225 — Procedure for recovery of tax for the purposes of sections 413 and 475
Rule 226 — Tax recovery officer to exercise or perform certain powers and functions of an Assessing Officer under section 413
A notification is made under a power the Act gives and, within that power, is law. These too were made under the 1961 Act and are placed here by the department’s concordance.
Read this before you rely on it. Every decision below was decided under the Income-tax Act, 1961. It appears here because it is tagged to a 1961 provision that the department’s own mapping carries to section 413. That is an inference we have drawn, not a holding on the new section: where the words changed in the move, the reasoning may not survive. Treat this as the place to start looking, not as authority on the 2025 Act.
TRO v Gangadhar Vishwanath RanadeSupreme CourtHelps taxpayertagged s.222 The tro has attached property the defaulter transferred years ago and calls the transfer void. Can he do that?
Rajendra Kumar v ACITHigh CourtHelps taxpayertagged s.222 The CPC has adjusted my entire refund against a demand that is under appeal. Do I have to file a separate stay application before I can complain?
What this page does not tell you. It does not reproduce the section. Everything above was written from the section’s own text as the Income Tax Department publishes it — the text is here, and nothing here is advice on your facts. Where a figure matters, read the sub-section it comes from.
