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2012 (10) TMI 615 - HC - Income TaxRefund payment to assessee as individual proposed to be adjusted against tax liability of the company in which he is a director - section 179 - assessee in default - Revenue submission that petitioner had not proved the alone surviving director why should not be treated as the assessee in default - Held that:- As decided in Dinesh T. Tailor Versus 1. The Tax Recovery Officer 2. Income Tax Officer 3. Union of India [2010 (4) TMI 218 - BOMBAY HIGH COURT] Section 179(1) refers to "any tax due from a private company" and every director of the company is jointly and severally liable for the payment of "such tax", which cannot be recovered from the company. The expression "tax due" and, for that matter the expression "such tax" must mean tax as defined for the purposes of the Act by Section 2(43). "Tax due" will not comprehend within its ambit a penalty. The provisions of the Act make a clear distinction between the imposition of a tax on the one hand and a penalty on the other. Section 2(43) defines the expression "tax" in relation to an assessment year and any subsequent assessment year to mean inter alia Income Tax chargeable under the provisions of the Act. The structure and construct of the Act has consciously used different words to create constructive liability on third parties, in the case of default in payment of taxes by an assessee. The treatment of the same subject matter by using different terms - in some instances expansive and in others, restrictive, mean that the Court has to adopt a circumspect approach and limit itself to the words used in the given case (in the present case, "tax due" under Section 179) and not "travel outside them on a voyage of discovery" The petitioner cannot be made liable for anything more than the tax (defined under Section 2 (43)). The first respondent is consequently directed to determine the liability of the Petitioner
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