Preventive vigilance: reinforced obligations on tax officials to ensure a corruption-free administration and swift disciplinary action.
Preventive Vigilance is reaffirmed as the primary administrative mechanism to ensure a tax administration free from corruption, bias, or favouritism. Vigilance wings must expeditiously conclude disciplinary proceedings, protecting the innocent while imposing strict action for gross misconduct. Senior officers must inspect subordinates, counsel staff, secure vulnerable areas, engage stakeholders for feedback, and implement systematic rotation between sensitive and non-sensitive assignments to prevent vested interests and protect objective official functioning.

Access to foreign exchange market permitted without requiring prior exhaustion of EEFC balances, applying to RFC and Diamond Dollar accounts.
Dispenses with the prior requirement that EEFC account holders must fully utilise available EEFC balances before accessing the foreign exchange market; the change also applies to RFC (Domestic) and Diamond Dollar accounts, while all other terms and conditions of the earlier circulars remain unchanged and Authorized Dealer Category I banks are to notify their constituents.

Hearing fixation policy: suspend automatic sixty day scheduling and cap daily bench listings to reduce overloading and adjourn excess.
Manpower shortages and increased pendency render the practice of fixing new appeals on the 60th day impracticable. New appeals should be kept pending and fixed in regular course. Regular case listings before each Bench should not exceed twenty (excluding covered/group matters); where regular cases exceed that limit the excess shall be adjourned to the next available date after obtaining the Vice President's order. The Department's grievances about last minute additions, inadequate preparation time for Departmental Representatives, poor recording of arguments, and adverse comments for non representation are to be circulated to Bench Members for consideration.

Stakeholder committees for IT modernization invited to finalise software requirements and contribute implementation suggestions.
Selection of a service provider for rewriting the Income Tax Department's software suite is complete pending expenditure committee approval and contract execution. The project encompasses re writing applications in new architecture, developing a data centre, technology training and test environments, an HRMS module, legacy maintenance, non core process software, and interfaces with external systems. New functional modules will cover PAN, ITR processing, TDS interface, post processing, investigation, international taxation, recovery, appeals, exemptions, audit, document management and reporting. Specialist committees will be formed to prepare detailed software requirement specifications and stakeholders are invited to volunteer or submit suggestions via the programme email.

Depository connectivity requirement enables shifting from TFTS to normal rolling settlement if dematerialisation threshold is met.
Companies with connectivity to both depositories may be shifted from TFTS to Normal Rolling Settlement if at least 50% of non promoter holdings are dematerialised, certified by the Registrar and Transfer Agent or, where no RTA exists, by a practicing Company Secretary or Chartered Accountant, and provided there are no other grounds for continuing TFTS; exchanges must report actions in their Monthly/Quarterly Development Report.

ECB eligibility expansion to hotel sector allows rupee loan repayment and rupee capital expenditure via ECBs; AD banks to certify project cost.
The ECB policy is amended to include hotel sector companies meeting the prescribed project cost threshold as eligible to avail ECBs for repayment of outstanding Rupee loans and for fresh Rupee capital expenditure; AD Category-I banks must certify project cost when forwarding ECB applications. All other aspects of the existing scheme remain unchanged, the amendment is effective immediately and issued under the Foreign Exchange Management Act.

Administrative control reallocation of EOUs, EHTP and STPs shifts operational oversight to local Central Excise ranges for compliance.
All administrative matters relating to 100% EOUs/EHTP/STPs, Customs Bonded Warehouses and related Customs work in Mysore, Mandya and Chamarajanagar districts are transferred from the Service Tax & EOU Division to the jurisdictional Central Excise Ranges and Divisions effective 1 February 2013; Location Code 840505 is abolished, the Service Tax & EOU Division is renamed Mysore Service Tax Division, Nanjangud and Thandavapura Range move under Mysore-III Central Excise Division, and an annexure lists the reassigned units and their new ranges and location codes.

Security arrangement restricts staff departure and prescribes building sealing and de-sealing schedule during Republic Day period.
The circular mandates police-conducted sealing and checking of Vyapar Bhawan on specified dates with de-sealing the next day until noon; it directs that no staff leave before the sealing commencement time and that all staff report for duty at the stated de-sealing time, and requires coordination between building management and law enforcement to implement these security arrangements.

System Assisted Assessment on 2A/2B mismatches warns dealers to reconcile online to avoid tax, interest and penalties.
System Assisted Assessment will be based on mismatches between submitted purchase and sales return data for July-September 2012; the assessment framing date has been extended by two weeks and assessment and penalty orders will be issued within five working days. Dealers must review the online "Mismatch Report" and reconcile discrepancies by the stated deadline to avoid additional tax, interest and penalty.

International taxation cooperation: member countries agree coordinated measures against treaty abuse, information gaps and profit shifting.
Heads of revenue agreed a cooperative framework to address international taxation and transfer pricing by adopting seven areas of joint action-development of international standards, strengthened enforcement and international cooperation against non compliance, sharing best practices and capacity building, countering treaty abuse and complex profit shifting, establishing a BRICS mechanism to counter abusive avoidance, promoting effective exchange of information, and other common tax policy concerns-and to establish central points of contact and a Governance Framework to coordinate responses and share resources.

