TDS certificate issuance must be generated through the TIN system and authenticated, enforcing electronic compliance.
All deductors must issue TDS certificates in Form No. 16A generated through the TIN Central System and downloaded from the TIN website for deductions made on or after 1 April 2012, verifying and authenticating the contents before issue; authentication may be by digital or manual signature as prescribed, and the Director General (Systems) will specify procedures, formats and standards for electronic issuance, which alone will be treated as valid for statutory purposes.

Revision of interest rates: PPF and Senior Citizens Savings Scheme rates updated for the financial year, effective at year start.
The Government issued an Office Memorandum advising revised interest rates on the Public Provident Fund and the five-year Senior Citizens Savings Scheme for the financial year, effective from the start of the year; banks operating these schemes are instructed to apply the notified rates in accordance with the schemes' compounding or payment provisions and to inform branch staff and subscribers and display the revisions on branch notice boards.

Section 119 directions require income-tax offices to remain open and provide additional counters for taxpayer convenience.
Exercise of Section 119 powers directs income-tax offices to remain open on the fiscal year closing day and to operate receipt counters during normal hours, with provision for additional receipt counters where required to facilitate taxpayer filing and a mandate to give wide publicity to these arrangements.

Compounding charges now include prosecution establishment expenses and separate litigation expenses equal to counsel fees incurred before compounding.
Compounding charges must include prosecution establishment expenses charged at the prescribed percentage of the compounding fee subject to minimum and maximum limits, and separate litigation expenses equal to fees paid or payable by the Department to prosecution counsel up to the date of compounding; the charging mechanism applies even where multiple offences are compounded under a single order.

Centralization of DTAA investigation cases: searches centralized under designated central charges; non-search cases retained locally to protect confidentiality.
Only cases involving search action and their associated matters are to be centralized in Central Charges under the concerned CCIT (Central) or DGlT (Inv.), preferably under the same CIT and Range. Non-search enquiries should be centralized under the jurisdictional CCIT within the same CIT and Range, with regions lacking Central Charges following local centralization. Where multiple CCsIT hold such cases, consolidate them under one CCIT, preferably aligned to the same CIT and Range.

Condonation of delay in filing returns when mercantile interest accounting is negated by bank TDS at maturity.
Condonation of delay in filing returns is allowed where an investor in Government savings taxable bonds opted for cumulative interest on maturity but accounted interest on a mercantile basis and the intermediary bank deducted tax at source on the entire interest at maturity without apportioning accrued interest/TDS across financial years; other conditions of the relevant CBDT instruction continue to apply.

TDS credit rules: limited mismatches accepted without verification; zero matching or invalid TAN claims require verification.
Instruction prescribes that TDS credit may be accepted without verification where the discrepancy between claimed TDS and AS 26 matched TDS is within a minor tolerance; simple return forms may receive full credit despite zero matching subject to a small-amount exception; claims citing an invalid TAN must be disallowed; and all other cases with zero or significant mismatch require due verification before granting TDS credit.

Dispute Resolution Panel constitution under the statutory provision establishes regional three-member panels for transfer-pricing references.
The Board constitutes regional Dispute Resolution Panels of three Commissioners/Directors of Income-tax at specified locations to perform dispute-resolution duties in addition to regular responsibilities, effective immediately and until further order; the order supersedes earlier instructions and is approved by the Board Chairman.

Dispute Resolution Panel constitution under statutory provision establishes designated panels and members to resolve income-tax disputes administratively.
The Board, under the relevant statutory provision, supersedes earlier orders and constitutes three-member Dispute Resolution Panels (DRP) at specified places. Each DRP will consist of Commissioners of Income-tax or Directors of Income-tax who will perform DRP duties in addition to their regular functions with immediate effect and until further order; the order lists the locations and appointed members and is issued with the approval of the Board chairperson.

Dispute Resolution Panel constitution establishes members to resolve income-tax disputes and sets immediate duties effective immediately until further order.
The Board, exercising powers under section 144C of the Income-tax Act, constitutes Dispute Resolution Panels at specified places, each comprising three Commissioners/Directors of Income-tax, who shall perform DRP duties in addition to their regular functions; the order supersedes earlier orders and is effective immediately until further order with the Chairman's approval.

Small savings interest alignment with government securities plus spreads, but investment rates remain fixed until maturity.
Interest rates for small savings schemes are aligned to government securities yields with prescribed spreads and annually notified; except for PPF, the rate applicable to an investment made on a given date remains fixed for the entire tenure of that investment and is not altered by later revisions.

Prosecution procedure: opinion of counsel not mandatory for technical default offences; CIT may identify principal officer and overrule reasonable cause.
For offences based on factual defaults under sections 276B/276BB and related provisions, the opinion of Prosecution Counsel need not be mandatorily obtained before passing the sanction order under section 279(1); however, the CIT must identify relevant person(s) as Principal Officer and consider or overrule any claim of reasonable cause before according sanction.