Responsible Business Conduct: inter ministerial mapping and compendium to align policies with business and human rights standards.
Responsible Business Conduct policy alignment was advanced through an inter ministerial workshop to map ministry policies and schemes against the nine principles of the National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct and to produce a compendium of relevant initiatives. The workshop connected administrative levers-including institutional promotion by corporate affairs, social justice schemes for disadvantaged groups, and finance sector measures for transparency and digital traceability-with international frameworks such as the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the National Action Plan to inform collaborative, sectoral implementation.

Information confirmation status in AIS shows source responses and whether reporting sources must file correction statements.
The Annual Information Statement now displays the information confirmation status for taxpayer feedback on transactions reported by Tax Deductors/Collectors and Reporting Entities, indicating whether feedback was shared with the Source, the dates of sharing and Source response, and the Source's substantive response, with accepted feedback requiring the Source to file a correction statement.

Customs cooperation expanded to include new land crossings, digitised transit procedures and electronic cargo movement for trade facilitation.
The 5th Joint Group of Customs meeting committed to operational measures to facilitate cross-border trade, including opening new Land Customs Stations and trade routes, developing border infrastructure, automating and digitising transit processes, preventing smuggling, coordinating cross-border management, exchanging pre-arrival customs data, and enabling movement of transit cargo under an electronic cargo system, alongside continued capacity building and training for Bhutan's customs administration.

Fintech-law enforcement collaboration to strengthen cybercrime prevention, real-time monitoring, and expedited account freezing for fraud mitigation.
The workshop set out coordinated public-private measures for combating cybercrime and digital financial frauds, urging Fintech-LEA collaboration, development of an indigenous AML and transaction-monitoring system, and operational steps including appointment of a nodal officer, real-time data monitoring, geotagging of transactions, creation of a suspicious registry, regular digital KYC audits, and protocols for freezing and unfreezing accounts to expedite recovery.

Registration deadline extension for charitable trusts allows surrender of provisional registration and fresh electronic filings under exemption rules.
The tax authority extended the due date for filing Form 10A and Form 10AB to allow trusts, institutions and funds to apply for registration or re-registration under tax exemption provisions; entities with provisional registration may surrender Form 10AC and apply as existing entities, and applicants previously rejected solely for late filing or wrong section code may submit fresh Form 10AB applications. All filings must be made electronically through the e-filing portal.

Direct tax collections exceed budget and revised estimates, driven by corporate and personal income tax growth.
Provisional net direct tax collections for FY 2023-24 exceed the Union Budget and slightly exceed the Revised Estimates, reflecting significant year on year growth driven by both corporate and personal income tax receipts; gross collections also rose while refunds increased relative to the prior year, reducing net realisation.

Advance Pricing Agreements provide transfer pricing certainty, expanding bilateral coverage and rollback protection to taxpayers.
The APA framework specifies transfer pricing methods and fixes the arm's length price for international transactions prospectively for up to five years, with an optional rollback covering four preceding years to provide extended tax certainty. Bilateral APAs, concluded via Mutual Agreement Procedure with treaty partners, additionally afford protection against anticipated or actual double taxation and enhance cross border cooperation to reduce transfer pricing disputes.

Reopening of tax assessments clarified: no large-scale re-openings; data checks limited to HRA mismatch and taxpayer alerts.
No special drive to re open HRA cases; targeted e verification identified limited high value mismatches between rent claimed and rent received for the specified fiscal year, prompting taxpayer alerts to enable corrective action rather than large scale reassessments, with taxpayers having had the option to file Updated Returns until the stated deadline.

ITR filing access expanded: common return forms now available on the e filing portal to streamline taxpayer compliance.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes has enabled immediate electronic filing of commonly used income tax returns-ITR 1, ITR 2, ITR 4 and the company return-on the e filing portal from the start of the new financial year and has published JSON Schemas for those returns and Tax Audit Reports to assist e Return Intermediaries.

Income tax return filing enabled online/offline with prefilled data; prescribed audit-report forms accompany tax-audit compliance.
Income-tax return filing for AY 2024-25 is enabled online with prefilled data and via a common offline utility for ITR-1, ITR-2 and ITR-4. The notification identifies Form 3CA-3CD and Form 3CB-3CD as the prescribed audit-reporting instruments, each to be furnished with the Statement of Particulars required under section 44AB of the Income-tax Act, 1961, thereby setting the filing modes and audit-reporting requirements.

