VittSphere ONE Calculators Blog CA Prabhakar Kumar · FCA · ICAI 560762
Case lawIncome-tax Act 2025Chapter XXI › Section 464
Chapter XXIwas s.271K

Section 464 of the Income-tax Act, 2025

Section 464 — Penalty for failure to furnish statements, etc. Successor to s.271K of the 1961 Act.

Where this section sits

Section 464 is in Chapter XXI — Penalties, which runs from section 439 to section 472.

← Section 463  ·  Section 465 →

What this section does

The Assessing Officer may impose a penalty of not less than Rs. 10,000 and up to Rs. 1,00,000 on two classes of defaulter. Clause (a) covers a research association, university, college or other institution referred to in section 45 that fails to deliver or furnish the documents as may be prescribed under section 45(4)(a). Clause (b) covers an institution or fund that fails to deliver or cause to be delivered a statement within the time prescribed under section 354(1)(e), or to furnish a certificate prescribed under section 354(1)(g).

Why it is there

The deductions claimed by donors and contributors are verified against statements and certificates filed by the recipient institution, so that filing is what makes the claim checkable. The penalty gives the obligation a sanction of its own, independent of what happens to the donor's claim.

Who it applies to

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.
WhatFigureThe condition on itWhere
Minimum penaltyRs. 10,000The penalty imposed shall not be less than this amountSection 464
Maximum penaltyRs. 1,00,000A ceiling — the penalty may extend up to this amount, not a fixed sumSection 464

What this means in practice

The section gives a range, not a figure: once the Assessing Officer decides to impose, the amount must be at least Rs. 10,000 and may go up to Rs. 1,00,000, and neither end is the default. The defaults are specific — the prescribed documents under section 45(4)(a), or the statement within the time prescribed under section 354(1)(e) or the certificate prescribed under section 354(1)(g) — so a delay in the statement is itself the default, without more.

An example

Illustrative only, and invented for this page. The figures are chosen to show the rule biting, not taken from any real matter.

A fund fails to deliver the statement under section 354(1)(e) within the prescribed time and also does not furnish the certificate prescribed under section 354(1)(g). Clause (b) is attracted and the Assessing Officer may impose a penalty which cannot be below Rs. 10,000 and cannot exceed Rs. 1,00,000; the exact amount is his to fix within that range.

Where you meet this section

An institution or fund meets it as a show cause notice and then a penalty order addressed to it after a statement or certificate is not filed in time. An individual donor never faces this penalty, though the same default may affect the evidence for a claim.

The words themselves

may impose a penalty which shall not be less than Rs. 10000 but which may extend up to Rs. 100000
Section 464, Income-tax Act, 2025.
if it fails to deliver or cause to be delivered a statement within the time prescribed under section 354(1)(e), or furnish a certificate prescribed under section 354(1)(g)
Section 464(b), Income-tax Act, 2025.

What people get wrong

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.

See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.

Case law carried across

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 464. 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.

Explainers

Read with

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.