Amendment to National Savings Certificates allows electronic purchases and limits certificate transfers to a single authenticated transfer.
Amendments permit purchase of National Savings Certificates by electronic mode at post offices on a Core Banking Solution platform; provide that a holder entitled to encash an old certificate may apply in Form 1 for a replacement certificate, with the date of issue fixed as the date the duly discharged old certificate is presented; and revise transfer formalities to require striking the previous holder's name, inscribing the new holder's name under the authorised Postmaster's signature, designation and date stamp, while allowing only a single transfer between issue and discharge.

National Savings Certificates allow electronic purchase at CBS post offices and limit certificate transfer to a single occasion.
Purchases of National Savings Certificates may be made by electronic mode at post offices operating on a Core Banking Solution platform. Transfer entries must record the previous holder and show the new holder under the dated signature, designation and date stamp of the authorized Postmaster. Transfer is permitted only once between issue and discharge. Rule 23 is omitted. The amendments take effect on publication in the Official Gazette.

Post Office Monthly Income Account: monthly interest may be credited to depositor savings accounts at core banking post offices.
Amendment to the Post Office Monthly Income Account Rules, 1987 omits rule 6 and adds a proviso to rule 8(3) allowing monthly interest to be credited, where the account is at a post office on a Core Banking platform and if authorised, into the depositor's savings account at that post office or any bank branch; enacted under section 15 of the Government Savings Bank Act, 1873 and effective on Gazette publication.

Industrial Park Deduction approval granted subject to occupancy, area allocation, reporting, and compliance conditions.
Notification approves M/s Rupa Infotech & Infrastructure Limited's "Platinum Techno Park IT Park" under section 80-IA subject to annexed conditions including minimum constructed floor area, specified allocable area splits for industrial and commercial use, minimum number of industrial units and occupancy thresholds for tax benefit eligibility, ownership and activity restrictions per the Industrial Park Scheme, maintenance of separate accounts, timely tax filings, annual reporting in Form IPS II, and grounds for withdrawal or invalidation for misinformation, duplicate approvals, unapproved amendments, or other non compliance.

Income Tax Appellate Tribunal pay and allowances updated: apex/HAG scales set; judicial appointments get salary parity and pension deductions.
The amendment omits specified rules and substitutes a pay-and-allowances rule prescribing an Apex Scale of Rs. 80,000 per month for the President and Senior Vice-President, and a Higher Administrative Grade plus scale (Rs. 75,500 with increments to Rs. 80,000) for Vice-President and Members; entitles these officers to allowances and benefits admissible to Central Government officers of the appropriate category; and sets special salary and deduction rules for Presidents who are serving or retired High Court judges, with allowance parity to a sitting High Court judge of Bombay.

Avoidance of double taxation: Agreement allocates taxing rights between India and Romania and provides mechanisms to prevent fiscal evasion.
An international tax treaty between India and Romania sets rules to avoid double taxation and prevent fiscal evasion by defining residents, permanent establishment and other terms; allocating taxing rights by income category (including business profits, immovable property, dividends, interest, royalties and capital gains); providing withholding limits and exceptions where income is effectively connected with a permanent establishment or fixed base; and establishing mechanisms for elimination of double taxation, non discrimination, exchange of information, mutual agreement procedure, assistance in tax collection and limitation of benefits.

Avoidance of double taxation: treaty sets residence, permanent establishment rules and withholding limits to allocate taxing rights.
Notification under section 90 gives effect in India from 1 April 2014 to the India-Latvia Agreement for avoidance of double taxation. The Agreement applies to residents and taxes on income, defines key terms and fiscal years, prescribes residence tie breaker rules, and establishes a comprehensive permanent establishment definition with activity based thresholds and profit attribution rules. It allocates taxing rights for immovable property, business profits, shipping, dividends, interest and royalties (subject to source state withholding limits), provides methods for elimination of double taxation, and contains mutual agreement, information exchange, collection assistance and limitation of benefits provisions.

Appointment of Committee Members under the Income-tax framework institutes a three-year term for the National Committee for social and economic welfare.
The Central Government appoints fourteen specified persons as Chairman and Members of the National Committee for Promotion of Social and Economic Welfare under the Income-tax Act and Income Tax Rules, naming each appointee and their affiliation, for a tenure of three years commencing on the notification date to replace the prior committee whose term expired.

Inter-charge transfer relaxation permits transfers despite three-year in-grade rule for specified staff categories until year-end.
The Competent Authority extends the relaxation of Condition No.2(C) of the Board's Circular dated 14/05/1990, allowing inter-charge transfers of non-gazetted staff despite the three-year in-grade requirement for unmarried women posted outside their home state/CCA region; officials whose spouses are posted in a different State/CCA region; and physically handicapped quota recruits posted outside their domicile/residence State/CCA region, with the relaxation effective from the date of issue until 31.12.2014.

