Section 448
Section 448: penalty for failure to deduct tax at source
Section 448 is the TDS-default penalty provision - if a person who is required to deduct tax at source under Chapter XIX-B fails to deduct it (or fails to pay it, or ensure it is paid), the Assessing Officer can impose a penalty equal to the tax that should have been deducted or paid.
What Section 448 says
"If any person fails to-- (a) deduct the whole or any part of the tax as required under Chapter XIX-B; or (b) pay or ensure the payment of, the whole or any part of the tax as required by or under-- (i) Note 2 below the Table in section 393(3); or (ii) Note 6 to section 393(1) (Table: Sl. No. 8), then, the Assessing Officer may impose on him, a penalty equal to the tax which such person failed to deduct or pay or ensure payment of, as aforesaid."
How the penalty is measured
The penalty is not a fixed amount - it is pegged exactly to the shortfall: whatever amount of tax the person failed to deduct, or failed to pay or ensure payment of, is the amount of the penalty the Assessing Officer can impose.
This covers both an outright failure to deduct tax under Chapter XIX-B, and a failure to pay or ensure payment of tax as required under the specific notes to section 393(1) and 393(3).
Frequently asked questions
How much is the penalty for failing to deduct TDS under Section 448?
A penalty equal to the whole (or the part, as applicable) of the tax that the person failed to deduct, or failed to pay or ensure payment of.
Does this penalty apply on top of having to pay the shortfall tax itself?
Section 448 only describes the penalty; the underlying liability to deduct or pay the tax under Chapter XIX-B and the notes to section 393 is separate and continues to apply regardless of the penalty.
Related sections
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