Tax on distributed income for buy-back: rules define company's amount received for share issue and valuation methods.
Rules prescribe how the amount received by a domestic company for issue of a share is determined for buy-back tax: actual subscription receipts including premium; reductions for prior returns except where taxed; deemed amounts for ESOPs and sweat equity based on fair market value credited to capital accounts; carryover and apportionment rules for amalgamation and demerger; a formula for shares issued as asset consideration with merchant banker valuation; special rules for succession, conversion, nil-consideration issues, dematerialised shares using FIFO, and face value as fallback.

Demerger: reconstruction treated as demerger when asset transfer implements shareholders and share purchase agreements and resulting company is public sector.
A reconstruction or splitting up of a company that ceased to be a public sector company shall be deemed a demerger where the reconstruction effects transfer of assets to the resulting company to give effect to the Shareholders' Agreement and Share Purchase Agreement, and the resulting company is a public sector company on the appointed date indicated in the scheme approved by the Appellate Tribunal under the Companies Act.

Disclosure rules amended: government company and foreign source added as reportable contributions under rule 17CA.
The Income tax Rules are amended to omit the terminal "and" in rule 17CA(4)(a) and to insert new clauses specifying that receipts from a Government company and receipts from a foreign source are to be included as reportable categories under rule 17CA(4); the amendment is made under clause (b) of section 13B read with section 295 of the Income tax Act and is effective on publication in the Official Gazette.

Data security standards require designated income-tax IT authorities to prescribe procedures for secure capture, transmission, archival and retrieval.
Amendments to the Income-tax Rules, 1962 substitute a clause reference in rule 114D(1) and insert a new sub-rule empowering the Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or Director General of Income-tax (Systems) to specify procedures, data structures and standards for secure capture and transmission of data and to evolve and implement security, archival and retrieval policies related to the statement in sub-clause (i) of sub-rule (1).

Application for immunity under section 270AA allows taxpayers to seek exemption from penalties and prosecution initiation
Amendment to the Income-tax Rules inserts a new rule requiring applications for immunity from penalty and from initiation of prosecution to be made to the Assessing Officer in the prescribed Form No.68, and adds Form No.68 to Appendix II with fields for taxpayer details, particulars of the assessment order, payment records, and a signed verification undertaking that no appeal has been or will be filed during the statutory period.

Definition of payment actually made for spectrum fees governs timing of deduction and recomputation after termination.
Definition of payment has actually been made for spectrum expenditure: an upfront payment qualifies as payment made irrespective of the previous year in which liability arose under the assessee's accounting method; where deferred payment is allowed, the amount treated as payment made is that which would have been payable on an upfront basis irrespective of the previous year. If deferred payment scheme conditions are breached and the Department of Telecommunications terminates the allotment, the Assessing Officer shall recompute income by deeming the total amount paid up to termination as payment made and the spectrum to have been in force until termination for determining the relevant previous year.

National Savings Certificates: five year maturity, specified annual interest accruals per Rs.100, and graded encashment values.
Certificates purchased on or after 1st October 2016 have a five year maturity; a Rs.100 certificate matures to Rs.146.93 and interest accrues annually at specified rupee amounts (8.00; 8.64; 9.33; 10.08; 10.88), with accrued interest at each year end through the fourth year deemed reinvested and added to face value. Encashment before maturity but after three years is valued under graduated bands for Rs.100 (122.50; 126.72; 131.08; 135.59) with proportionate amounts for other denominations. Transitional references to the earlier 1st April 2016 cutoff are replaced to reflect the new effective date.

Post Office Monthly Income Account: 7.7% per annum interest for deposits made on or after 1 October 2016.
The amendment inserts clause (n) into rule 8(1) of the Post Office (Monthly Income Account) Rules, 1987, fixing the interest rate at 7.7 per cent per annum for deposits made on or after 1 October 2016; the rules are made under section 15 of the Government Savings Banks Act, 1873 and are deemed to have come into force on 1 October 2016.

Income Computation and Disclosure Standards adjustments required in audit reports, with specified itemised format and ICDS disclosures.
The amendment to Form 3CD, clause 13, Part B requires auditors to indicate whether adjustments are needed to profits/losses to comply with Income Computation and Disclosure Standards and, if so, to quantify increases, decreases and net amounts across specified ICDS items and provide prescribed headwise disclosures.

Income Computation and Disclosure Standards require specified accounting rules for taxpayers using the mercantile system for computing business and other income.
Notification under section 145(2) prescribes Income Computation and Disclosure Standards (ICDS) for computing income under "Profits and gains of business or profession" and "Income from other sources". The ICDS apply to assessees following the mercantile system of accounting, excluding individuals and HUFs not required to have accounts audited under section 44AB, and are effective for assessment year 2017-18 onwards. The Annexure lists ten ICDS topics including accounting policies, inventory valuation, construction contracts, revenue recognition, tangible fixed assets, foreign exchange effects, government grants, securities, borrowing costs, and provisions and contingent liabilities.

