Block period definition modernisation clarifies timeframe and triggers for assessing undisclosed income in search and requisition cases.
Clause 301 provides an interpretative framework for special search assessments by defining the block period as a multi year look back plus the portion of the year of search or requisition, modernising terminology to "tax year", clarifying that the conclusion of search (as per the last panchnama) determines execution irrespective of seizure, defining requisitioned and seized items, and expressly including virtual digital assets and incorrect claims of deductions within the definition of undisclosed income.

Identical question of law deferral: appeals stayed pending final decision in lead cases, subject to collegium and taxpayer acceptance.
Clause 376 provides for deferral of revenue appeals where an identical question of law is pending before a High Court or the Supreme Court. A collegium of senior Commissioners may direct non-filing of appeals where the precedent case favours the assessee; the Principal Commissioner/Commissioner must instruct the Assessing Officer to file a prescribed-form application within set timelines. Deferral requires the assessee's acceptance of identity; absent such acceptance ordinary appellate procedures apply. If the final decision in the lead case is adverse to the revenue, appeals may be filed within specified periods.

Avoidance of repetitive appeals: a declaration procedure lets an assessee defer identical legal issues pending higher court decisions.
Clause 375 permits an assessee to file a prescribed declaration to defer litigation where an identical question of law is pending in another case before a higher forum; the authority must verify the claim with a report from the Assessing Officer and an opportunity to be heard, and may admit or reject the claim by reasoned written order which is final. If admitted, the case may be disposed of without awaiting the other case's decision, the assessee is barred from raising the issue in further appeals for that case, and the final decision in the other case must be applied, with amendment of earlier orders if necessary.

Power to frame schemes enables broad faceless, technology driven tax administration with authority to modify statutory application.
Clause 532 grants the Central Government power to notify schemes for any purposes of the Income Tax Act to enhance efficiency, transparency and accountability by eliminating taxpayer interface where technologically feasible and optimising resource use; it further authorises notifications to modify application of Act provisions for scheme implementation, allows amendment of existing schemes under the prior law, and requires that such notifications be laid before Parliament.

Intimation of loss: AO must issue written notification to enable carry forward and set-off of assessed losses.
Clause 291 requires the Assessing Officer to notify the assessee by written order of the amount of loss computed for specified loss heads where a loss is established during assessment and is eligible for carry forward and set-off under the Bill; the written notification is the formal basis for claiming loss benefits in subsequent years, while the clause omits an express timeline, remedies for non-notification, and explicit treatment of appeal or rectification.

Modification of tax demand notices: AO must revise demands to reflect insolvency orders and subsequent appellate modifications.
Clause 290 requires the Assessing Officer to serve a modified demand notice treated as a demand under the restructured Act where an earlier demand is reduced by an order under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, covering tax, interest, penalty, fine or any other sum, and mandates further revision if the insolvency order is altered on appeal.

Notice of demand: modernised formal notice and deferment for start up share compensation, aligning tax timing with liquidity events.
Notice of demand is the statutory precondition for recovery: Clause 289(1) mandates issuance in a prescribed form for any payable sum following an order; Clause 289(2) deems certain system-generated intimations equivalent to notices to streamline automated recovery; Clause 289(3) defers tax on specified securities or sweat equity for eligible start-up employees until defined liquidity or employment-trigger events, thereby aligning tax payment timing with cash realization.

Rectification of assessments: new provision expands AO authority to amend orders for subsequent events and compliance.
Clause 288 consolidates and prescribes time-bound powers for Assessing Officers to amend assessment orders when subsequent judicial, administrative or factual events render original assessments incorrect, covering partner/AOP adjustments, recomputation for carry-forward losses, capital gains recharacterisation, foreign tax credit, TDS credit timing, transfer pricing amendments and related categories, with generally four-year limitation periods and an emphasis on digital procedural integration.

Rectification of mistakes apparent from the record: updated authority scope, procedural safeguards, and prescribed timelines ensure corrective relief.
Clause 287 empowers income-tax authorities to rectify mistakes apparent from the record by amending orders and specified intimations, subject to the exclusion of matters already considered in appeal or revision. Rectification may be initiated suo motu or on application, but any amendment increasing liability requires prior notice and a reasonable opportunity to be heard and must be made by written order. Reductions of liability trigger refund obligations, increases trigger prescribed demand notices, and the power is constrained by a prescribed limitation period and a statutory timeline for disposal of applications.

Time limits for tax assessments clarified: tabular framework sets fixed periods, exclusions and minimum residual time for authorities.
Reform replaces narrative limitation provisions with a tabular, scenario-based regime specifying trigger dates and fixed completion periods-generally one year for routine assessments and reassessments-with special shorter windows for modifications. The draft adds a twelve-month extension for transfer pricing references, an exhaustive list of periods to be excluded from limitation computations (stays, reopenings, treaty exchanges, GAAR references, valuation reports, advance rulings, search handovers, etc.), and safeguards ensuring minimum residual time for authorities, end-of-month extensions, and abatement/revival protections to preserve procedural continuity.

