False statements in income tax verification attract graded punishment, including imprisonment or fine, based on the potential tax evasion. False statements in verification, or false accounts or statements under the Income Tax Act or the rules, constitute an offence where the person knows, believes, or does not believe them to be true. Punishment is graded by the tax that would have been evaded if the false material had been accepted as true: higher evasion attracts simple imprisonment up to two years, or fine, or both; the intermediate range attracts simple imprisonment up to six months, or fine, or both; and all other cases are punishable only with fine.