Deduction of tax at source: remittances allowed without tax NOC if undertaking and independent accountant certificate are furnished.
Section 195 requires deduction of tax at source on payments to non-residents. The Reserve Bank may allow remittances without a No Objection Certificate if the remitter provides an undertaking to the Assessing Officer and an independent accountant's certificate in the prescribed form, certifying the nature and amount of income and tax paid. The RBI will forward copies to the Assessing Officer; the remitter remains liable for any tax shortfall with interest and subject to penalty and prosecution, and must furnish documents for tax determination.

Service of tax refund orders by registered post required, with acknowledgement due within a prescribed period.
All income tax refund vouchers must be dispatched by registered post with acknowledgement due within fifteen days of passing the order giving rise to the refund, replacing the prior threshold based practice that allowed lower value refunds to be served by notice servers.

Tax deduction at source on arrears must be recomputed and fully recovered, non-compliance attracts interest and penalties.
Employers must deduct tax at source under section 192 from salary and arrear payments per Circulars 756 and 757; drawing and disbursing officers must recompute and immediately recover full tax on arrears arising from pay revision and remit it to the Central Government by 20 November 1997, non-compliance attracting interest under section 201(1A) and other penal consequences.

Tax deduction at source from salaries: employers must estimate annual salary and deduct tax periodically under section 192.
Employers must estimate each employee's salary income for 1997-98, compute tax on that estimate under section 192 at prescribed tiered rates and deduct tax on average at each payment; no deduction is required if estimated salary income does not exceed the exemption threshold. Aggregation rules apply where employees have multiple employers or furnish particulars of other income/TDS (Forms 10E/12C), subject to conditions preventing aggregation if it would reduce tax liability. Deductors must deposit deducted tax timely, issue prescribed certificates and returns (including Form 16 and Form 24), quote TAN, and observe penalties and procedural requirements for failures to deduct, remit or report.

Tax deduction under section 192: withholding required on additional pay, allowances and arrears following pay revision.
Directing Disbursing and Drawing Officers to deduct income-tax from disbursements of additional pay, revised allowances and arrears arising from pay revision, by applying the average rate of income-tax under section 192 on the estimated income of the assessee for the financial year, and to ensure proper and adequate deduction where employees enter or move within the tax net.

Expense deduction for non-professional Test cricketers permitted under income-tax provision after withdrawal of prior administrative formula.
Withdrawal of Instruction No. 1432 revokes the prior administrative prescription of fixed presumptive expense proportions for Test cricketers' receipts, and directs that non professional Test cricketers must claim allowable expenses in accordance with section 57(iii) of the Income tax Act, 1961 rather than rely on the earlier prescribed percentages.

Interest on tax withholding defaults: primary interest for non-deduction and additional interest if unpaid within prescribed time.
Interest for failure to deduct tax at source or for non-payment after deduction is chargeable as the initial obligation; if the tax and/or that interest is not paid within the stipulated time, additional interest for delayed payment becomes chargeable.

CIB data processing centralises source information and triggers statutory inquiry notices for assessment verification and investigation.
Revised procedure confines the Central Information Branch to computerised collection, collation and annual dissemination of current, source coded information to jurisdictional assessing ranges, without issuing query letters. Assessing officers must verify CIB records using statutory inquiry powers, call for returns and select cases for scrutiny as warranted, while the Investigation Wing may use stored CIB data for developing investigative cases. The DGIT(Investigation) must ensure processing, oversight and quarterly reporting of utilisation and outcomes to the Board.

Voluntary disclosure immunity protects declared income but excludes assets and certain post-disclosure liabilities.
Disclosures under the Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme, 1997 protect disclosed income from wealth-tax for assessment years up to 1997-98, though assets attributable to that income remain liable to wealth-tax from 1998-99 onward; penalties for disclosed income are waived beyond section 271(1)(c); disclosures are barred for years in which surveys or searches were carried out or for years earlier to such operations, and seized or discovered assets during searches remain excluded from relief. Jewellery declarations must state year of acquisition with evidence. Multiple declarations are prohibited and benami immunity is not conferred.

Selection criteria for scrutiny establish compulsory, sample, information based and exceptional categories guiding income tax examinations.
The guidelines establish four categories for selecting income tax returns for scrutiny: Class A compulsory scrutiny for searches, surveys, reassessments, investigation recommended cases and high turnover/capital infusion; Class B sample scrutiny with specified quotas by corporate status and income ranges plus enumerated exemptions; Class C information based scrutiny requiring recorded reasons and approval; and Class D exceptional case scrutiny with reasons, higher approval and limits on number and routine selection.

