Section 272BBB — Penalty for Failure to Comply with the Provisions of Section 206CA (Tax Collection Account Number) — Spent
Case Laws & Commentary — Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) — bharattax.co Treatise
Status: Spent. Section 272BBB penalised the failure to comply with section 206CA (the erstwhile separate Tax Collection Account Number) before 1 October 2004, with a penalty up to Rs. 10,000. Section 206CA was omitted when the TDS and TCS account numbers were unified into a single TAN under section 203A; the section is therefore spent.
Finance Act, 2026: No amendment by the Finance Act, 2026.
Mechanism: Spent. The section applied to a failure to comply with section 206CA before 1-10-2004; with the merger of the collection-account number into the unified TAN regime (section 203A), it has no current application.
Litigation profile: No live litigation; the section is spent.
A. COMMENTARY
A vestige of the separate TCS account number
Before October 2004 the law maintained a separate Tax Collection Account Number under section 206CA, distinct from the TDS account number. Section 272BBB penalised default in complying with section 206CA. When the two account numbers were unified into a single TAN under section 203A (enforced by section 272BB), section 206CA — and with it section 272BBB — became spent. The provision survives in the statute book only as a historical artefact.
B. STATUTORY TEXT (verbatim)
Reproduced from the Income-tax Act, 1961 as amended up to the Finance Act, 2025; Finance Act, 2026 changes are noted above.
Penalty for failure to comply with the provisions of section 206CA.
272BBB. (1) If a person fails to comply before the 1st day of October, 2004 with the provisions of section
206CA, he shall, on an order passed by the Assessing Officer, pay, by way of penalty, a sum of ten thousand
rupees.
(2) No order under sub-section (1) shall be passed unless the person on whom the penalty is proposed to be
imposed, is given an opportunity of being heard in the matter.
C. AUTHORITIES
No authority of current value exists; the candour rule applies. The provision is of historical interest only.
1. Spent provision
Principle — confined to pre-1-10-2004 defaults
Proposition Section 272BBB applied only to failures to comply with section 206CA before 1-10-2004; following the unification of account numbers into TAN under section 203A, no fresh default can arise.
Use Fixes the temporal limit; directs current TAN defaults to section 272BB.
Prepared for the bharattax.co Treatise on the Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026). Statutory text reproduced from the official Act; case-law holdings are the author’s summaries for professional use.
CHAPTER XXI — PENALTIES IMPOSABLE
Section 272BBB — Penalty for Failure to Comply with the Provisions of Section 206CA (Tax Collection Account Number) — Spent
Case Laws & Commentary — Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) — bharattax.co Treatise
Status: Spent. Section 272BBB penalised the failure to comply with section 206CA (the erstwhile separate Tax Collection Account Number) before 1 October 2004, with a penalty up to Rs. 10,000. Section 206CA was omitted when the TDS and TCS account numbers were unified into a single TAN under section 203A; the section is therefore spent.
Finance Act, 2026: No amendment by the Finance Act, 2026.
Mechanism: Spent. The section applied to a failure to comply with section 206CA before 1-10-2004; with the merger of the collection-account number into the unified TAN regime (section 203A), it has no current application.
Litigation profile: No live litigation; the section is spent.
A. COMMENTARY
A vestige of the separate TCS account number
Before October 2004 the law maintained a separate Tax Collection Account Number under section 206CA, distinct from the TDS account number. Section 272BBB penalised default in complying with section 206CA. When the two account numbers were unified into a single TAN under section 203A (enforced by section 272BB), section 206CA — and with it section 272BBB — became spent. The provision survives in the statute book only as a historical artefact.
B. STATUTORY TEXT (verbatim)
Reproduced from the Income-tax Act, 1961 as amended up to the Finance Act, 2025; Finance Act, 2026 changes are noted above.
Penalty for failure to comply with the provisions of section 206CA.
272BBB. (1) If a person fails to comply before the 1st day of October, 2004 with the provisions of section
206CA, he shall, on an order passed by the Assessing Officer, pay, by way of penalty, a sum of ten thousand
rupees.
(2) No order under sub-section (1) shall be passed unless the person on whom the penalty is proposed to be
imposed, is given an opportunity of being heard in the matter.
C. AUTHORITIES
No authority of current value exists; the candour rule applies. The provision is of historical interest only.
1. Spent provision
Principle — confined to pre-1-10-2004 defaults
Proposition Section 272BBB applied only to failures to comply with section 206CA before 1-10-2004; following the unification of account numbers into TAN under section 203A, no fresh default can arise.
Use Fixes the temporal limit; directs current TAN defaults to section 272BB.
Prepared for the bharattax.co Treatise on the Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026). Statutory text reproduced from the official Act; case-law holdings are the author’s summaries for professional use.