Section 452 — Penalty for failure to comply with provisions of section 187. Successor to s.271DB of the 1961 Act.
Section 452 is in Chapter XXI — Penalties, which runs from section 439 to section 472.
The section empowers the Assessing Officer to impose a penalty of Rs. 5000 for every day of the duration of the failure, on a person who fails to provide a facility for accepting payments through the prescribed electronic modes of payment as referred to in section 187.
Section 187 requires certain persons to offer the prescribed electronic payment modes, and a duty to provide a facility is only worth as much as the sanction behind it. A per-day penalty is used rather than a single sum because the failure is a continuing one: the pressure is to restore the facility, and every further day of non-compliance adds to the cost.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Penalty for failure to provide the electronic payment facility | Rs. 5000 for every day of the duration of the failure | Where the person fails to provide a facility for accepting payments through the prescribed electronic modes of payment as referred to in section 187; the Assessing Officer "may" impose it | Section 452 |
The penalty is a daily one and runs for the whole duration of the failure, so its size is a function of time rather than of the amount of any transaction. The power is discretionary in form: the section says the Assessing Officer "may" impose it. What must be provided is not defined here — it is the facility referred to in section 187, through the prescribed electronic modes of payment.
A person required by section 187 to offer the prescribed electronic payment modes does not provide the facility for sixty days. The penalty the Assessing Officer may impose is Rs. 5000 for each of those days, that is three lakh rupees, since the section measures the penalty by the duration of the failure and not by any single default.
You meet this as a penalty notice and order from the Assessing Officer following a finding that the section 187 facility was not provided. It is not a figure that appears in a return; it arises only in a penalty proceeding.
The Assessing Officer may impose on a person, a penalty of Rs. 5000 for every day of the duration of failure where he fails to provide a facility for accepting payments through the prescribed electronic modes of payment, as referred to in section 187.
See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.