Section 179 of the Income-tax Act provides that where the tax due from a private company cannot be recovered from such company, then the director (who was the director of such company during the previous year to which non-recovery relates) shall be jointly and severally liable for payment of such tax unless he proves that the non-recovery of tax cannot be attributed to any gross neglect, misfeasance or breach of duty on his part. This provision is intended to recover outstanding demand under the Act of a private company from the directors of such company in certain cases. However, some courts have interpreted the phrase ‘tax due’ used in section 179 to hold that it does not include penalty, interest and other sum payable under the Act.
In view of the above, it is proposed to clarify that for the purposes of this section, the expression “tax due” includes penalty, interest or any other sum payable under the Act. Amendments on the similar lines for clarifying the expression ‘tax due’ is proposed to be made to the provisions of section 167C.
These amendments will take effect from 1st June, 2013.