Estate Officer appointments designate income-tax commissioners to exercise eviction powers over departmental public premises within jurisdiction.
The Central Government, under section 3 of the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971, appoints specified Gazetted Officers as Estate Officers empowered to exercise the Act's powers and duties within their jurisdiction. The notification designates all Commissioners of Income-tax and all Chief Commissioners of Income-tax as Estate Officers for public premises under the administrative control of the Department of Revenue within the local limits of their respective jurisdictions.

Amendment to tax notification revises specified public entity entries and replaces certain Table entries accordingly.
Amendment to an income-tax notification under clause (15) of section 10 exercises the Central Government's power to alter the Table in Notification No. 61/2013 by omitting the entry at serial number 3 and substituting new entries for serial numbers 7, 8 and 13, identifying Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (REC), National Housing Bank (NHB) and NTPC Limited (formerly National Thermal Power Corporation) with their respective Table values.

Double taxation agreement amendment updates residency, dividends tax treatment, information exchange and tax collection cooperation.
Protocol amends the India-UK tax convention and, effective 27 December 2013 in India, revises treaty definitions of person and resident, replaces the Dividends article setting ceilings on source taxation where the beneficial owner is a resident of the other State, deletes Partnership provisions, expands Exchange of Information to permit foreseeably relevant information sharing, inserts Tax Examinations Abroad and Assistance in Collection of Taxes articles, and adds a Limitation of Benefits clause to deny treaty benefits when benefit seeking is a main purpose.

Double taxation agreement limits source state withholding on investment income and establishes PE, capital gains and information exchange rules.
The Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement allocates taxing rights: business profits taxable in source only when a permanent establishment exists; aircraft operation profits taxable in the state of place of effective management; dividends, interest, royalties and technical fees taxable in both residence and source but subject to maximum source state rates; capital gains on share sales taxable in the source state. The Agreement further provides for exchange of information, assistance in tax collection and anti abuse provisions to restrict treaty benefits to residents.

Foreign Portfolio Investor recognition specified, treating SEBI registered FPIs as Foreign Institutional Investors under tax law.
The Central Government designates entities registered as Foreign Portfolio Investors under the applicable regulatory regime as Foreign Institutional Investors for purposes of the Income-tax Act, aligning regulatory registration with tax classification pursuant to the Explanation to the relevant provision of the Act and effected by a notification of the tax administration.

Approval under section 35(1)(ii) for research funding imposes audit, separate accounts and certified donation reporting for institutions.
Approval is granted to Amrita Vishwa Vidhyapetham University, Kochi, as an approved organization for payments for scientific research subject to conditions: utilization of sums for scientific research carried out by faculty or enrolled students; maintenance of separate books of accounts for research receipts and expenditures with audit by a qualified accountant and submission of the audit report by the income-tax return due date; and maintenance of a separate auditor-certified statement of donations received and amounts applied for scientific research.

Approval under section 35(1)(ii): institute recognised for research funding eligibility subject to accounting and audit conditions.
Institute of Liver & Biliary Sciences, New Delhi is approved under clause (ii) of sub-section (1) of section 35 read with Rules 5C and 5E for AY 2012-13 onwards as a research institution, subject to conditions: research funds must be used for scientific research; research carried out by faculty or enrolled students; separate books of account for research receipts and expenditure must be maintained and audited by a qualified accountant with the audit report filed by the income-tax return due date; and a separate auditor-certified statement of donations and amounts applied to research must accompany the audit report. Approval may be withdrawn for failures to comply or if research is not genuine.

Establishment of a centralized income-tax risk-assessment directorate creates a dedicated unit under specified administrative control.
Creation of the Directorate of Income-Tax (Risk Assessment) establishes a centralized risk-assessment unit led by a Director General of Income Tax of the rank of Chief Commissioner; the Directorate will function as an attached office under the Director General's administrative control and its staffing will be met from the department's overall sanctioned strength.

Deduction under section 80D: Contributory Health Service Scheme of Department of Space notified for tax deduction eligibility.
The Central Government has notified the Contributory Health Service Scheme of the Department of Space for the purposes of clause (a) of sub section (2) of section 80D of the Income tax Act, 1961, such notification applying for the assessment year 2014 15 and subsequent assessment years so that contributions to the named scheme qualify for deduction under that provision.

Transmission of Settlement Commission records ensures Commissioner receives all material and evidence when applications proceed or abate.
The amendment to Rule 44CA expressly includes the Annexure and the statements within the rule's scope and substitutes sub rules to require transmission of records: where an application is not invalidated or is allowed to proceed, all material and other information produced by the assessee before the Settlement Commission must be sent to the Commissioner to enable his report; where proceedings abate, the Commission must send all material and other information produced by the assessee and the results of any enquiry held or evidence recorded in the course of proceedings to the Commissioner.

Grant-in-aid exemption: central government grants and interest to Orissa State AIDS Control Society exempt subject to conditions.
Notification designates the Orissa State AIDS Control Society for tax recognition of amounts received as grants-in-aid from the Central Government and interest earned thereon, subject to conditions that the Society does not engage in commercial activity, that its activities and the nature of the specified income remain unchanged during the financial year, and that it files its return of income as prescribed; grants must be received and applied according to prevailing rules and regulations.