Section 480 — Failure to furnish return of income in search cases. Successor to s.276CCC of the 1961 Act.
Section 480 is in Chapter XXII — Offences and Prosecutions, which runs from section 473 to section 498.
The section makes it an offence to wilfully fail to furnish in due time the return of income setting forth undisclosed income for the block period, where that return is required by a notice under section 294(1)(a). The punishment is graded by the amount of tax: simple imprisonment up to two years, or fine, or both, where the tax exceeds fifty lakh rupees; simple imprisonment up to six months, or fine, or both, where the tax exceeds ten lakh rupees but does not exceed fifty lakh rupees; and fine alone in any other case.
The block return is how undisclosed income found in a search is brought on record, so failing to file it wilfully is treated as an offence rather than a mere default. Grading by the tax involved, with fine alone at the lower end, confines imprisonment to the larger cases.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Punishment where the tax exceeds fifty lakh rupees | Simple imprisonment up to two years, or fine, or both | No minimum term is prescribed | 480(a) |
| Punishment where the tax exceeds ten lakh rupees but not fifty lakh rupees | Simple imprisonment up to six months, or fine, or both | The tax must exceed ten lakh rupees for imprisonment to be available at all | 480(b) |
| Punishment in any other case | Fine | Where the tax is ten lakh rupees or less, imprisonment is not available | 480(c) |
The offence turns on a wilful failure, so the return being late is not by itself enough — wilfulness has to be established, though section 490 places a presumption of culpable mental state on the accused. Which limb applies depends on the amount of tax, and at ten lakh rupees or below the only punishment available is a fine. Note that the punishments are maxima with no floor, so the court has full room below the stated terms.
A person served with a notice under section 294(1)(a) wilfully fails to furnish the block period return in due time, and the tax involved is Rs 60 lakh. Because that exceeds fifty lakh rupees, clause (a) applies — simple imprisonment for a term up to two years, or fine, or both, the section prescribing a maximum and no minimum. At Rs 45 lakh the case falls into clause (b) instead and the ceiling drops to six months. At Rs 8 lakh imprisonment disappears altogether and clause (c) leaves only a fine.
You meet it in a prosecution, not in an assessment: the offence is the wilful failure to furnish in due time the block period return called for by a notice under section 294(1)(a), and the trial is before the Special Court designated under section 495. The notice under section 294(1)(a) is what the person actually receives.
with simple imprisonment for a term up to two years, or with fine, or with both, where the amount of tax exceeds fifty lakh rupees
See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.