Section 475 — Removal, concealment, transfer or delivery of property to prevent tax recovery. Successor to s.276 of the 1961 Act.
Section 475 is in Chapter XXII — Offences and Prosecutions, which runs from section 473 to section 498.
The section creates an offence: whoever fraudulently removes, conceals, transfers or delivers to any person any property or any interest in property, with the intent to prevent that property or interest from being taken in execution of a certificate drawn under section 413, is punishable with simple imprisonment for a term up to two years and with fine. The punishment was substituted by Act No. 4 of 2026 with effect from 1 April 2026; before that substitution it read as rigorous imprisonment which may extend to two years, with liability to fine.
A recovery certificate is enforced against property, so putting that property beyond reach defeats recovery entirely; the section makes doing so fraudulently and with that intent a criminal offence rather than merely a civil obstacle.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum punishment | Simple imprisonment up to 2 years, and fine | On conviction for fraudulently removing, concealing, transferring or delivering property with intent to prevent it being taken in execution of a certificate under section 413; substituted by Act No. 4 of 2026 with effect from 1 April 2026 for rigorous imprisonment up to two years | Section 475 |
The offence is not made out by the disposal alone: it requires the act to be fraudulent and to be done with the intent of preventing the property being taken in execution of a section 413 certificate, so the certificate is the reference point and intent has to be established. The person receiving the property is within the words "delivers to any person" as the counterparty to the delivery. Because the maximum is two years, the offence falls within the class that section 497 requires the Special Court to try as a summons case.
A Tax Recovery Officer draws a certificate under section 413 against a firm for unpaid tax. Before it can be executed, a partner transfers the firm's machinery to a relative for no real consideration so that it cannot be taken. That is the offence — the transfer was fraudulent and made with the intent to prevent the property from being taken in execution of the certificate — and it is punishable with simple imprisonment for a term up to two years, a maximum rather than a fixed term, and with fine. A transfer made at a fair price in the ordinary course, without that intent, is outside the section, which is not a strict-liability offence; and the section reaches an interest in property as much as the property itself.
In a criminal complaint and prosecution rather than in any assessment or recovery order. It comes into play only after a Tax Recovery Officer has drawn a certificate under section 413, when the property that certificate would be executed against has been moved, concealed, transferred or delivered away.
Whoever, fraudulently removes, conceals, transfers or delivers to any person, any property or any interest therein, with the intent to prevent such property or interest therein from being taken in execution of a certificate drawn under section 413
See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.
All of them are in the Rules 2026 index.