Finance ministry leadership: first woman assuming full time charge and taking briefings on key policy initiatives.
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman assumed charge as Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, was briefed by Ministry Secretaries on key initiatives, ongoing issues and forthcoming economic challenges, and is the first woman to hold the full time Finance portfolio.

Allocation of portfolios: ministerial responsibilities among the Union Council of Ministers announced, specifying departmental charges and independent charges.
The President, on the Prime Minister's advice, directed the allocation of portfolios among the Union Council of Ministers, assigning specified departmental responsibilities to the Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers, Ministers of State (Independent Charge), and Ministers of State. Cabinet Ministers are listed with their primary ministries; Ministers of State (Independent Charge) are designated to lead particular ministries autonomously; and Ministers of State are allocated supporting roles within named ministries, with each individual's departmental assignments specified.

Sovereign Gold Bonds establish gram denominated government bonds with fixed interest and prescribed issuance, pricing, and subscription limits.
Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme 2019-20 provides monthly issuances by the Reserve Bank on behalf of the Government to resident individuals, HUFs, trusts, universities and charitable institutions; bonds are denominated in grams, have an eight year tenor with an exit after year five, and annual subscription ceilings (4 kg for individuals/HUFs, 20 kg for trusts) with PAN and self declaration required. Issue and redemption prices are based on a three day simple average of 999 purity gold prices published by IBJA, payments may be by cash (subject to limit), draft, cheque or electronic banking, and bonds are issued as Government of India Stock, eligible for dematerialisation.

Import concessions: amended rules add job work procedure, mandatory intimation, quarterly returns, six month limits and penalties.
The amendments expand definitions to include job work and broaden jurisdictional officer and manufacture concepts; require importers to notify jurisdictional customs of intent to use exemption notifications with detailed particulars; mandate accounts showing imports, consumption, job work movements, returns and stock, and quarterly returns; prescribe procedures and intimation for sending imported goods for job work with challan control, six month maximum job work period, and job worker accounts; allow re export or clearance of unutilised or defective goods within six months subject to duty/interest; and introduce a penalty up to fifty thousand rupees for contraventions.

Rebate under section 87A ensures senior citizens' Form 15H declarations accepted when tax liability is nil after rebate.
Amendment to Form 15H requires payers to accept declarations from senior citizens when their tax liability is nil after application of the statutory rebate, addressing prior Note 10 omission which compared income only to the maximum tax-free amount without accounting for the rebate and thereby risking undue withholding.

TDS due date extension: deposits, quarterly returns and certificate issuance deadlines extended for Odisha after cyclone disruption
Under section 119 of the Income-tax Act, the Central Board of Direct Taxes extended TDS compliance deadlines for deductors in Odisha: the deposit deadline for April TDS was moved later in May, the quarterly TDS statement filing for the last quarter of 2018-19 was postponed to a later date, and the issuance deadline for Form 16 and Form 16A certificates was deferred, as relief for hardship caused by cyclone-related disruption.

Amendment of Form 10B: revised audit report and detailed annexure requirements for trusts' tax compliance and reporting.
The draft substitutes rule 17B to require the audit report and particulars under clause (b) of sub section (1) of section 12A to be furnished in a reissued Form No. 10B. The Form prescribes an auditor's certification identifying the accounts examined, agreement with books, space for observations, and an opinion that books are properly kept and accounts give a true and fair view, and it mandates an Annexure of detailed particulars on registration, receipts, application of income, investments, business activities, related party/specifed person transactions, loans/deposits, and tax deduction/collection compliance.

Vertical and horizontal devolution examined to align fiscal projections, expenditure rationalisation and state fiscal pressures.
The Finance Commission consulted with Ministry of Finance officials on macroeconomic trends and projections to guide vertical and horizontal devolution, reviewing GDP movements, direct and indirect tax forecasts, and medium term economic outlook. The Ministry presented comparative fiscal and resource forecasts for XIVFC versus XVFC, tax growth and buoyancy metrics, and expenditure classifications. Discussions included state fiscal impacts of UDAY and the 7th Pay Commission, rationalisation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes, GST issues, local body grants, and population data; the Commission awaits the Government's full memorandum.

Tariff value revision for specified edible oils, metals and agricultural commodities updates customs valuation and import duty calculations nationwide.
Under powers of sub-section (2) of section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962, CBIC substitutes TABLE-1, TABLE-2 and TABLE-3 of Notification No. 36/2001-Customs (N.T.) with revised tariff values. The substituted tables specify tariff values (US$ per metric tonne or unit) for listed goods including crude palm oil, RBD palm oil, palmolein variants, crude soybean oil, brass scrap, poppy seeds, areca nuts and unit values for gold and silver where certain notification benefits apply.

Examination requirement for GST Practitioners: pass the NACIN exam or forfeit further opportunity to confirm enrollment.
NACIN is authorized to conduct the confirmation examination for GST Practitioners; those previously enrolled as Sales Tax Practitioners or Tax Return Preparers with at least five years' experience must pass the prescribed exam to confirm GSTP status. The examination is to be held twice yearly by NACIN at designated centres, with the final scheduled session in 2019 serving as the last opportunity for eligible candidates to appear and obtain confirmation.

GDP estimation methodology clarified: adoption of international SNA standards and staged release schedule governs revisions and data use.
The Ministry confirms that GDP estimation follows the international SNA 2008 framework, that periodic base year revisions and incorporation of improved data sources (censuses, surveys, administrative records, corporate filings) are necessary to reflect structural change, and that a staged release schedule produces advance, provisional and successive revised estimates corresponding to progressively more complete data; methodological changes and use of alternative proxies are subject to Advisory Committee review and published methodology, with quality controls and international coordination on issues such as deflators and double deflation.

Amendment to Section 139(5) restricts revised returns, prompting a marked shift to electronic income tax filing.
E filing of returns for the relevant Assessment Year rose substantially, while apparent decreases in total filings stem from changes in the mix of assessment year filings. The decline in filings for earlier assessment years resulted from the amendment to Section 139(5) which limited filing of revised returns to the end of the relevant Assessment Year, and paper return usage fell as taxpayers shifted to electronic filing.

Search and seizure in tax investigation reveals unaccounted income and assets, prompting prohibitory orders and further verification.
Searches targeted a lottery marketing agent group and related real estate and finance businesses, uncovering documentary and electronic evidence, cash and jewellery and prompting prohibitory orders. The assessee admitted unaccounted income from stockists linked to manipulation of prize-winning tickets and offered further unaccounted receipts from real estate and loan interest to tax after reconciliation; portions of cash were seized while other assets remain under verification.

Tariff value adjustment for specified edible oils, metals and agricultural commodities updates import valuation and customs assessment.
Amendment substitutes new tariff values in Notification No. 36/2001-Customs (N.T.) by replacing TABLE-1, TABLE-2 and TABLE-3 with updated US dollar tariff values per metric tonne or per unit for specified commodities, including crude palm oil, RBD palm oil, other palm oil and palmolein variants, crude soybean oil, brass scrap (all grades), poppy seeds, areca nuts, and unit values for gold and silver where notification benefits are availed.