Negative list of specified goods narrows eligibility for investment tax incentives and consolidates explanatory clarifications in law.
SCHEDULE-XIII establishes a negative list of fifteen specified articles excluded from certain investment-linked tax incentives, consolidating explanatory clarifications into the main text and streamlining obsolete entries. Referenced to section 45(2)(c) and (d) of the Bill, the Schedule preserves policy continuity-excluding luxury, non-essential, and public-health-sensitive goods-while aiming to reduce interpretive ambiguity and improve legislative clarity. The drafting changes and omissions reflect a modernization and simplification of the earlier SCHEDULE 11, though some item inclusions and obsolete entries indicate a continuing need for periodic review and alignment with broader tax and policy frameworks.

Mineral classification determines tax incentive eligibility for prospecting and extraction, preserving continuity but requiring clearer definitions.
Statutory classification of minerals determines which mineral activities qualify for tax incentives under income tax law by listing specified minerals and associated groups; SCHEDULE XII (2025) reproduces SCHEDULE 07 (1961) verbatim in substance, enumerating 27 minerals and 16 associated groups as the determinative reference for eligibility of capital expenditure on prospecting, extraction and processing, while leaving interpretive issues (broad terms, technical thresholds, typographical inconsistencies) that may require periodic review and clearer definitions.

Recognised Provident Fund rules modernised, clarifying recognition conditions, tax treatment of contributions, portability, and trustee obligations.
The Schedule modernises the framework governing Recognised Provident Funds, approved superannuation and gratuity funds by restating recognition and approval conditions (employment location, fixed contribution structure, irrevocable trust, permitted assets), procedures for recognition or withdrawal, trustee recordkeeping and appeals, and explicit tax rules: taxable employer contributions above prescribed rates and excess interest, deductibility of employee contributions, exclusion of accumulated balances only upon meeting service-duration or contingency conditions or permitted transfers, retroactive taxation where conditions fail, and mandatory tax deduction at source.

Insurance business taxation: updated rules tie taxable profits to actuarial surplus and reorganized disallowance cross-references.
Schedule-XIV requires separate computation of life insurance profits by annual averaging of actuarial surplus/deficit from the last inter-valuation period, with add-backs of inadmissible expenditures under the reorganized disallowance provisions; it updates crediting rules for tax paid during multi-year valuation periods, prescribes profit computation and specified add-backs and deductions for other insurance business (including treatment of investment gains/losses and reserves for unexpired risks), and provides a proportional premium-based deeming rule for non-resident insurers, while streamlining interpretative definitions.

Removal of difficulties powers permit executive adaptation of tax law during statutory transition subject to safeguards and oversight.
Clause 535 grants the Central Government power to issue orders to remove implementation difficulties in the Income Tax Bill, 2025, provided such orders are not inconsistent with the Act; it expressly permits adaptations of the prior law for assessments up to the tax year ending 31 March 2026, limits the power to three years from 1 April 2026, and requires that every order be laid before both Houses of Parliament.

Repeal and savings provisions ensure continuity of tax rights, proceedings and carry forwards during statutory transition to the new code.
Clause 536 formally repeals the Income tax Act, 1961 while preserving prior operations, rights, obligations, pending proceedings, recoveries and administrative instruments by saving elections, carry forward of losses and credits, conditional deduction rules, continuation of penal and search proceedings initiated before commencement, and by applying Section 6 of the General Clauses Act, thereby ensuring legal and administrative continuity during transition to the new tax code.

Legislative oversight of delegated tax rules: parliamentary laying enables modification or annulment while preserving prior actions.
Clause 534 mandates that specified subordinate tax instruments-rules under the Act, Appellate Tribunal procedural rules, and notifications under designated provisions including Chapter XIII G-be laid before each House of Parliament promptly for a cumulative thirty days. If both Houses agree within the following session to modify or annul an instrument, it will thereafter take effect only in the modified form or be of no effect, while a without prejudice clause preserves the validity of actions previously taken under that instrument.

Rule-making powers: Board may frame subordinate tax rules under government control, with limits on prejudicial retrospective application.
Clause 533 vests the Central Board of Direct Taxes with broad rule-making authority, subject to Central Government control, to frame subordinate legislation for carrying out the purposes of the Income Tax Act. It prescribes an illustrative list of subjects - including income ascertainment, depreciation, procedural matters, electronic filing and international taxation - empowers estimation methods where precise computation is impracticable, and restricts retrospective rules so as not to prejudice assessees unless expressly permitted, all while remaining subject to ultra vires review.

Rescission of tax exemptions enables government withdrawal of legacy territorial tax benefits, raising procedural fairness and treaty questions.
Clause 531 empowers the Central Government to rescind previously granted tax exemptions, rate reductions, or modifications for specified Union territories by general or special order. Focused solely on withdrawal, the provision applies to any assessee or class of assessees and to part or whole of income, is not time limited, and lacks statutory procedural safeguards, leaving only administrative law principles as constraints and raising questions about retrospectivity, legitimate expectations, and treaty-based concessions.

