Survey powers under section 133A: approval and team composition rules now govern TDS and international tax surveys.
The order modifies administrative instructions for exercise of survey powers under section 133A by specifying that TDS charge surveys be approved by and conducted under the Pr. CCIT/CCIT (TDS)/jurisdictional CCIT and carried out by TDS officers; International Taxation Division TDS surveys require a collegium of IT&TP and TDS/Pr. CCIT members and are to be conducted by TDS officers with IT&TP inclusion; other IT&TP surveys require collegium approval including DGIT (Inv.) and are to be conducted by the Investigation Wing with IT&TP officers. Monitoring officers must ensure surveys do not exceed approved scope.

Priority hearings for income-tax appeals allowed for high-demand, excess-refund, court-directed, elderly, or hardship cases.
Requests by appellants for priority or out-of-turn disposal of income-tax appeals may be considered where exceptional circumstances exist, based on recommendations of the jurisdictional tax officer and subject to approval by designated senior appellate authorities. Eligible categories include high-demand appeals, appeals with substantially large refunds originally claimed, appeals with court directions for expedition, requests from senior or super-senior citizens, and other cases of genuine hardship.

Faceless Appeal Scheme establishes a National Faceless Appeal Centre to centralize and staff income tax appellate processing.
Establishment of a National Faceless Appeal Centre under the Faceless Appeal Scheme, 2021, headquartered in Delhi and constituted of specified income-tax authorities including the Principal Chief Commissioner, Commissioners, Additional/Joint Commissioners, Deputy/Assistant Commissioners and designated Income-tax Officers. Necessary ministerial, executive and consultant staff will be provided by the Principal Chief Commissioner, Delhi in consultation with the Board. The order supersedes the earlier Office Order-1, takes effect from the date of issue and is issued with the approval of the Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes; a Hindi version will follow.

Faceless Appeal Units established under the Faceless Appeal Scheme: centralised appeal units designated to administer faceless appeals.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes establishes multiple designated Appeal Units under the Faceless Appeal Scheme, 2021, listing each Unit and its headquarters in the annexed schedule. Each Appeal Unit will be headed by a Commissioner of Income tax (Appeals) and may include such other income tax authorities, ministerial staff, executives or consultants as the Board requires, with personnel provided by the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income tax having jurisdiction. The Order supersedes the earlier Office Order and records its effective commencement and formal approval.

Verification of e-filed income tax returns allowed via one-time relaxation, regularizing pending returns upon verification.
One-time administrative relaxation permits verification of electronically filed income-tax returns for Assessment Year 2020-21 that remain unverified or pending for want of ITR-V, allowing such returns to be regularized if verified within the extended window by submitting a duly signed ITR V by speed post or completing electronic verification via Aadhaar OTP, net banking, EVC through bank account or demat account, or bank ATM.

Assessment transfers to Central Charges for cases arising from search-and-inquiry action, ensuring centralised completion irrespective of impounded material.
All assessment proceedings (excluding international taxation) pending or initiated as a consequence of action under the search-and-inquiry provision, or where such action is conducted in ongoing assessments, shall be transferred to the Central Charges for jurisdictional control irrespective of presence or absence of impounded material, and Central Charges shall complete such assessments.

Exclusion from section 144B: cases arising from Section 133A actions removed from 144B's scope with immediate effect.
Cases where assessment proceedings are pending or initiated pursuant to action under Section 133A, or where action under Section 133A is conducted in ongoing assessment proceedings, are excluded from the purview of Section 144B of the Income-tax Act, by a CBITs order amending prior scope-specifying instructions; the order takes immediate effect.

Risk-based identification for notices under section 148: upload flagged information on the VRU portal for tax reassessment oversight.
Assessing Officers must identify and upload on the VRU functionality information categories specified for implementation of the Board's risk management strategy to enable issuance of notices under section 148, including information from government agencies, internal audits, tax authorities, search or survey results, FT&TR references, and court or appellate orders affecting income.

TDS on e commerce transactions clarified: e auctioneers exempt if only price discovery, buyers/sellers must follow withholding rules.
The circular clarifies that e commerce operator deduction applies to operators facilitating sales through their digital platforms, but does not apply to e auctioneers that only perform price discovery and have no role in facilitating sale or payment provided six specified factual conditions are met; buyer deduction and seller collection obligations remain independently applicable. It further instructs that separately invoiced non GST levies may be excluded from the taxable base when deduction is at credit stage, but full amounts are subject to deduction on payment basis, and confirms that statutory collection exemptions do not preclude buyer deduction where its conditions are satisfied. Government departments not carrying on business do not qualify as buyers for buyer deduction purposes, while other government entities with business activities do.

