Section 479 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 — Prosecution for Failure to Furnish Returns of Income

In plain language

What Section 479 actually says

Section 479 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 is the criminal-prosecution provision for a person who wilfully fails to furnish a return of income in time. It sits in Chapter XXII (Offences and Prosecution) and is the direct successor to the well-known Section 276CC of the Income-tax Act, 1961. This is not a penalty (money) provision — it is a criminal offence that can lead to imprisonment plus a fine, prosecuted before a court, not decided by an Assessing Officer.

Who and what it applies to

The offence is triggered when a person wilfully fails to file a return that was required under:

• Section 263(1) — the ordinary return of income (the 2025 Act equivalent of the old Section 139(1));
• Section 268(1) — a return demanded by notice from the tax authority (equivalent of the old Section 142(1) inquiry notice); or
• Section 280 — a return in reassessment / income-escaping-assessment proceedings (equivalent of the old Section 148 notice).

It applies to all taxpayers — individuals, HUFs, firms, LLPs and companies. The key word is "wilful": mere delay caused by genuine reasons (illness, technical glitch, bona fide belief that no return was due) is a defence. Courts under the old 276CC consistently held that the prosecution must prove the failure was deliberate, not accidental.

The two punishment slabs

• Serious cases — where the tax that would have been evaded is more than ₹25 lakh: rigorous imprisonment of not less than 6 months up to 7 years, plus fine.
• All other cases: rigorous imprisonment of not less than 3 months up to 2 years, plus fine.

The safe harbours — when you CANNOT be prosecuted

Section 479(2) gives two important escapes:

• File late but within one year: No prosecution if the return is furnished before the expiry of one year from the end of the tax year (or a return under Section 263(6), the belated/updated route, is filed within the prescribed time). So a genuine late filer who catches up in time is protected.
• Small tax dues (non-companies): If the person is not a company and the tax payable — after adjusting advance tax, self-assessment tax paid, and TDS/TCS — is ₹10,000 or less, prosecution shall not be launched.

Note the second relief is not available to companies: a company can be prosecuted for non-filing even where its net tax works out to nil, because the ₹10,000 shelter is expressly limited to non-company assessees.

How it interacts with other provisions

• Prosecution under Section 479 is over and above the monetary late-filing fee and any penalty for non-filing — the criminal case and the civil penalty run on separate tracks.
• Like other Chapter XXII offences, sanction of a senior tax authority is generally required before a complaint is filed, and offences of this kind are compoundable (you can pay a compounding fee to close the matter instead of facing trial).
• Interest for late filing and shortfall (the 2025 Act's equivalents of Sections 234A/234B/234C) continues to apply independently.

A caution on Finance Act, 2026 changes: commentary suggests the 2026 amendments push a broad decriminalisation of tax offences (for example, softening imprisonment and widening compounding across the Chapter XXII sections). The precise, final form of any change specific to Section 479 should be verified against the official amended text before relying on it; treat the slabs above as the base position under the 2025 Act.

Practical implications

• File on time, every year — even a nil or refund return — especially if you are a company or a high-income individual.
• If you have missed a deadline, file the belated/updated return quickly to fall inside the one-year safe harbour.
• Keep proof of the reason for any delay; "wilfulness" is what turns a late return into a crime.