Compounding authority for TDS offences clarified: jurisdictional CCIT/DGIT authorised to compound offences under TDS provisions.
The authority competent to compound all applications for compounding of technical offences is the CCIT/DGIT having jurisdiction over the case; in TDS-related cases, the competent authority is the CCIT under whose jurisdiction the CIT(TDS) functions.

Tax administration reform solicits stakeholder input to recommend organizational, procedural, dispute resolution and taxpayer service improvements.
Establishment of a Tax Administration Reform Commission to advise the Ministry of Finance and report on four core reform areas: organizational structure and HR systems; business process modernization and ICT use; dispute resolution mechanisms for domestic and international taxation; and taxpayer services and education, including grievance redressal, duty drawback and refunds. The Commission will hold stakeholder consultations nationwide, invites industry and professional bodies to provide inputs through designated representatives, and requests advance submissions by the stated deadline.

Safe Harbour Rules: AOs must verify Form 3CEFA filings and report options; inaction leads to deemed acceptance.
Safe Harbour Rules require Assessing Officers to identify and examine all Form 3CEFA filings, decide within the statutory time limit whether to accept the Safe Harbour option or refer it to the Transfer Pricing Officer, allow rectification for minor defects without extending the time limit, verify eligibility and international transactions, and furnish certified details of options filed to supervisory and central authorities.

Deferred tax liability on special reserve required; banks must create DTL and adjust prior uncharged amounts.
Banks must recognise a deferred tax liability on the Special Reserve created under Section 36(1)(viii) per Accounting Standard 22. Unrecorded DTL as at March 31, 2013 may be adjusted directly from Reserves with disclosure in the 2013-14 Notes to Accounts. From the year ending March 31, 2014, DTL on amounts transferred to the Special Reserve should be charged to the Profit and Loss Account. The entire Special Reserve may be reckoned for computing Tier-I capital.

Inflation-indexed savings bonds: CPI-linked interest plus fixed margin, ten-year maturity with limited early redemption and penalty.
Issuance of Inflation Indexed National Savings Securities-Cumulative, 2013: resident individuals, HUFs, qualifying charitable institutions and universities may subscribe within prescribed minimum and maximum limits. Bonds issued at par are held in Bonds Ledger Accounts with RBI; subscriptions accepted through authorised banks/SHCIL with KYC compliance. Interest equals a fixed rate plus inflation based on combined CPI (2010=100) with a three month lag, compounded half-yearly and paid at maturity. Bonds are non-tradable but eligible as collateral. Ten year repayment; early redemption after specified holding periods subject to a fifty percent of last coupon penalty.

Relaxation of time-frame for intimation under section 143(1) allows processing and issuing intimations in delayed refund cases.
The Board, invoking its general powers, directs that returns filed with refund claims which were not intimated within the prescribed time due to technical or other reasons not attributable to the assessee and whose intimation deadline lapsed before 01-04-2013 shall be processed and intimations issued by the Assessing Officer notwithstanding the statutory time-limit; the relaxation applies only to refund cases where no demand is shown or determined and progress is to be monitored by Additional/Joint CIT.

Dispute Resolution Panel under section 144C constituted; members and reserve appointed and duties additional, effective from date.
Order constituting a three-member Dispute Resolution Panel for Hyderabad with a specified reserve member; named officials are appointed to the panel, required to perform DRP duties in addition to regular duties, effective from the stated date and issued with administrative approval under the applicable dispute-resolution rules.

Applicability of Section 40(a)(ia) clarified: 'payable' includes amounts paid during the year and may trigger disallowance.
The Board clarifies that under Section 40(a)(ia) the term "payable" includes amounts payable at any time during the previous year and expressly includes amounts actually paid during the previous year without deduction of tax at source, thus attracting disallowance; where a High Court decision contradicts this departmental view, the CCIT must notify the CTC for priority examination to determine whether to pursue further proceedings or seek legislative amendment.

DTAA work allocation revised: directors reassigned DTAA, MAP, transfer pricing, and exchange of information responsibilities.
Revision of FT&TR directorate duties: Director (FT&TR II) handles DTAA for Asian countries (excluding Japan), non TP MAP for those countries, UN/SAARC capacity building, foreign training, OECD Global Relations coordination, dispute resolution panels, specified Income tax Act provisions, and related policy inputs. Director (FT&TR IV) manages DTAA and exchange of information for African and assigned jurisdictions, APAs, MAP including TP issues for assigned jurisdictions, Global Forum engagement (excluding automatic exchange), OECD Tax and Development coordination, capacity building (excluding UN/SAARC), training coordination, specified treaty provisions, and policy inputs. Director (FT&TR V) covers DTAA for South America, Australia/Pacific and Japan, non TP MAP for those regions, FIPB, multilateral group engagements, OECD ITD/tax crime coordination, parliamentary committee matters, specified procedural sections, and policy inputs.

Extension of advance tax deadline: administrative order shifts the December quarter payment date for all taxpayers.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes, under section 119(2)(a) of the Income tax Act, 1961, extended the due date for payment of the December quarter instalment of advance tax for Financial Year 2013-14 from 15th December 2013 to 17th December 2013, applying the extension uniformly to all assessees, both corporate and non corporate.

Submission of reports to ITSC: jurisdictional CIT must sign and timely submit reports; adjournments and vague enquiries discouraged.
Jurisdictional Commissioners must personally sign and submit all reports to the Income Tax Settlement Commission; subordinate reports forwarded without the Commissioner's signature are unacceptable. Reports must identify and make available seized material or relevant records relied upon and produce them when requested. Adjournments should be sought only for extraordinary reasons with prior notice. Requests for enquiries must specify precise issues. Rule-based reports must be submitted within the prescribed timeframe or any Commission-granted extension and must not be delayed due to pending statutory enquiries.

