CHAPTER XVII — COLLECTION AND RECOVERY OF TAX · BB.—COLLECTION AT SOURCE (TCS)
CHAPTER XVII — COLLECTION AND RECOVERY OF TAX · BB.—COLLECTION AT SOURCE (TCS)
Section 206CA — Tax Collection Account Number (Spent — inoperative from 1-10-2004)
Case Laws & Commentary · Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) · bharattax.co Treatise
Status: Spent / inoperative. By its terminal proviso the section does not apply on or after 1 October 2004; its subject-matter is now governed by the unified account number under section 203A.
Finance Act, 2026: No amendment. The Finance Act 2026 makes no change to section 206CA.
Mechanism: Required a collector under section 206C to obtain and quote a separate tax collection account number — now merged into the section 203A tax deduction and collection account number (TAN).
Litigation profile: Candour rule. Spent provision with no reported case law of its own; account-number obligations now lie under section 203A and the penalty in section 272BB.
A. SECTION COMMENTARY
Section 206CA was the collection-side counterpart of the old tax-deduction account number regime. It required every person collecting tax under section 206C to apply for a separate 'tax collection account number' (TCAN) and to quote it on challans, certificates and returns. The section is, however, spent: its concluding proviso expressly provides that 'the provisions of this section shall not apply on or after the 1st day of October, 2004'. From that date the separate TCAN was subsumed into the unified 'tax deduction and collection account number' (TAN) under section 203A, so that a single account number now serves both the TDS (Part B) and TCS (Part BB) machinery.
Practical effect today
Although the section continues to be printed in the Act, it has no operative content for any current period. A collector's account-number obligations are governed wholly by section 203A and Rule 114A/114D; the quoting requirements that section 206CA once imposed are now read into the section 203A scheme. The section is retained for the integrity of the historical record and for transactions in the pre-October-2004 window.
B. STATUTORY POSITION (verbatim text)
Reproduced from the Income-tax Act, 1961 as amended up to the Finance Act, 2025. Section 206CA is spent — by its own terminal proviso it does not apply on or after 1 October 2004 (its subject-matter being subsumed into the unified account number under section 203A). The Finance Act 2026 makes no change.
Tax collection account number.
206CA. (1) Every person collecting tax in accordance with the provisions of section 206C, shall, within such time as may be prescribed, apply to the Assessing Officer for the allotment of a tax collection account number.
(2) Where a tax collection account number has been allotted to a person, such person shall quote such number— (a) in all challans for the payment of any sum in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (3) of section 206C; (b) in all certificates furnished under sub-section (5) of section 206C; (c) in all the returns delivered in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (5A) or sub-section (5B) of section 206C to any income-tax authority; and (d) in all other documents pertaining to such transactions as may be prescribed in the interest of revenue:
Provided that the provisions of this section shall not apply on or after the 1st day of October, 2004.
C. AUTHORITIES
Section 206CA has been inoperative since 1 October 2004 and has generated no reported case law of its own. The candour rule is observed: there is no direct authority, and the only relevant jurisprudence is the cognate law on the unified account number under section 203A.
Cluster 1 — Spent provision; cognate account-number law (section 203A)
There is no reported decision construing section 206CA. The account-number obligation it once carried now lives in section 203A; the authorities below are cognate, not direct.
No direct authority — candour note
Position: Diligent search discloses no reported Supreme Court, High Court or Tribunal decision interpreting section 206CA. This is unsurprising: the section ceased to apply on and from 1 October 2004, and the unified TAN regime under section 203A absorbed its subject-matter.
Treatment: Account-number defaults are now litigated, if at all, under section 203A and the corresponding penalty in section 272BB; section 206CA survives only as a historical and transitional provision.
Compiled for the bharattax.co Treatise on the Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026). Statutory text is reproduced verbatim from the bare Act; case-law citations have been web-verified. Where a section is new, narrow, spent or substantially unlitigated, the candour rule is observed — the absence of direct authority is stated and only genuinely cognate authority is offered. This digest is for professional reference and is not a substitute for the official report of any judgment.
