Section 177(3)

Section 177(3) — the law in short

What the courts have decided on section 177(3), in one screen. Read this first; open an entry when you need the facts, the reasoning and the source.

• UTI Mutual Fund v ITO High CourtHelps taxpayer
  Can they attach your bank account while the stay application is still pending?
  No. Recovery should not be made pending expiry of the appeal period or disposal of the stay application, and for a reasonable period after — so you can approach a higher forum. Reasonable prior notice must also precede withdrawal from an attached account.
• Statutory position — s.177 and s.189: an association or firm that is dissolved or has discontinued is still assessed as if nothing had happened, every member or partner is jointly and severally liable, and the penalty power survives CBDT Circulars & InstructionsCuts both ways
  Our firm was dissolved two years ago. The Assessing Officer has now made an assessment in the firm's name and served the demand on me as an ex-partner, with a penalty on top. Can he assess a firm that no longer exists, and can he recover the whole amount from me alone?
  Yes on both counts, and the two sections are in identical terms — s.189 for a firm and s.177 for an association of persons. Sub-section (1) of each requires the Assessing Officer, where the business or profession has been discontinued or the firm or association is dissolved, to make an assessment of the total income 'as if no such discontinuance or dissolution had taken place', with all the provisions of the Act, including those relating to the levy of a penalty or any other sum chargeable under any provision of the Act, applying so far as may be to that assessment. Sub-section (3) makes every person who was a partner (or member) at the time of the discontinuance or dissolution, and the legal representative of any such person who is deceased, jointly and severally liable for the amount of tax, penalty or other sum payable. Sub-section (2) preserves the penalty power expressly in the hands of the Assessing Officer, the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) or the Commissioner (Appeals).

Listed strongest first: Supreme Court, then High Court, then Tribunal, then CBDT. Nothing here has yet been read in full by a chartered accountant — open an entry to see where it came from.