Section 483 — Falsification of books of account or document, etc. Successor to s.277A of the 1961 Act.
Section 483 is in Chapter XXII — Offences and Prosecutions, which runs from section 473 to section 498.
Sub-section (1) creates the offence. Where a person — the first person — wilfully and with intent to enable another person — the second person — to evade any tax, interest or penalty chargeable or imposable under the Act, makes or causes to be made any entry or statement which is false, and which the first person either knows to be false or does not believe to be true, in any books of account or other document relevant to or useful in any proceedings against the first person or the second person under the Act, the first person is punishable with simple imprisonment for a term up to two years and with fine. Those words of punishment were substituted by Act No. 4 of 2026 with effect from 1 April 2026 for "rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three months but which may extend to two years and with fine", so the imprisonment is now simple rather than rigorous and there is no longer a minimum term.
Sub-section (2) removes an element of proof: for establishing the charge under this section it is not necessary to prove that the second person has actually evaded any tax, penalty or interest chargeable or imposable under the Act.
The person who falsifies a record is often not the person who benefits from it, and a prosecution that had to wait for proof that the beneficiary actually evaded tax would rarely get off the ground. The section reaches the maker of the false entry directly and, by sub-section (2), makes the offence complete on the making of the entry with the required intent, whatever became of the second person's assessment.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Punishment for the offence | Simple imprisonment for a term up to two years, and fine | Substituted by Act No. 4 of 2026 w.e.f. 1-4-2026 for rigorous imprisonment of not less than three months and up to two years with fine; there is now no minimum term | Sub-section (1) |
The offence sits on a state of mind, not on an outcome. Sub-section (1) requires the act to be wilful and done with intent to enable the second person to evade, and requires the first person either to know the entry is false or not to believe it true — carelessness or a mistaken entry does not meet that description. But once those elements are there, sub-section (2) closes the usual line of defence: the charge does not depend on showing that the second person actually evaded anything. Note also how wide the document limb is — the entry need only be in books of account or another document "relevant to or useful in" a proceeding against either the first or the second person. What changed on 1 April 2026 is the sentence, not the offence: imprisonment is now simple, the two-year ceiling stands, and the three-month floor is gone.
A supplier issues invoices for goods it never delivered so that a company can claim a deduction, and records the corresponding sales in its own books. The supplier is the first person under sub-section (1) and can be convicted even though the company's deduction is later disallowed and no tax is in fact evaded, because sub-section (2) removes the need to prove actual evasion. For an offence on or after 1 April 2026 the sentence is simple imprisonment up to two years and a fine, with no minimum term.
You meet this section in a prosecution launched on the strength of documents gathered in an assessment, a search or a survey — typically against the maker of the entry rather than the taxpayer who claimed the benefit.
simple imprisonment for a term up to two years and with fine
it shall not be necessary to prove that the second person has actually evaded any tax, penalty or interest chargeable or imposable under this Act
See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.