Income-tax amendments: decriminalises failure to produce accounts and imposes tiered penalties for non-filing of undisclosed income returns.

Clause 100 substitutes sections 480 and 481 of the Income-tax Act to revise penalties: failure to furnish a return disclosing undisclosed income attracts tiered penalties (simple imprisonment up to two years or fine where tax > fifty lakh; simple imprisonment up to six months or fine where tax > ten lakh but fifty lakh; fine otherwise). Section 481 is amended to decriminalise failure to produce accounts/documents under section 268(1) and to reduce the penalty for noncompliance with a direction under section 268(5) to simple imprisonment up to six months, or fine, or both.

---

---

---