Annual Information Statement: authorized upload of specified financial data into taxpayers' Form 26AS within prescribed timeframe.
Authorization is given to the Director General of Income tax (Systems) to upload specified categories of financial information held by that office into the Annual Information Statement in Form 26AS on the assessee's electronic filing account within three months from the end of the month in which the information is received, including foreign remittance reports, Annexure II TDS data, other taxpayers' ITR information, interest on income tax refund, Form 61/61A data where PAN is available, off market transaction reports from depositories, and mutual fund reports from registrars and transfer agents; the Director General shall specify procedures, formats and standards for such uploads.

Exemption eligibility for sovereign and pension funds clarified: borrowing for investments disqualifies, general borrowings do not.
The Board clarifies that a specified fund (or any group concern) that has taken loans or borrowings specifically for the purpose of making investment in India shall not be eligible for the exemption. If loans or borrowings were not taken specifically for making the investment in India, it shall not be presumed that the investment was made out of such borrowings and the specified fund remains eligible for the exemption, subject to fulfilment of all other conditions and provided the source of the investment is not from those borrowings.

Deduction for sugarcane purchase price clarified to include state-fixed prices, affecting cooperative mills' tax treatment.
The Board clarifies that the phrase price fixed or approved by the Government for purposes of the deduction for expenditure on purchase of sugarcane includes price fixation by State Governments through State-level Acts, orders or other legal instruments, including State Advised Price which may be higher than central statutory minimums, and that the deduction applies where purchase price is equal to or less than such government-fixed or approved price.

Processing of time-barred refund claims under section 143(1) extended to allow administrative completion for validly filed returns.
Processing of time-barred, validly filed returns with refund claims in non-scrutiny cases is administratively extended; returns up to Assessment Year 2017-18 that could not be processed under the statutory provision and had become time-barred are to be processed subject to the conditions and exceptions specified in the prior instruction, and all other contents of that instruction remain unchanged.

Settlement application relief allows eligible taxpayers to file late applications and have them treated as pending for processing.
Administrative relief permits certain settlement applications filed after the statutory cut-off to be admitted by the Commissioner who was Secretary to the Settlement Commission and treated as pending applications before the Interim Board, provided the assessee was eligible on the cut-off date and relevant assessment proceedings are pending.

EVC verification regularisation: returns filed under assessment-initiated proceedings are deemed valid despite DSC requirement.
The Board directs that electronic returns filed in relation to assessment-initiated proceedings during the affected period and verified through Electronic Verification Code instead of Digital Signature shall be deemed to have been furnished and verified in accordance with Rule 12, and systems should notify Assessing Officers so such returns are not treated as invalid.

Faceless assessment exceptions permit jurisdictional officers to complete specified reassessments when faceless procedure is infeasible.
The Board adds an exception to faceless assessment: where assessments set aside for de novo consideration or reassessments are pending with the jurisdictional Assessing Officer on or after 11.09.2021 and their time limit for completion expires on 30.09.2021, and such matters cannot be completed under the faceless procedure due to technical or procedural constraints, those assessments shall be completed by the jurisdictional Assessing Officer. Existing exceptions for central and international charges and portal/PAN technical issues remain; the exception applies only to cases with limitation expiring on the stated date.

Exclusion from Section 144B: de novo and reassessment cases pending with assessing officers excluded where completion is technically infeasible.
Exclusion from the procedural regime under Section 144B is directed for cases set aside for de novo disposal and cases requiring reassessment where the limitation for completion expires on 30.09.2021, provided they were pending with the jurisdictional Assessing Officer as on 11.09.2021 or thereafter and cannot be completed under Section 144B due to technical or procedural constraints.

Extension of filing deadlines for income-tax returns and audit reports grants additional time for taxpayer compliance.
Extension of filing deadlines for specified Income-tax compliances for Assessment Year 2021-22 is granted, moving Return of Income due dates originally falling between July and November 2021 to later dates through February 2022; Reports of Audit and accountant reports for international or specified domestic transactions for 2020-21 are similarly extended into January 2022. Clarifications exclude the interest waiver condition where tax after prescribed reductions exceeds the statutory threshold, and preserve advance tax treatment for tax paid by certain resident individuals within the original due date.

Faceless assessment scope updated to exclude cases with ITBA technical pendency and no PAN, expanding existing exclusions.
Order specifies that the Faceless Assessment regime under Section 144B applies to defined classes of assessment proceedings, while excluding Central Charges and International Taxation Charges; it further excludes cases where pendency could not be created on the ITBA due to technical reasons and cases lacking a PAN, with the modification effective immediately.

Transfer of faceless assessments enables jurisdictional officers to complete cases electronically while preserving unit oversight.
Transfer of assessments and penalties to the jurisdictional assessing officer under Section 144B(8) and clause 5(2) of the Faceless Penalty Scheme permits case-by-case PAN-based transfer; JAOs must complete transferred matters taking prior faceless proceedings into account, conduct processes electronically where technically feasible (including registering taxpayers for e-filing when needed), allow personal hearings with Range Head approval preferably by video conference, consider use of faceless units for verification and technical inputs, and involve the Range Head in finalisation of assessments and penalties as required.