Modified return requirement ensures tax assessments follow business reorganisation orders and must be adjusted accordingly.
Clause 314 mandates that a successor entity furnish a modified return within the prescribed period after a business reorganisation order, limited to changes necessitated by that order, and requires the Assessing Officer to modify completed assessments or complete pending assessments in accordance with the order and the modified return; ordinary Act provisions apply unless expressly overridden, and key terms including business reorganisation and successor are defined with coverage of insolvency-sanctioned reorganisations.

Continuity of tax liability on business succession: successor taxed post succession and may bear predecessor's unrecoverable dues.
Clause 313 mandates that the predecessor is assessed for income up to the succession date and the successor for income thereafter in the same tax year; pending proceedings against the predecessor are deemed on the successor; if the predecessor cannot be found or dues are irrecoverable, assessment and recovery may be effected on the successor, who may then recover amounts from the predecessor. The clause explicitly includes gains from transfer in "income" and defines "pendency" for insolvency and tribunal contexts, aligning tax continuity with insolvency processes.

Executor's right of recovery: statutory mechanism to reclaim taxes paid from the estate, subject to procedural adaptations.
Clause 312(7) makes Section 305 applicable to executors "so far as may be" in respect of tax paid or payable by them, treating executors as representative assessees and thereby enabling statutory recovery of taxes from the estate or beneficiaries while permitting necessary adaptations of procedures and raising questions on priority and apportionment in insolvent or contested estates.

Taxation of deceased estates: executor liable for estate income until complete distribution, with legatee inclusion on distributed income.
Clause 312 taxes income of a deceased person's estate in the hands of the executor or administrator, with a single executor assessed as an individual and multiple executors as an association of persons; the executor is deemed to have the deceased's residential status for the tax year of death, assessments of estate income are separate from the executor's personal returns, separate assessments apply for each tax year or part thereof until complete distribution, and income distributed to specific legatees is excluded from the estate's income and included in the legatees' income.

Joint and several liability of LLP partners applies where tax dues cannot be recovered from the LLP, subject to exculpation.
Clause 331 makes every person who was a partner of an LLP during the relevant tax year jointly and severally liable for any tax, penalty, interest, fees or other sums payable under the Income tax law that cannot be recovered from the LLP or relevant persons, expressly overriding LLP Act protections. Liability is triggered only after non recovery from the LLP and is rebuttable: a partner can escape liability by proving that the non recovery was not due to his gross neglect, misfeasance, or breach of duty.

Taxation of AOPs/BOIs with unknown member shares: maximum marginal rate applied to deter tax avoidance.
Clause 311 mandates taxation of an AOP/BOI's total income at the maximum marginal rate where members' shares are indeterminate or unknown, and requires taxation at any higher rate applicable to any member; when shares are determinate, it taxes the whole income at the maximum marginal rate if a member's other income exceeds the exemption threshold, while portions attributable to members chargeable at higher rates are taxed at those higher rates, with a deeming provision treating shares as indeterminate if so at formation or thereafter.

Firm taxation: firms taxed on total income at rates set annually in the Finance Act.
Clause 324 charges a firm which is assessable as a firm with tax on its total income at the rate specified in the Finance Act for the relevant year, applying only to entities that qualify as firms and requiring alignment with definitional, computation and allocation provisions elsewhere in the Act.

Representative assessee liability: authorities may use the same remedies against property under a representative's control to recover tax dues.
Clause 304(5) of the Income Tax Bill, 2025, mirrors Section 167 by empowering the Assessing Officer to exercise the same remedies in the same manner against all property vested in, or under the control or management of, a representative assessee as would be available against a person directly liable for tax, covering all kinds of property and applying regardless of whether the tax demand is raised against the representative or the beneficiary.

Direct assessment empowers tax authorities to bypass representative assessees and pursue beneficiaries directly, preserving recovery powers.
Clause 304(3) (Income Tax Bill, 2025) and Section 166 (Income tax Act, 1961) are non obstante provisions empowering the AO to directly assess and recover tax from the person entitled to income, irrespective of the existence of a representative assessee; these powers are discretionary, cover both assessment and recovery, preserve procedural safeguards for the beneficiary, and operate as alternative (not cumulative) mechanisms to prevent revenue loss due to procedural technicalities or representative non cooperation.

Proportional apportionment clarifies how beneficiaries' trust distributions are computed for tax using a statutory formula.
Clause 304(4) prescribes that where only part of a trust's income is chargeable, the taxable portion of a beneficiary's receipts is determined by multiplying the beneficiary's receipt by the ratio of the trust's chargeable part to its whole income (A x C / B), thereby codifying proportional apportionment and imposing related recordkeeping and reporting obligations on trustees and representative assessees.

