CHAPTER XVII - COLLECTION AND RECOVERY OF TAX - C.-ADVANCE PAYMENT OF TAX
CHAPTER XVII - COLLECTION AND RECOVERY OF TAX - C.-ADVANCE PAYMENT OF TAX
Section 212 - Estimate by Assessee (Omitted)
Case Laws & Commentary - Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) - bharattax.co Treatise
Status: Omitted by the Direct Tax Laws (Amendment) Act, 1987, w.e.f. 1 April 1988.
Finance Act, 2026: No amendment (omitted provision).
Mechanism: Historic: the assessee filed an estimate of current income and advance tax and paid accordingly; defective estimates attracted interest (sections 215-217) and penalty (section 273).
Litigation profile: Spent/omitted. Candour rule. Its jurisprudence survives only through the interest and penalty regime for assessment years up to 1988-89.
A. SECTION COMMENTARY
Section 212 - "Estimate by assessee" - was part of the pre-1988 advance-tax machinery and was omitted by the Direct Tax Laws (Amendment) Act, 1987 (w.e.f. 1 April 1988). Under the old scheme it required an assessee, in defined situations, to submit to the Assessing Officer an estimate of his current income and of the advance tax payable thereon, and to pay advance tax in accordance with that estimate. The estimate was the linchpin of the old regime: the interest sections 215 and 217 and the penalty provision in section 273 all keyed their consequences to whether a correct estimate had been filed and whether it was an under-estimate.
The estimate and the penalty/interest consequences it carried
Because liability under the old regime was driven by the assessee's own estimate, the law policed the honesty of that estimate. An assessee who filed an untrue estimate which he knew or had reason to believe to be untrue, or who failed to file an estimate, exposed himself to penalty under section 273 and to interest under sections 215 to 217. The governing idea - that the estimate must be a fair and honest forecast and that the consequences of a wrong estimate are compensatory (interest) and, in the case of a culpable estimate, penal (section 273) - is the conceptual ancestor of the present sections 234B and 234C, which dispense with the estimate but retain the compensatory interest for shortfall and deferment.
Status today
Section 212 is dead law for assessment years 1989-90 onwards. It is reproduced here for completeness of the Chapter; its only continuing relevance is as the provision referred to in the surviving sections 215, 216 and 217 for the earlier assessment years to which those sections still apply (section 214(3)).
B. STATUTORY POSITION (verbatim text)
Reproduced verbatim from the Income-tax Act, 1961. The Legislature's omission note is set out as printed; the Finance Act, 2026 makes no amendment.
212. [Omitted by the Direct Tax Laws (Amendment) Act, 1987, w.e.f. 1-4-1988.]
C. AUTHORITIES
Section 212 stands omitted with effect from 1 April 1988; there is no live litigation on it and the candour rule is observed. Its jurisprudence is that of the estimate-driven interest (sections 215-217) and penalty (section 273) regime, noticed here only as cognate.
Cluster 1 - Omitted provision: the estimate regime and its consequences
No authority treats section 212 as live law for any current year. The cognate authorities concern the interest and penalty consequences that a defective estimate attracted.
Central Provinces Manganese Ore Co. Ltd. v. CIT (1986) 160 ITR 961 (SC)
Relevance: The leading statement that interest under the old advance-tax/return provisions is compensatory, forms part of the process of assessment, and is appealable on the ground that the levy is not attracted at all - the consequence that an under-estimate or non-estimate under section 212 attracted through sections 215/217.
Use: Fixes the nature of the consequences that flowed from a defective section 212 estimate.
Status note - Direct Tax Laws (Amendment) Act, 1987
Position: Section 212 was omitted w.e.f. 1 April 1988; the requirement to file an estimate was abolished and replaced by self-computation under section 209 and self-payment under section 210(1).
Candour: The provision is spent for assessment years 1989-90 onwards; the present scheme retains only the compensatory interest idea, in sections 234B/234C, without any estimate.
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 omitted, 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 - C.-ADVANCE PAYMENT OF TAX
Section 212 - Estimate by Assessee (Omitted)
Case Laws & Commentary - Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) - bharattax.co Treatise
Status: Omitted by the Direct Tax Laws (Amendment) Act, 1987, w.e.f. 1 April 1988.
Finance Act, 2026: No amendment (omitted provision).
Mechanism: Historic: the assessee filed an estimate of current income and advance tax and paid accordingly; defective estimates attracted interest (sections 215-217) and penalty (section 273).
Litigation profile: Spent/omitted. Candour rule. Its jurisprudence survives only through the interest and penalty regime for assessment years up to 1988-89.
A. SECTION COMMENTARY
Section 212 - "Estimate by assessee" - was part of the pre-1988 advance-tax machinery and was omitted by the Direct Tax Laws (Amendment) Act, 1987 (w.e.f. 1 April 1988). Under the old scheme it required an assessee, in defined situations, to submit to the Assessing Officer an estimate of his current income and of the advance tax payable thereon, and to pay advance tax in accordance with that estimate. The estimate was the linchpin of the old regime: the interest sections 215 and 217 and the penalty provision in section 273 all keyed their consequences to whether a correct estimate had been filed and whether it was an under-estimate.
The estimate and the penalty/interest consequences it carried
Because liability under the old regime was driven by the assessee's own estimate, the law policed the honesty of that estimate. An assessee who filed an untrue estimate which he knew or had reason to believe to be untrue, or who failed to file an estimate, exposed himself to penalty under section 273 and to interest under sections 215 to 217. The governing idea - that the estimate must be a fair and honest forecast and that the consequences of a wrong estimate are compensatory (interest) and, in the case of a culpable estimate, penal (section 273) - is the conceptual ancestor of the present sections 234B and 234C, which dispense with the estimate but retain the compensatory interest for shortfall and deferment.
Status today
Section 212 is dead law for assessment years 1989-90 onwards. It is reproduced here for completeness of the Chapter; its only continuing relevance is as the provision referred to in the surviving sections 215, 216 and 217 for the earlier assessment years to which those sections still apply (section 214(3)).
B. STATUTORY POSITION (verbatim text)
Reproduced verbatim from the Income-tax Act, 1961. The Legislature's omission note is set out as printed; the Finance Act, 2026 makes no amendment.
212. [Omitted by the Direct Tax Laws (Amendment) Act, 1987, w.e.f. 1-4-1988.]
C. AUTHORITIES
Section 212 stands omitted with effect from 1 April 1988; there is no live litigation on it and the candour rule is observed. Its jurisprudence is that of the estimate-driven interest (sections 215-217) and penalty (section 273) regime, noticed here only as cognate.
Cluster 1 - Omitted provision: the estimate regime and its consequences
No authority treats section 212 as live law for any current year. The cognate authorities concern the interest and penalty consequences that a defective estimate attracted.
Central Provinces Manganese Ore Co. Ltd. v. CIT (1986) 160 ITR 961 (SC)
Relevance: The leading statement that interest under the old advance-tax/return provisions is compensatory, forms part of the process of assessment, and is appealable on the ground that the levy is not attracted at all - the consequence that an under-estimate or non-estimate under section 212 attracted through sections 215/217.
Use: Fixes the nature of the consequences that flowed from a defective section 212 estimate.
Status note - Direct Tax Laws (Amendment) Act, 1987
Position: Section 212 was omitted w.e.f. 1 April 1988; the requirement to file an estimate was abolished and replaced by self-computation under section 209 and self-payment under section 210(1).
Candour: The provision is spent for assessment years 1989-90 onwards; the present scheme retains only the compensatory interest idea, in sections 234B/234C, without any estimate.
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 omitted, 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.