TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
Comparison of section 375 "Procedure when assessee claims identical question of law is pending before High Court or Supreme Court." between the Income-Tax Act, 2025 (as passed) and the Income-Tax Bill, 2025 (as originally introduced)
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....a question pending before a High Court or the Supreme Court in another tax-year; if accepted, the Assessing Officer or appellate authority may apply the eventual decision in the pending matter and the assessee waives raising that question on further appeal. This measure is aimed at avoiding repetitive appeals and conserving adjudicatory resources; it affects taxpayers, revenue officers and appellate authorities. Effective date: Not stated in the document. Background & Scope Statutory hooks: Clause 375 sits within Part B - "Special provisions for avoiding repetitive appeals" - of the Income Tax Bill, 2025. It interacts expressly with certain provisions of the Income-tax Act, 1961 by reference to sections governing appeals and references to....
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.... the appellate authority, "in such form and manner, as prescribed", undertaking that if the authority applies the final decision in the other case to the relevant case, the assessee will not raise the question of law in any appeal or subsequent appeal before a higher forum. * Where a declaration is furnished to an appellate authority, that authority must call for a report from the Assessing Officer on the correctness of the assessee's claim and must allow the Assessing Officer an opportunity to be heard if requested. * The Assessing Officer or the appellate authority may admit or reject the claim by a written order; such order is final and not subject to appeal or revision. * If admitted, the authority may dispose of the relevant ....
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....isos beyond the admission/rejection mechanism are included. The clause contemplates finality of the order under sub-section (3) - "shall be final and shall not be called in question in any proceeding by way of appeal or revision under this Act." There is no textual carve-out for interests of third parties, no express time-limit for filing the declaration, and no express provision about consequences where the other case's decision is adverse to the assessee (beyond the amendment power in sub-section (6)). Illustrations * Example 1: A assesses for AY 2023-24 has a legal question on the taxability of a particular transaction. The same legal question in relation to AY 2020-21 is pending as a reference before the High Court under s.256 of....
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.... of the Income-tax Act, 2025) shows only minor drafting and stylistic differences; no substantive change in legal effect is discernible from the texts provided. * Prescriptive language: The Bill (Clause 375(1)) uses "in such form and manner, as prescribed," whereas the enacted Section 375 uses "in such form and manner, as may be prescribed." * Practical impact: purely stylistic; the enacted version makes explicit the usual delegated-legislation formulation but produces no material change in procedure. * References to internal cross-references: The Bill refers to "such case being hereafter in this section referred to as the relevant case" and "such case being hereafter in this section referred to as the other case." The enacted section....
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....es to the admission/rejection decision: that exclusion of review creates risk if the authority admits or rejects incorrectly; however the clause makes that decision unappealable under the Act. * Record-keeping/evidence: The clause mandates a report from the Assessing Officer where a declaration is submitted to an appellate authority - implying the need for contemporaneous records documenting the identical nature of the legal question, pleadings/orders in the "other case", and timelines. Taxpayers should preserve correspondence and orders establishing pendency of the other case before the specified higher courts. (Procedural specifics such as timelines/forms are Not stated in the document.) Key Takeaways * Clause 375 provides an adminis....