CHAPTER XVII — COLLECTION AND RECOVERY OF TAX · BB.—COLLECTION AT SOURCE (TCS)
Section 206CA — Tax Collection Account Number (Spent — inoperative from 1-10-2004)
Case Laws & Commentary · Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) · bharattax.co Treatise
Status: Spent / inoperative. By its terminal proviso the section does not apply on or after 1 October 2004; its subject-matter is now governed by the unified account number under section 203A.
Finance Act, 2026: No amendment. The Finance Act 2026 makes no change to section 206CA.
Mechanism: Required a collector under section 206C to obtain and quote a separate tax collection account number — now merged into the section 203A tax deduction and collection account number (TAN).
Litigation profile: Candour rule. Spent provision with no reported case law of its own; account-number obligations now lie under section 203A and the penalty in section 272BB.
A. SECTION COMMENTARY
Section 206CA was the collection-side counterpart of the old tax-deduction account number regime. It required every person collecting tax under section 206C to apply for a separate 'tax collection account number' (TCAN) and to quote it on challans, certificates and returns. The section is, however, spent: its concluding proviso expressly provides that 'the provisions of this section shall not apply on or after the 1st day of October, 2004'. From that date the separate TCAN was subsumed into the unified 'tax deduction and collection account number' (TAN) under section 203A, so that a single account number now serves both the TDS (Part B) and TCS (Part BB) machinery.
Practical effect today
Although the section continues to be printed in the Act, it has no operative content for any current period. A collector's account-number obligations are governed wholly by section 203A and Rule 114A/114D; the quoting requirements that section 206CA once imposed are now read into the section 203A scheme. The section is retained for the integrity of the historical record and for transactions in the pre-October-2004 window.
B. STATUTORY POSITION (verbatim text)
Reproduced from the Income-tax Act, 1961 as amended up to the Finance Act, 2025. Section 206CA is spent — by its own terminal proviso it does not apply on or after 1 October 2004 (its subject-matter being subsumed into the unified account number under section 203A). The Finance Act 2026 makes no change.
Tax collection account number.
206CA. (1) Every person collecting tax in accordance with the provisions of section 206C, shall, within such time as may be prescribed, apply to the Assessing Officer for the allotment of a tax collection account number.
(2) Where a tax collection account number has been allotted to a person, such person shall quote such number— (a) in all challans for the payment of any sum in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (3) of section 206C; (b) in all certificates furnished under sub-section (5) of section 206C; (c) in all the returns delivered in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (5A) or sub-section (5B) of section 206C to any income-tax authority; and (d) in all other documents pertaining to such transactions as may be prescribed in the interest of revenue:
Provided that the provisions of this section shall not apply on or after the 1st day of October, 2004.
C. AUTHORITIES
Section 206CA has been inoperative since 1 October 2004 and has generated no reported case law of its own. The candour rule is observed: there is no direct authority, and the only relevant jurisprudence is the cognate law on the unified account number under section 203A.
Cluster 1 — Spent provision; cognate account-number law (section 203A)
There is no reported decision construing section 206CA. The account-number obligation it once carried now lives in section 203A; the authorities below are cognate, not direct.
No direct authority — candour note
Position: Diligent search discloses no reported Supreme Court, High Court or Tribunal decision interpreting section 206CA. This is unsurprising: the section ceased to apply on and from 1 October 2004, and the unified TAN regime under section 203A absorbed its subject-matter.
Treatment: Account-number defaults are now litigated, if at all, under section 203A and the corresponding penalty in section 272BB; section 206CA survives only as a historical and transitional provision.
Compiled for the bharattax.co Treatise on the Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026). Statutory text is reproduced verbatim from the bare Act; case-law citations have been web-verified. Where a section is new, narrow, spent or substantially unlitigated, the candour rule is observed — the absence of direct authority is stated and only genuinely cognate authority is offered. This digest is for professional reference and is not a substitute for the official report of any judgment.