Voluntary disclosure of income: file a verified declaration, pay the flat-rate tax, and obtain a certificate to finalise immunity.
The Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme, 1997 permits a single verified declaration of undisclosed income, requires full payment of the specified flat-rate tax within three months to avoid voiding, and finalises the declaration only upon issuance of a certificate by the Commissioner. Jewellery acquired before 1-4-1987 must be valued as of that date by a valuer, other assets at acquisition cost, and declared amounts must be credited in books or other records; immunity from penalty and prosecution is provided subject to scheme limits and restrictions where searches or certain surveys have occurred.

Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme enables taxpayers to regularise undisclosed income by paying prescribed tax and securing confidentiality protections.
The Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme, 1997 permits disclosure of untaxed or undisclosed income for assessment years where returns were not filed, income was omitted, or escaped assessment; disclosures of wealth are excluded. Tax at specified rates must be paid before filing or within three months with interest; failure to pay within that period voids the declaration. Declarations in prescribed form, supported by documentation, are filed with the Commissioner who issues a certificate on full payment. Declarations are confidential and inadmissible in penalty or prosecution proceedings, subject to listed exceptions.

Full deduction for charitable relief-fund contributions permitted when computing tax for TDS withholding.
Contributions to the Andhra Pradesh C. Ms. Cyclone Relief Fund qualify for full income-tax deduction as exempt income, and the tax authority directs that this deduction be allowed when computing total income for the purpose of calculating tax to be deducted at source, reducing the taxable base used for TDS.

Securities lending not treated as transfer under income-tax law, preserving non-capital-gains treatment under the SEBI scheme for lenders.
The scheme permits an approved intermediary to lend deposited securities to a borrower for a specified period while title rests with the borrower and the lender receives fees; agreements must cover period, fees, collateral, return and dispute resolution. Because shares of the same company are fungible, receiving back an equivalent number of shares (even with different distinctive numbers) does not constitute an exchange of different assets and therefore does not amount to a transfer under the Income-tax Act for capital gains purposes.

Interest waiver for advance tax shortfall now allowed without requirement that judicial decisions be in the assessee's own case.
The Board modifies its guidance on reduction or waiver of interest for advance tax shortfall by removing the requirements that the judicial decision be in the assessee's own case and that a retrospective amendment or judicial decision occur after the end of the relevant previous year; past petitions rejected for lack of this clarification are to be reconsidered in accordance with this modification and the earlier order.

Failure to deduct tax - deductor need not face demand once deductee has paid the tax.
Where a tax deductor satisfies the officer in charge of TDS that tax has been paid by the deductee assessee, the Board's instruction directs that any demand envisaged under section 201(1) should not be enforced, making enforcement contingent on the deductor demonstrating actual payment by the deductee.

Notice under section 158BC: revised ITNS 274 format approved; officers to print and distribute updated notice for assessments.
An amendment to the governing provision effected by the Income-tax (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 1996 modifies clause (a) and requires a revised format of the prescribed notice form ITNS 274; the Board has approved the revised ITNS 274, a copy is enclosed for implementation, and officers are instructed to print the notice locally and supply copies to Assessing Officers for use under the amended provision.

Special procedure for search assessments: Ordinance amendments apply only to searches initiated on or after the effective date.
The Ordinance amendments to the special procedure apply only to block assessments from searches initiated on or after 1 January 1997; searches initiated on or before 31 December 1996 remain governed by the prior Chapter XIVB. For searches before 1 January 1997, no interest or penalty will be levied, assessment orders must be approved by the Commissioner, the first appeal lies with the appellate tribunal, prosecution for failure/delay in filing the block return will not be launched, and the limitation period for passing the block assessment order is one year from the end of the month in which the last search or requisition authorisation was executed.

Approved investments: primary issue shares of public companies qualify for capital gains exemption, subject to Board application procedures.
Shares issued in a primary public issue are treated as approved investments for capital gains exemption under sections 54EA and 54EB; the procedural and utilisation guidelines applicable to bonds and debentures apply equally to such shares, including the application procedure to the Board and the prescribed manner of using the investible capital, and "public company" is to be read as per the Companies Act definition.