Line of credit for export financing sets Indian content and agency commission rules, with required regulatory approval procedures.
A line of credit from Export Import Bank of India to the Nigerian Export Import Bank finances eligible exports from India, requiring at least ninety per cent of contract value to be supplied from India, with specified effective dates and cut offs for letters of credit and disbursements. Shipments must be declared on GR/SDF forms. Agency commission is ordinarily not payable under the LOC, but commissions up to five percent for exports requiring after sales services may be approved subject to prior regulatory approval and must be deducted from invoices, with the reimbursable amount limited to ninety per cent of invoice value; exporters may otherwise use own funds or EEFC balances for commission payments.

SEZ approvals and compliance: board permits co developers, area changes and selective extensions subject to contiguity and tax certification.
The Board granted conditional approvals for co developers requiring lease documents disclosing financial arrangements, limited authorized operations to the co developer agreement, and mandated BoA approval for any beyond scope agreements; Income Tax authorities retain the right to examine taxability. Area additions, de notifications and withdrawals were approved subject to DC certificates confirming contiguity and refund/non availment of tax/duty benefits and absence of state objection. Extensions of formal approvals, in principle approvals and LoPs were granted selectively subject to demonstrable project progress, contiguity requirements, environmental clearances, and repayment conditions for duty/tax benefits on relocations.

Exchange of Information: route tax information requests through designated competent authorities to ensure timely, confidential responses.
Outbound and inbound tax information requests must be routed through the designated Competent Authorities (JS(FT&TR I) for North America/Europe/Japan; JS(FT&TR II) for the rest of the world) using the prescribed Proforma. Requests must state the tax purpose, time period, grounds that the information is held in the requested jurisdiction, and foreseeable relevance; separate Proformas are required per taxpayer and per country. Field units must meet prescribed timelines, provide interim/final Annexure G/I reports and feedback within two months, and maintain strict confidentiality and secure handling of exchanged data.

Local supply requirement: procurements must be invoiced and delivered from Delhi to secure VAT revenue to the consuming state.
Tenders and contracts must require that goods and works contracts be supplied and delivered from Delhi, invoiced from Delhi, and supplied by dealers registered under Delhi VAT with a valid Tax Identification Number; bid prices must be inclusive of all taxes and duties. If local purchase would cause net revenue loss to GNCTD, prior approval of the Finance Department is required, and extra departmental expenditure may be compensated as a Non plan grant.

Prohibition on acquisition of securities from secondary market bars employee benefit schemes from buying issuer shares and mandates compliance.
Prohibition on acquisition of securities from the secondary market is imposed for employee benefit schemes; all such schemes must comply with the SEBI ESOS/ESPS Guidelines and listing conditions have been amended to require issuers to align pre-existing schemes with those Guidelines. Companies with schemes outside the Guidelines must report scheme details to stock exchanges in the prescribed format and publish the information, and take steps to bring existing schemes into conformity. The ESOS/ESPS Guidelines are amended to state that no ESOS/ESPS shall involve acquisition of securities from the secondary market.

Foreign exchange reporting obligations: authorised dealers must ensure timely, accurate FDI/ECB/ODI filings or face regulatory penalties.
Authorised Dealers must ensure accurate and timely reporting of FDI, ECB and ODI transactions, including obtaining LRNs for ECB drawdowns, filing ODI forms and UINs, submitting Annual Performance Reports and share certificates, and making prescribed FDI filings, because failures by ADs have caused a substantial portion of FEMA contraventions; the Reserve Bank may require information and impose penalties for non compliance, so ADs must strengthen internal controls and reporting systems.

Risk Management System in imports enables self-assessment-based clearance with targeted examinations and post-clearance audits to expedite cargo release.
The RMS will electronically process filed Import General Manifests and Bills of Entry to permit self-assessment-based clearance without routine officer examination, generate duty calculations and challans, select certain entries for assessment and/or examination based on risk parameters or randomisation, and replace concurrent audit with Post-Clearance Audit. Accredited Clients receive predominant facilitation subject to occasional selection. The system imposes bond management changes, requires adherence to Compulsory Compliance Requirements from allied acts, strict document submission prior to Out of Charge, and emphasises data quality; mis-declaration attracts penalties.

Deemed export for on site software development preserves tax incentives when linked by contract to the eligible Indian unit.
Profits from software developed abroad at a client's site are deemed export and eligible for benefits under sections 10A, 10AA and 10B where there is a direct nexus and a contract between the client and the eligible Indian unit; deputation of technical manpower abroad for software work is similarly eligible when contractually engaged and conditions are met. Multiple SOWs under an MSA are permissible with SOW prevailing; Engineering and Design includes embedded R&D; slump-sale, SEZ relocation or setting up new units do not automatically defeat benefits, and separate books are not legally required though unit-level details may be sought.

Line of Credit conditions govern export financing and Indian sourcing requirements under the Exim Bank-Swaziland agreement.
Exim Bank extended a Line of Credit to Swaziland to finance eligible Indian exports for agriculture, mandating that at least seventy five percent of contract value for goods and non consultancy services be supplied from India while up to twenty five percent may be procured abroad; exports must comply with the Foreign Trade Policy and shipments declared on GR/SDF forms. The LOC disallows agency commission from the credit but permits exporter funded commission remittances subject to AD Category I bank compliance with prevailing rules. Directions are issued under FEMA without prejudice to other statutory approvals.

Firearms imported as baggage: disposal allowed after ten years to legally entitled persons; one firearm per lifetime import.
Government permits disposal of firearms imported as baggage under transfer of residence only after ten years from import, with disposal limited to persons legally entitled to possess firearms and the ten year restriction to be endorsed on the arms licence; additionally, an individual may import only one firearm under transfer of residence in their lifetime, and prior inconsistent Board instructions are modified accordingly.