Tax rate parity: reassessment must use original-year rates, allowing dropping of proceedings if no extra liability.
Clause 285 requires tax in assessments, reassessments or recomputations for escaped income to be charged at the rates that would have applied had the income been originally assessed; allows the Assessing Officer to drop reassessment proceedings if the assessee demonstrates that inclusion of the alleged escaped income would not increase tax liability and that the original assessment was not impugned under specified appellate or revision provisions; and bars the assessee from reopening matters concluded by certain specified orders once a claim to drop proceedings is made.

Executive power to frame tax administration schemes may reshape processes while raising delegation and legal certainty concerns.
Clause 532 empowers the Central Government to notify schemes for any purpose under the Act to eliminate taxpayer-authority interface and optimize resources; it authorises modification or suspension of statutory provisions by notification to implement schemes, permits amendment of existing schemes for transitional continuity, and requires notifications be laid before Parliament, thereby enabling broad administrative reconfiguration through subordinate legislation while raising delegation, transparency, and legal certainty concerns.

Sanction authority centralization for reopening assessments shifts approval to Additional/Joint Commissioners, reducing prior higher level oversight.
Clause 284 appoints Additional Commissioners, Additional Directors, Joint Commissioners, or Joint Directors as the sole authorities to grant sanction for notices under sections 280 and 281, replacing the earlier tiered sanction regime. It removes temporal thresholds and higher level approvals formerly applied to older or complex cases, centralizes decision making, omits explanatory and delegation provisions present in the prior framework, and may therefore streamline administration while raising concerns about reduced oversight, interpretive ambiguity, and possible increased litigation.

Giving effect to appellate findings: reassessment notices may issue despite limitation, subject to safeguards preventing reopening time barred years.
Clause 283 (Income Tax Bill, 2025) and Section 150 (Income tax Act, 1961) permit issuance of assessment, reassessment or recomputation notices to give effect to a finding or direction in appellate, revisional or judicial orders, explicitly including tribunals and Approving Panel directions in the 2025 Bill. Both provisions preserve a limitation safeguard: notices cannot be issued if, when the original order (or reference to the Approving Panel) was made, the relevant year's assessment was already time barred. Notices must show a direct nexus to the operative finding or direction and remain subject to procedural requirements.

Limitation periods for reassessment notices extended and a minimum cooling-off period introduced, retaining high-value reopening threshold.
Clause 282 restructures limitation periods for notices under sections 280 and 281 by extending both standard and extended windows for reopening, retaining a high-value threshold that requires the Assessing Officer to possess books, documents or other evidence of substantial escapement, and by introducing a mandatory minimum cooling-off period before any notice may be issued; it does not explicitly replicate earlier exclusions for time spent in show-cause proceedings, court stays, or special provisions for foreign assets, creating potential interpretive gaps.

Pre-notice hearing requirement: show cause with disclosed information, supervisory approval required before reassessment notices.
Clause 281 requires that where the AO has information suggesting income has escaped assessment, the AO must serve a show cause notice accompanied by that information, allow the assessee to reply within the period specified, and, after considering the record and any reply, obtain prior approval of the specified authority before passing an order on whether to issue a notice under section 280. The clause omits explicit timelines, does not define the specified authority within the clause, and provides broader exceptions to the pre-notice requirement.

Reassessment notice reform: information-driven reopening with prescribed timelines and mandatory higher-level approval to ensure procedural safeguards.
Clause 280 requires the AO to issue a notice with a copy of the relevant order before reassessment, sets a maximum three-month period to furnish a prescribed, verified return, treats timely returns as equivalent to original returns while disallowing that status for belated filings, mandates that issuance be predicated on "information" suggesting escapement, and requires prior approval of a specified authority where information derives from centralized schemes, Approving Panel directions, or judicial/quasi-judicial orders.

Reassessment powers expand to permit assessment of escaped income and collateral issues even where certain procedural steps were missed.
Clause 279 empowers the Assessing Officer to assess or reassess income and recompute losses, depreciation and other allowances where income escaping assessment is identified, substitutes "tax year" for "assessment year," and, while making AO's powers subject to sections 280-286, permits assessment of other issues that emerge during proceedings even if specified procedural sections were not complied with, thereby prioritising substantive tax determination over technical procedural infirmities.

Timing of income recognition: interest on compensation taxed on receipt; escalation claims taxed on reasonable certainty of realisation.
Clause 278 deems interest on compensation or enhanced compensation taxable in the tax year of actual receipt, treats escalation claims and export incentives as income when reasonable certainty of realisation is achieved, and taxes specified incomes under section 2(49)(w) on receipt if not earlier charged, thereby aligning taxability with receipt or demonstrable certainty and aiming to prevent timing gaps while leaving factual application issues like allocation and evidentiary standards to further guidance.

Inventory valuation rules require ICDS aligned costing, inclusion of statutory levies, and category wise securities valuation for tax computation.
Inventory and securities for tax purposes must be valued in accordance with ICDS: inventory at the lower of actual cost or net realisable value, purchases, sales and inventory adjusted to include any tax, duty, cess or fee actually paid or incurred to bring goods or services to present location and condition; illiquid or unquoted securities at actual cost and regularly quoted securities at the lower of cost or NRV, with securities compared category wise and special treatment for scheduled banks and public financial institutions subject to prudential guidelines.