Election integrity reporting: toll-free control room established to receive anonymous tips on suspicious cash or valuables movement.
The Directorate of Income Tax (Investigation), Delhi has set up a continuous Control Room and toll-free reporting channels to receive credible, actionable information on suspected movement or distribution of unaccounted cash, bullion and other valuables potentially for electoral use within the NCT of Delhi during the Model Code of Conduct; callers need not disclose personal identity and informant anonymity will be maintained.

Direct tax growth signals higher net and gross collections driven by corporate and personal tax receipts this fiscal year.
Provisional figures for Financial Year 2023-24 show growth in Net Direct Tax collections comprising Corporation Tax and Personal Income Tax net of refunds, with Gross collections increasing before refunds. Receipts are supported by Advance Tax, Tax Deducted at Source, Self-Assessment, Regular Assessment and other minor heads, while refunds issued during the year have also risen.

Fintech education and innovation expanded through establishment of International Fintech Institute to boost startups and research.
A loan agreement will fund an International Fintech Institute at GIFT City to deliver industry aligned fintech education, incubation and acceleration services for start ups (with emphasis on women led enterprises), and to support applied research in climate fintech, regulatory technology, social inclusion, and gender equality, including development of a state fintech readiness index and diagnostic tools for emerging technologies.

Infrastructure loan enhances peri-urban livability and mobility, improving services and governance with capacity building and PPP support.
A multilateral loan agreement finances expansion and rehabilitation of peri-urban urban services and transport connectivity in Ahmedabad, including water distribution, climate-resilient stormwater drainage, sewerage networks, sewage treatment plants, and junction improvements, expressly to benefit the urban poor, women, and migrant workers. The project also mandates institutional capacity strengthening for urban planning, climate- and disaster-resilient infrastructure, environmental and social safeguards, gender equality and inclusion, financial planning and asset operations, community awareness activities, training of women self-help groups, and facilitation of treated sewage recycling through public-private partnerships.

Advance tax compliance: e campaign will notify taxpayers of significant transactions and urge deposit of due advance tax.
The Income Tax Department will notify persons/entities with significant financial transactions via email and SMS to compute and deposit their due Advance Tax, based on an analysis of specified transactions reflected in the Annual Information Statement; recipients are directed to the e filing Compliance Portal's e Campaign tab to view these significant transactions and unregistered taxpayers are instructed to register to access the information.

Strategic engagement with multilateral development banks to deepen finance-plus collaboration and accelerate private capital mobilisation.
Seminar by the Department of Economic Affairs concentrated on strengthening strategic engagement with multilateral development banks to enhance the developmental impact of externally aided projects by integrating finance-plus and budget-plus elements, leveraging MDB roles in credit enhancement and risk management to mobilise private capital, streamlining operational processes, and promoting technology transfer and public goods discourse to accelerate transformative development.

Donation application rule clarified; CBDT explains tax and accumulation treatment of residual portion for trusts and institutions.
Finance Act 2023 limits the portion of donations treated as application for charitable or religious purposes for trusts and institutions registered under section 12AA/12AB and entities under section 10(23C); representations questioned whether the residual portion would be taxable or eligible for accumulation. The CBDT issued Circular No. 3/2024 with illustrative examples clarifying how the statutory limitation affects application and accumulation and addressing practical concerns about funds availability and tax consequences.

Audit form compliance: trusts may rectify incorrect 10B/10BB filings to avoid denial of exemption under a prescribed rectification window.
Failure to furnish the prescribed audit report form may lead to denial of exemption and tax demand; entities that submitted the wrong audit form by the earlier filing date are permitted to furnish the applicable audit report in the correct form by the extended deadline, pursuant to a published circular providing a limited rectification window to cure the procedural defect.

e-Verification Scheme: taxpayers urged to reconcile AIS mismatches and file updated ITR-U to ensure voluntary compliance.
Under the e-Verification Scheme-2021 the Department is notifying taxpayers of AIS mismatches for AY 2021-22 and urging them to view their AIS on the e-filing portal and file updated returns (ITR-U), including eligible non-filers availing the updated return mechanism, to reconcile specified financial transactions with filed ITRs.

Interoperable internet-banking payment system to streamline merchant settlement and reduce payment-aggregator integration burdens.
The Reserve Bank highlights rapid growth in digital payments led by UPI and outlines measures to expand adoption, enhance security, and improve settlement. It emphasises user onboarding under the "Har Payment Digital" mission, public-awareness and training programmes, and mandates time-bound resolution of failed transactions with compensation consequences. Security measures noted include additional factor authentication, EMV chip and PIN, tokenisation, data localisation, and mandatory reporting of payment-related frauds to the Central Payments Fraud Information Registry. An interoperable internet-banking payment system to be implemented by NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd is approved to reduce integration burdens and speed merchant settlements.