Section 461 — Penalty for failure to furnish statements, etc. Successor to s.271H of the 1961 Act.
Section 461 is in Chapter XXI — Penalties, which runs from section 439 to section 472.
Sub-section (1) allows the Assessing Officer to impose a penalty on a person required to deliver, or cause to be delivered, the statement prescribed in section 397(3)(b) where he fails to do so within the time prescribed in that section, or furnishes incorrect information in the statement. The penalty is a sum which shall not be less than Rs 10,000 but which may extend to Rs 1,00,000.
Sub-section (2) bars a penalty under sub-section (1)(a) for delay in filing or non-filing if the person proves that the tax deducted or collected, along with the fee and interest if any, was paid to the credit of the Central Government, and that the statement was also delivered before the expiry of one month from the time prescribed in section 397(3)(b).
The statement under section 397(3)(b) is how deducted or collected tax is matched to the person whose income it relates to, so a late or wrong statement leaves credit unavailable to someone else. The range gives the Assessing Officer room to distinguish a slip from a persistent default, and sub-section (2) removes the penalty entirely from a deductor who has both paid the money over and filed within a month.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum penalty | Rs 10,000 | The penalty shall not be less than this amount | Sub-section (1) |
| Maximum penalty | Rs 1,00,000 | The penalty may extend to this amount | Sub-section (1) |
| Grace period for the sub-section (2) relief | One month | The statement must be delivered before the expiry of one month from the time prescribed in section 397(3)(b), and the tax with fee and interest must have been paid to the credit of the Central Government | Sub-section (2)(b) |
Rs 10,000 is the floor of a range, not the penalty, and the Assessing Officer may go up to Rs 1,00,000. The relief in sub-section (2) is narrower than it looks in two ways: it answers only a sub-section (1)(a) default, so incorrect information remains exposed to the full range, and it requires both conditions together. Paying the tax over is not enough without filing inside the month, and filing inside the month is not enough unless the tax, along with the fee and interest if any, has been paid to the credit of the Central Government. The month runs from the time prescribed in section 397(3)(b), not from any notice.
A deductor files its statement three weeks after the prescribed time, having already paid the tax deducted with the fee and interest. Sub-section (2) bars the penalty altogether. If that same statement carried wrong particulars, sub-section (2) would not help — it protects only against a sub-section (1)(a) default — and a penalty of between Rs 10,000 and Rs 1,00,000 would remain available under sub-section (1)(b).
In a penalty notice from the Assessing Officer following a late or defective statement under section 397(3)(b). The sub-section (2) defence is made out by producing the challans for tax, fee and interest and the date the statement was actually delivered.
a penalty of a sum which shall not be less than Rs. 10000 but which may extend to Rs. 100000
the said statement was also delivered or cause to be delivered before the expiry of one month from the time prescribed in section 397(3)(b)
See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.