Advance tax deadline extended; taxpayers may remit payments by the revised deadline without incurring deferment interest.
Taxpayers liable to pay the December instalment of Advance tax may remit that instalment on the next banking business day when designated bank branches are closed on the scheduled due date; payments may be made at designated branches of authorised banks or electronically, and the administratively extended time limit is granted without attracting consequential interest for deferment.

Work distribution reallocates Director responsibilities for DTAA, APA, MAP and exchange of information with immediate effect.
Revision reallocates functions among Director (FT&TR-I), Director (FT&TR-III) and Director (APA) under the CBDT: Director (FT&TR-I) handles DTAAs and exchange assistance with North American and European jurisdictions, specified domestic provisions, MAP except transfer pricing, OECD Working Party 1 coordination, BEPS and digital economy work, and policy inputs; Director (FT&TR-III) handles Exchange of Information, specified domestic provisions, FATCA and AEOI, OECD Working Parties 10 and 11 BEPS coordination, G-20 taxation matters, Central Direct Tax Advisory Committee and residual foreign-tax work; Director (APA) handles bilateral and unilateral APAs, MAP for transfer pricing, OECD Working Party 6 coordination and related policy matters. Order effective immediately.

Electoral trust approval process standardized: applicants must file Form A with checklist and mandated compliance documents.
Applicants seeking approval as an Electoral Trust must file Form A in duplicate with a duly filled and signed checklist and supporting documents to the jurisdictional CIT/DIT and send a copy of the checklist to Member(IT), CBDT by the prescribed date. The checklist requires organizational details, PAN verification, confirmation of registration as a Section 25 company with the words 'electoral trust' in its name, an affidavit that the sole object is distribution to eligible political parties, and submission of registration certificate, memorandum and articles, member details, source of initial capital, accounts for relevant years, and undertakings to comply with sub-rules (2) to (15) of Rule 17CA including record-keeping, audit, receipt issuance, contribution restrictions, distribution rules, and intimation of shareholder changes within thirty days.

Work distribution for foreign tax assigns policy, DTAA, exchange of information, APAs and OECD coordination across two joint secretaries.
The CBDT revised the FT&TR Division work distribution assigning JS (FT&TR I) responsibility for international taxation policy, transfer pricing, APAs, DTAA and exchange of information matters for North America and Europe, FATCA and automatic exchange issues, BEPS/OECD coordination, unilateral APAs, MAPs and specified Income tax Act subjects; and assigning JS (FT&TR II) responsibility for corresponding policy inputs and DTAA, AEI, MAPs, bilateral APAs, multilateral liaison, capacity building, foreign training, dispute resolution and other specified Income tax Act subjects for Asia, Australia/Pacific, Africa and South America, plus FIPB and other assigned foreign tax matters.

Gross direct tax collection growth reported, with corporate and personal income tax increases driving higher net revenue.
Gross direct tax collection increased during April-November of the fiscal year, with corporate tax collections rising and personal income tax collections growing by a larger proportion; net direct tax receipts also improved. The release additionally notes modest growth in Securities Transaction Tax receipts and a higher growth rate in Wealth Tax receipts, presented by the Central Board of Direct Taxes as interim revenue performance for the period.

Inflation protected savings securities: cumulative CPI linked interest with fixed component, compounding, bank distribution and restricted early redemption.
Inflation Indexed National Savings Securities-Cumulative (IINSS-C) will be offered to retail investors through banks; eligible investors include individuals, HUFs, section 25 charitable institutions and statutory universities. Interest comprises a fixed component and an inflation linked component tied to the combined CPI (Base:2010=100), compounded into principal half yearly and payable at maturity. Early redemption is allowed only on coupon dates, after one year for senior citizens and after three years for others, subject to a penalty equal to 50% of the last coupon. RBI will announce further scheme details.

Safe harbour reporting: taxpayer details and eligible international transaction specifics requested under Form 3CEFA for return analysis.
A revenue administration requests, from returns filed up to the specified cut off, the name, address, PAN and Assessing Officer of each taxpayer who filed Form 3CEFA and the details of eligible international transactions for which benefit under the Safe Harbour Rules has been opted, to enable analysis of taxpayers electing Safe Harbour treatment and support compliance assessment.

Expedited tribunal hearings: directives issued to clear long-pending settlement cases and strengthen departmental representation.
Directives require expeditious disposal of long-pending ITSC applications with Benches fixing hearings and improved representation; strict no-adjournment practice and timely submission of reports; proactive steps to vacate Supreme Court stay orders on pre-31.5.2007 applications; prior intimation to Member(Inv) before filing writs under disclosure-based settlement provisions; amendment of Rule 44CA to forward entire settlement applications to Commissioners to assess "full and true disclosure"; consideration of placing ITSC settlements within Chapter XIX-A; note on transfer pricing bench designation to expedite adjudication and collection.

Compliance with Settlement Commission directions: immediate reporting, review of stayed cases and prior intimation before filing a writ.
Commissioners must submit reports to the Settlement Commission on time and avoid adjournments, especially for cases filed before 01.06.2007. Chief Commissioners and Directors General must review pending Settlement Commission cases from applications filed before 31.05.2007 where a judicial stay exists, take steps to vacate stays, and send a status list with reasons for pendency to the Member (Inv) CBDT by 28.11.2013. Advance intimation must be given to the Member (Inv) prior to filing any writ challenging a Settlement Commission order under the applicable provision.