Tax Prosecution under Income-tax/GST & Black Money Laws

Tax prosecution has ceased to be a residual enforcement tool. As India's tax administration has grown more data-driven, more assertive, and increasingly intolerant of wilful default, prosecution under the Income-tax Act, GST law, and the Black Money Act 2015 has moved from the margins to the mainstream of tax litigation.

The 5^th Edition of Tax Prosecution arrives at a particularly consequential moment: the new Income-tax Act 2025 has come into force, and prosecution provisions have been realigned from the 1961 Act framework to the 2025 Act's simplified language—yet the two regimes will coexist in practice for years, as a vast body of pending cases and evolved jurisprudence continues to draw from the 1961 Act.

This book is the only comprehensive, practitioner-grade treatise in India dedicated exclusively to the law and procedure governing tax prosecutions. It covers the entire lifecycle—from the legislative and policy origins of prosecution, through the specific offences under Chapter XXII of the Income-tax Act, to complaint filing, trial court proceedings, bail, cross-examination, compounding, and appellate remedies—alongside detailed treatment of GST prosecution and the Black Money Act. This Edition is the definitive reference for practitioners navigating the dual-regime transition period.

This book is addressed to every professional whose practice intersects with criminal tax liability—whether in an advisory, defence, judicial, or compliance capacity:

• Tax Advocates and Litigation Counsel handling criminal complaints, bail applications, discharge applications, quashing petitions under Section 528 of the BNSS (formerly 482 CrPC), and appellate proceedings—the book provides the full procedural roadmap from sanction to Sessions Court appeal
• Chartered Accountants and Tax Consultants advising clients facing TDS defaults, search and seizure proceedings, wilful evasion allegations, or non-filing notices—with particular guidance on what constitutes 'reasonable cause' and when to apply for compounding
• Company Directors, CFOs, Key Managerial Personnel, and Independent Directors who need to understand the precise conditions under which they are personally arraigned for corporate tax defaults, including the critical distinction between Managing Directors, Executive Directors, and Independent/Non-Executive Directors
• Insolvency Professionals and Resolution Applicants dealing with the intersection between prosecution exposure and IBC proceedings, including whether directors of companies under CIRP or liquidation remain personally liable
• GST Practitioners and Indirect Tax Counsel dealing with arrest, bail, and compounding under the CGST Act, including the constitutionality of arrest without assessment
• Revenue Department Officers—Assessing Officers, Commissioners, and Prosecution Counsel—involved in sanctioning, processing, and conducting prosecutions; the CBDT's own threshold circulars and the collegium-approval mechanism are reproduced and explained in full
• Magistrates and Sessions Court Judges dealing with cognizance, framing of charges, bail, and the mechanics of summons and warrant cases under the BNSS
• Law Students and Legal Academics engaged in research on white-collar crime, fiscal statutes, or the application of criminal procedure to tax enforcement