PENALTIES Under Income Tax Act. 1961.


Under Income-tax Act penalties are imposed either by the departmental authorities in certain cases or are imposed by the court for certain Income-tax offences.

The power to impose a penalty is given to Assessing Officer and the Commissioner. The right to imposepenalty by I.T.O. does not come to an end when an appeal in filed against the assessment made by him although in certain cases he has to obtain the prior approval of the Deputy Commissioner. The above-mentioned income-tax authorities are empowered to impose penalties for default in the course ofproceedings going on before them. Penalties are imposable on the assessee by the D.C. (A) in an appeal filed by the uthoriz against the order of Assessing The Assessing Officer cannot impose a penaltyon the concealed income detected by D.C. (A) in the course of appeal against the assessment completed by the Assessing Officer

Penalty refers to monetary punishment for violation of law

It is also possible that the Commissioner (A) may allow an appeal of the assessee against the orders ofpenalty of Assessing Officer, and may himself impose a fresh penalty

The Income-tax Act, 1961 prescribes various types of penalties in the even of defaults under the Act. These are :

[A]    Types of Penalties imposed under Income Tax Act. 1961.
[B]     Power to Reduce or Waive Penalty, etc. in certain cases (Section 273 A)
[C]    Stay or Compounding proceedings [Section 273 A (4)]
[D]    Procedure for imposing Penalty [Section 274]
[E]     Time limits of commencement and completion of Penalty proceedings (Section 275)
[F]     Power of Commissioner to Grant Immunity from Penalty [Section 273AA]
[G]    Summary Of Provisions Relating To Penalties
[H]    Important Notes on Penalty under Income Tax Act. 1961.