Watchlisting individuals for financial intelligence to monitor suspicious nationwide transactions and obtain actionable intelligence.
Instruction to transmit brief particulars (name, PAN, address if available) of persons under watch to the Board for onward sharing with FIU-IND so FIU-IND can provide intelligence on suspicious Pan India financial transactions to assist initiation or continuation of revenue-related investigations; communications to be marked Secret and entries relating to cases being prepared for search should generally be avoided or referred post-search.

Extension of limitation period requires a Competent Authority reference for exchange-of-information requests to secure time exclusion.
Requests for exchange of information in impending time-bar cases must be sent to the FT&TR Division by the stated cutoff so references can be transmitted before limitation expires. An extension of the limitation period is available only when the request is made by the Competent Authority; the period from such a Competent Authority reference until receipt of information (or up to one year) is excluded from limitation, and no exclusion applies unless FT&TR forwards a Competent Authority reference.

Manpower requisitions for tax investigations should not be refused, subject to limited extraordinary circumstances, and regions must ensure compliance.
Manpower requisitions by Investigation Directorates for search and related investigative activities should normally not be refused, and field formations are required to provide the requested personnel except in extraordinary circumstances; Principal Chief Commissioners must ensure communication and compliance within their regions.

Withholding tax scope: disallowance under section 40(a)(i) based on the portion chargeable to tax as determined under section 195.
The taxable portion of a remittance, as determined by the Assessing Officer for the purposes of tax deduction at source, shall form the basis for any disallowance under section 40(a)(i); determinations made under the statutory pre determination mechanisms will similarly govern such disallowance.

Interest under Section 234A not chargeable on self-assessment tax paid before the return filing due date.
The Board reviewed levy of interest under Section 234A and, referencing the Supreme Court's view that interest is payable only on tax not deposited before the return due date, directed that no interest is chargeable on self-assessment tax paid before the due date for filing the return of income and instructed officers to comply with this position.

Exchange of Information procedures: seek field feedback to revise the manual and report cases yielding additional tax.
Solicitation of stakeholder input on the Manual on Exchange of Information by a committee led by the Principal CCIT (IT & TP), New Delhi, requesting field formations to report operational difficulties and to submit case examples where information obtained from foreign tax authorities resulted in additional tax or penalty effects, including case description, information exchanged, and tax impact, to the undersigned in sealed cover by the stated deadline.

TDS/TCS prosecution procedures: central identification, show cause process, sanctioning authority and compounding pathway clarified.
Prosecution for TDS/TCS defaults is governed by CPC-TDS identification of two case categories, mandatory referral of higher-value defaults and discretionary referral of lower-value defaults; AO(TDS) must collect evidence, issue show cause notices, prepare assessment-year-specific proposals and forward them to CIT(TDS) who must apply mind, may obtain counsel opinion in complex cases, and grant or refuse sanction for prosecution. Compounding applications halt prosecution processing while pending and all authorities must record each procedural step in prosecution registers or the TRACES utility.

Share premium classified as capital, not income, and not subject to transfer pricing adjustment; adherence required.
Share premium on issue of shares is a capital account transaction and does not give rise to income for transfer pricing purposes. The Board has accepted this ratio and directs field officers to follow it in all cases where the issue arises, and to communicate the position to appellate and dispute-resolution bodies to ensure consistent application.

Media coverage protocol: field offices must route press requests through the designated official spokesperson for centralised handling.
The CIT (M&TP) is the official spokesperson and media coordinator for CBDT; field offices wishing media coverage on locally significant matters must send a suitable note to the CIT (M&TP) for action in accordance with the extant media guidelines, ensuring centralised handling and confidentiality safeguards.

Income tax rate and compliance overhaul clarifies income characterisation, tightens trust exemptions, and expands TDS and valuation powers.
The Finance (No.2) Act, 2014 specifies income tax rates and surcharge/cess mechanics and enacts wide amendments to income characterisation, capital gains rules, deduction and investment incentives, and compliance procedures. It treats securities held by notified foreign portfolio investors as capital assets, revises holding periods for unlisted securities and mutual fund units, expands and conditions investment linked deductions, tightens the charitable trust exemption code and CSR deductibility, revises TDS/TCS obligations and penalties, enhances valuation, survey and inquiry powers of tax authorities, enlarges advance ruling and APA schemes, mandates financial reporting by prescribed institutions, and prescribes taxation rules for business trusts and distributed income.

Processing of income-tax returns halted after issuance of a scrutiny notice, preventing refunds before assessment completion.
Once a scrutiny notice under sub-section (2) of section 143 has been issued, processing of the return cannot be undertaken; this rule prevents issuance of refunds arising from processing where subsequent scrutiny may produce tax demands, and authorities should complete scrutiny assessments expeditiously.

TDS compliance procedures: TRACES enabled matching and tagging of unconsumed challans to resolve withholding tax discrepancies.
The SOPs require use of CPC TDS and TRACES/AO Portal functionalities to identify and resolve TDS discrepancies by: issuing notices to TAN holders; enabling online correction statements; permitting AO TDS forced matching of unconsumed OLTAS challans under defined constraints; bulk uploading and tagging manual demands to freeze challans; prioritising recovery of resolvable demands; reconciling Form 24G/AIN reporting with State AG consolidations; and conducting corporate outreach to address PAN/TAN level defaults, with defined roles and reporting timelines for each administrative tier.

Exchange of information requests for impending time-bar must be submitted early for central scrutiny to ensure timely transmission abroad.
Directs field offices to forward EOI requests at risk of time bar to FT&TR sufficiently in advance to permit scrutiny and correction, so properly drafted EOI proformas can be sent to the foreign competent authority; submissions approaching the time bar date must be sent by the specified internal deadline, with later references allowed only in unavoidable circumstances, and CsIT/Officers must be informed to remove deficiencies.

Dispute Resolution Panels allocated regional and name-based jurisdiction for eligible assessees, clarifying case assignment and territorial coverage.
The Order designates specific Dispute Resolution Panels to exercise powers under the dispute-resolution provisions, assigning each Panel territorial jurisdictions and classes of eligible assessees by geographic areas and by initial-letter/name groupings, thereby defining which assessees' cases are to be handled by each Panel and superseding prior assignment orders.

Prohibition on disclosure of taxpayer information: unauthorised disclosures attract criminal and disciplinary penalties and strict departmental compliance.
Disclosure of taxpayer information to media is prohibited; officers must treat departmental information as held in a fiduciary capacity and not produce or communicate records, documents or computerized data except where specifically authorised. Unauthorized disclosures attract criminal liability under the penal provision for unauthorized disclosure and may result in departmental action. Supervisory authorities must sensitize subordinates and ensure strict compliance with the statutory non-disclosure obligation to protect taxpayer privacy.