Interim tax charging provision ensures continuity, applying the more favourable provision to taxpayers pending enactment.
Clause 530 provides that if, on the first day of a tax year, no Central Act has been enacted to charge income tax, the Act shall operate until such provision is made as if either the provision in force in the preceding tax year or the provision proposed in the Bill before Parliament were in force, whichever is more favourable to the assessee, thereby ensuring continuity of assessment and collection pending enactment.

Power to frame schemes expands executive authority to enable faceless, technology-driven tax administration and modify statutory application.
Clause 532 grants the Central Government authority to make schemes for any purpose of the Act to enhance efficiency, transparency and accountability by eliminating taxpayer interface and optimising resources, and to issue notifications modifying the application of any provision of the Act to give effect to such schemes; it also permits amendment of schemes under the Income-tax Act, 1961 and requires that notifications be laid before each House of Parliament.

Withdrawal of approvals: authorities may rescind statutory tax approvals after recording reasons and giving a fair hearing.
Clause 529 authorises the Central Government, the Board, or income-tax authorities to withdraw any approval under the Act at any time after recording reasons and giving the assessee a reasonable opportunity of being heard, even if the enabling provision lacks an express withdrawal clause. The provision mandates recorded reasons and a hearing but leaves "approval" undefined, does not specify substantive grounds for withdrawal, and does not prescribe a limitation period, which may raise uncertainty and prompt judicial scrutiny of procedural adequacy.

Condonation of delay: authority may excuse late tax approvals for sufficient cause, subject to discretionary review and safeguards.
Clause 528 permits the Central Government or the Board to condone delays in obtaining approvals required before a specified date under the Act for "sufficient cause," vesting discretionary power in the same authority to excuse late applications across a broad range of approvals while leaving "sufficient cause," procedural steps, time limits and appeal mechanisms undefined.

Executive discretion in tax exemptions for mineral oil sector enables tailored fiscal relief to investors and service providers.
Clause 527 vests the Central Government with discretionary power to grant exemptions, reductions or other modifications in income tax for persons engaged in prospecting, extraction or production of mineral oils, including operators, service providers, suppliers and their employees; notifications must be laid before Parliament and key terms like "mineral oil" and "status" are defined or cross referenced in the Bill.

Bar on civil suits prevents civil court challenges to tax proceedings, preserving exclusive statutory remedies and good faith immunity.
The provision bars any civil suit to set aside or modify "any proceeding taken or order made" under the Act and grants immunity to the Government and its officers for acts done or intended to be done in good faith, channeling challenges to the statutory appellate and revisionary framework while preserving writ review for ultra vires, mala fide, or constitutional breaches.

Authorisation for multi-person searches: single authorisations allowed, but assessments must be made separately for each person.
Clause 525 permits a single search or requisition authorisation to name multiple persons without requiring separate instruments, and provides that such joint naming does not, by itself, constitute authorisation against an AOP or BOI. Notwithstanding a consolidated authorisation, assessment or reassessment must be made separately in the name of each person mentioned, preserving individualized tax liability determinations while allowing administrative consolidation of search procedures.

Rebuttable presumption in tax searches shifts evidentiary burden to taxpayers and explicitly covers virtual digital assets.
Clause 524 establishes a rebuttable presumption that items found in search or survey-books, documents, money, bullion, jewellery, other valuables and virtual digital assets-belong to the person in whose possession they were found; that contents of books and documents are true; that signatures and handwriting are authentic; and that stamped, executed or attested documents were duly executed, with identical presumptions applying to items requisitioned to officers as if discovered in a search.

Deeming validity of notice: participation or cooperation bars later objections unless raised before assessment completion.
Clause 523 creates a deeming fiction that an assessee's appearance in proceedings or co-operation in an inquiry shall be treated as valid and timely service of any statutory notice, and it precludes the assessee from later objecting that the notice was not served, not timely served, or served improperly; however, this preclusion does not apply where the assessee raises the objection before completion of the assessment or reassessment.

Substantial compliance preserves tax proceedings despite minor procedural errors when the instrument fulfils legislative intent.
Clause 522 preserves the validity of returns, assessments, notices, summonses and other proceedings despite clerical, typographical or similar procedural defects, provided the document or action is in substance and effect in conformity with the intent and purposes of the Act; it does not cure defects that go to jurisdiction, authority, limitation, or breaches of natural justice, and mirrors Section 292B to maintain continuity of judicial interpretation and application.

Exclusion of probationary relief bars adult tax offenders from probationary provisions, preserving minors' exception and updating criminal code reference.
The clause mandates that the Probation of Offenders Act and the analogous provision in the new criminal procedure code shall not apply to persons convicted under the Income Tax Bill, 2025, except for those under eighteen, thereby removing judicial discretion for adult tax offenders, updating statutory references, and preserving a minors' exception while raising procedural questions on age determination and scope.