Rescission of Income Computation and Disclosure Standards notification withdraws earlier ICDS order, preserving actions taken before rescission.
The Central Government, exercising the power under sub-section (2) of section 145 of the Income-tax Act, rescinds the earlier ICDS notification S.O. 892(E) dated 31st March, 2015, and includes a savings provision preserving actions done or omitted before rescission.

Backward area notification designates specified Andhra Pradesh districts as backward areas under sections 32 and 32AD, enabling tax benefits.
The Central Government notifies Anantapur, Chittoor, Cuddapah, Kurnool, Srikakulam, Vishakhapatnam and Vizianagaram as backward areas under the relevant provisions of the Income tax Act; the notification is effective from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.

Tax exemption for notified charitable projects extended, preserving eligibility within sanctioned cost and period limits.
The Central Government, acting on the National Committee's recommendation, extends approvals and enhanced sanctioned costs for listed charitable and welfare projects, maintaining their qualification for the project-specific tax exemption within the sanctioned cost limits and validity periods stated; certain projects are permitted scope expansions or activity modifications as specified, and funds received under Schedule VII CSR rules are expressly excluded from the exemption.

Tax deduction approvals for specified social and charitable projects enable deduction claims for approved project costs, excluding CSR funds.
Notification approves specific institutions and their eligible projects, specifying estimated project costs and the maximum amounts allowable as tax deductions under the relevant provision for the period of approval. Approvals cover projects in health, education, livelihood, disability support, women's empowerment, environment, disaster management, skill development and community development for the financial year indicated. The notification also excludes funds received under corporate social responsibility provisions from qualifying for the deduction.

Business trust income classification updated: amended tax forms require detailed categorical disclosure of distributed income components.
Amendment requires business trusts to disclose in Form 64A a segmented aggregate income statement showing amounts and proportions of interest, renting or leasing, dividend and other income, and to maintain a register of distributions to unit holders with PAN and categorical allocation. Form 64B is amended to record, for each distribution during the previous year, the date and breakdown of amounts by interest, renting or leasing, dividend and other income.

Infrastructure debt fund status granted to India Infradebt Limited subject to tax and regulatory compliance and timely return filing.
Notification designates M/s. India Infradebt Limited as an infrastructure debt fund for assessment year 2013-14 and subsequent years, subject to compliance with the Income-tax Act, the Income-tax Rules provision for infrastructure debt funds and conditions laid down by the Reserve Bank of India, and subject to filing its return of income as required by the applicable income-tax return provision on or before the due date.

Rescission of tax notification nullifies the earlier instrument and treats it as never issued, denying related tax benefits.
The Central Government, invoking powers under section 35 read with rules 5C and 5E, issued Notification No. 82/2016 rescinding Notification No. 4/2010 and withdrawing its legal effect for tax benefits under the Income tax Act and other laws; the rescission is declared retrospective to 1 April 2007 and deems the earlier notification never to have been issued for any tax benefits.

Deduction under Section 35AC: maximum allowable costs revised for listed charitable projects, affecting claims for the financial year.
This corrigendum substitutes the previously published maximum deductible amounts under Section 35AC by replacing the figures in Column (4) with those in Column (5) of the appended table for the named institutions and projects; the revised maxima and their periods of approval apply for the specified financial year. The notification remains in force for that year as to the listed projects, and the Section 35AC deduction is explicitly excluded for funds received under Schedule VII of the Companies Act and the Companies (CSR) Rules, 2014.

No tax deduction from specified income payments to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, effective from Gazette publication.
The Central Government, invoking sub-section (1F) of section 197A of the Income-tax Act, notifies that no deduction of tax shall be made from payments of the nature specified under the withholding provisions when such payments are made to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, Tirupati. This non-deduction treatment takes effect from the date of publication of the notification in the Official Gazette.

Exchange of tax information: mutual assistance on request with confidentiality and defined procedural safeguards.
Agreement obliges competent authorities of India and Seychelles to exchange, upon request, tax information foreseeably relevant to administration, assessment, collection, recovery and enforcement of taxes, including bank and beneficial ownership records, with specified procedural content for requests, duties to use available information gathering measures, timelines for acknowledgment and response, confidentiality protections limiting use and disclosure, limited grounds for declining assistance, cost allocation rules, implementation obligations, a mutual agreement procedure, and entry into force and termination provisions.