Section 443 — Penalty in respect of certain income. Successor to s.271AAC of the 1961 Act.
Section 443 is in Chapter XXI — Penalties, which runs from section 439 to section 472.
The section has been omitted by Act No. 4 of 2026 with effect from 1 April 2026 and now contains no operative provision. Before its omission it allowed the Assessing Officer, the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) or the Commissioner (Appeals) to impose a penalty of 10% of the tax payable under section 195(1)(i) where the income determined for a tax year included income referred to in sections 102, 103, 104, 105 or 106, payable in addition to the tax under section 195; it exempted income the assessee had included in his section 263 return on which the section 195(1)(i) tax had been paid on or before the end of the relevant tax year, and it barred any penalty under section 439 on the same income.
The omitted provision added a penalty on top of the special rate of tax on unexplained credits, investments, money, expenditure and similar income, with relief for income voluntarily returned and paid on in time. With the omission, that additional penalty no longer forms part of the Act from 1 April 2026.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Penalty under the omitted provision | 10% of the tax payable under section 195(1)(i) | Applied where determined income included income referred to in section 102, 103, 104, 105 or 106; the provision was omitted by Act No. 4 of 2026 w.e.f. 1-4-2026 | 443(1), prior to omission |
There is nothing to comply with under this number going forward — the section is a blank, and any reference to a section 443 penalty relates to the text as it stood before Act No. 4 of 2026 took effect on 1 April 2026. The tax under section 195 on the incomes described in sections 102 to 106 is unaffected by the omission; only the additional 10% penalty and its associated protections have gone, including the express bar in the old sub-section (4) on a section 439 penalty for the same income.
For any period governed by the section as it now stands there is nothing to meet: it was omitted by Act No. 4 of 2026 with effect from 1 April 2026 and contains no operative provision, so no penalty order can rest on it. What is met instead is the tax charged under section 195 on income referred to in sections 102 to 106, which the omission leaves untouched, and — for earlier periods — orders that cite section 443 as it then stood.
Omtt. by Act No. 4 of 2026, w.e.f. 1-4-2026.
See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.