Taxation of oral trusts: income charged at the maximum marginal rate regardless of other provisions, deterring informal trusts.
Income from oral trusts is taxed at the maximum marginal rate under both Section 164A and Clause 308, with a non-obstante clause to override other provisions; Clause 308 modernises the framework by referring to the person appointed under an oral trust and centralising the definition, thereby broadening potential liability and simplifying enforcement while raising disclosure and evidentiary burdens on assessees.

Taxation of indeterminate-beneficiary trusts: highest marginal rate applies unless narrow bona fide exceptions permit AOP rate.
Clause 307 taxes income of representative assessees at the maximum marginal rate where beneficiaries or their shares are not expressly identifiable in the trust instrument or court order, with deeming provisions treating ambiguity as indeterminacy. Exceptions permit taxation at the AOP rate for beneficiaries below exemption limits and not under other trusts, sole will-declared trusts, bona fide pre-1970 family trusts for dependents, and bona fide employee benefit funds. Business profits are generally taxed at the maximum rate, except for sole testamentary trusts for dependent relatives which may get AOP treatment.

Agent of non resident: expanded definition enables tax assessment and recovery from connected persons and intermediaries.
The clause defines who may be regarded as an agent of a non resident for tax purposes, listing persons employed by or acting for the non resident, those having any business connection with the non resident, persons from or through whom the non resident receives income, trustees, and any person acquiring a capital asset in India by transfer; it excludes certain brokers and requires an opportunity of being heard before treating any person as an agent.

Representative assessee rights to recover or retain tax protect intermediaries and permit certified withholding pending final liability.
Clause 305 grants a representative assessee a statutory right to recover from the principal any sum paid under the Act or to retain an equivalent amount from monies in his possession; allows withholding of an estimated liability prior to assessment; authorizes obtaining an Assessing Officer's certificate to fix the amount eligible for retention pending settlement; and limits recoverable liability to the certificate amount except insofar as the representative then holds additional assets of the principal.

Representative assessee liability clarified: apportionment formula and direct beneficiary assessment enhance tax recovery powers.
Representative assessees are treated as if represented income were received beneficially by them, making them liable to assessment and recovery in their name in a representative capacity; a bar on double assessment applies. The Assessing Officer may directly assess or recover tax from the beneficiary, and may use the same remedies against property under the representative's control as against property of any taxpayer. For partly chargeable trust income the Clause prescribes a formula to apportion each beneficiary's taxable share, while omitting the prior maximum marginal rate rule for trustees' business income.

Representative assessee provisions modernized: agents, guardians and trustees held liable for tax compliance and assessment.
Clause 303 designates specified persons as representative assessees-agents of non-residents, guardians/managers for minors and persons of unsound mind, court-appointed managers and trustees of written and oral trusts-and deems each representative to be an assessee for all purposes, including filing returns, payment of tax, and submission to assessment and appeal proceedings; it also provides a deeming mechanism allowing informal trusts to be treated as written trusts when a written statement is submitted to the Assessing Officer within prescribed timelines.

Continuity of tax liability: legal representatives remain liable for deceased's tax obligations, limited to the estate, with exceptions.
Clause 302 establishes that the legal representative is liable for any sum the deceased would have owed, is deemed to be an assessee, and that pending or potential assessments may be continued or initiated against the legal representative; liability is ordinarily limited to the estate's capacity but personal liability arises where the representative alienates or charges estate assets while liabilities remain, capped at the value of the asset so alienated.

Saving clause preserves general tax provisions in search assessments unless the special chapter expressly overrides them.
Clause 300 and Section 158BH operate as a saving clause preserving applicability of all general provisions of the Act to assessments under the special search chapter, except where the special chapter expressly provides otherwise; this ensures procedural, substantive and remedial provisions (notice, appeals, penalties, recovery, limitation rules) continue to apply unless specifically overridden, while raising interpretive issues about the extent of overriding effect, classification of provisions as procedural or substantive, and transitional application under the new Bill.

Authority for block assessments: senior officer decision plus prior supervisory approval required to validate search based assessments.
Orders assessing undisclosed income in search cases must be passed by an Assessing Officer at or above specified senior ranks and only with the previous approval of a higher authority; Clause 299 of the Income Tax Bill, 2025 carries forward this core framework from Section 158BG while aligning applicability to the commencement of the new Act. The requirement that approvals reflect a genuine application of mind, clear documentation of the approval process, and management of transitional cases are central operative obligations.

Interest and penalty in search assessments: revised rules mandate monthly interest and a fixed half tax penalty with a compliance safe harbor.
Clause 298 retains the Section 158BFA framework by charging simple interest on tax determined on undisclosed income for delay or non-filing after a search notice and imposing a fixed penalty equal to fifty percent of tax on undisclosed income, while providing a safe harbor where return is filed, tax paid with evidence and no appeal is filed; procedural safeguards include a right to be heard, supervisory approval for larger penalties, exclusion of rehearing and court stay periods from limitation, and mandatory communication of penalty orders to the Assessing Officer.