Indirect tax amendments reinforce enforcement while revising duty rates and offering targeted compliance amnesty.
The Bill amends customs, central excise and service tax laws to adjust tariff schedules and sectoral duty rates, strengthen enforcement and recovery (including distinguishing cognizable offences, expanding arrest powers and third party recovery), revise procedural and tribunal stay rules, rename and expand agent liabilities, allow electronic filing of manifests, introduce retrospective exemptions and provisional collections for specified items, and establish an amnesty scheme and expanded advance ruling scope to encourage compliance and clarify tax treatment.