Interest on TDS/TCS defaults to be payable as per Assessing Officer's order, clarifying computation and payment obligation.
The measure amends the TDS and TCS interest provisions to provide that where the Assessing Officer makes an order for a default under the relevant sections, the interest shall be paid by the person in accordance with the order made by the Assessing Officer, clarifying computation and payment obligation for continuing defaults.

Actual payment requirement: conversion of interest into debentures or deferred instruments will not qualify as payment under section 43B.
The proposed amendment clarifies that conversion of interest payable to specified financial institutions, NBFCs, scheduled banks or co-operative banks into debentures or any other instrument deferring payment shall not be deemed to have been actually paid for purposes of claiming a deduction under Section 43B, thereby excluding constructive discharge by conversion from qualifying as payment.

Disallowance under section 14A clarified: provisions apply even when exempt income has not accrued, barring related deductions.
Clarification that disallowance under section 14A applies even where exempt income has not accrued, arisen or been received in the relevant previous year if expenditure was incurred in relation to such exempt income; insertion of an Explanation and a non obstante clause to ensure no deduction is allowed in relation to exempt income. Proposed amendment to section 37(1) adds an Explanation that expenditure which is an offence or prohibited by law includes offences under foreign law, benefits whose acceptance breaches governing rules of the recipient, and payments to compound offences.

Successor liability protections validate predecessor assessments and allow modified returns and demand adjustments after reorganisation.
The proposals validate assessments and proceedings conducted against a predecessor by deeming them made on the successor, allow entities undergoing reorganisation to file modified returns for the period between the reorganisation's effective date and the final order, and establish a mechanism to modify outstanding tax demands to give effect to directions of the competent authority in restructuring.

Tax treatment of cess and surcharge: centrally imposed cesses as additional surcharges are non deductible under Section 40(a)(ii).
The document addresses whether amounts called cess or surcharge are deductible under Section 40(a)(ii), which disallows sums paid on account of any rate or tax levied on business profits. It explains that centrally imposed cesses described in Finance Acts as additional surcharges function as part of income tax and therefore fall within the disallowance, contrasts that with state cesses which historically were treated as allowable, and states a retrospective explanatory amendment will clarify that "tax" includes any surcharge or cess by whatever name called for purposes of the provision.

Dispute Resolution Committee decisions: Assessing Officer must give effect to DRC resolutions while preserving taxpayer choice of forum.
The amendment enables the Assessing Officer to pass a final order giving effect to the Dispute Resolution Committee's resolution: after the DRC determines assessed income the AO must implement the DRC's directions, which may include initiation of penalty proceedings and issuance of a demand notice; a taxpayer may opt for the DRC instead of the alternate dispute resolution panel and the AO's final order shall conform to the DRC resolution.

Deferment of Revenue Appeals on identical legal questions - procedure to postpone filing pending final decision with assessee consent.
The proposed section 158AB allows a collegium of senior tax commissioners to advise non-filing of a revenue appeal where an identical question of law is pending in another case; the Commissioner must then direct the Assessing Officer to apply in prescribed form to defer filing of the appeal until the other case attains finality, provided the assessee accepts that the questions are identical, and may later direct an appeal if the final decision is not consistent with the relevant case.

Individual tax regime option: simplified slab structure introduced affecting taxpayer choices and surcharge applicability and cess treatment.
An optional individual tax regime and a separate optional cooperative society regime take effect for the assessment year 2021-22 on satisfaction of specified conditions, while Part I of the First Schedule preserves baseline rates for individuals by age categories, associations, firms, local authorities and companies (including a lower corporate rate for qualifying domestic companies). A graduated surcharge framework with marginal relief is specified across taxpayer classes, and a Health and Education Cess is levied on tax inclusive of surcharge with no marginal relief for the cess.

Tax withholding for non-salary incomes: surcharge and cess adjustments affect non-resident and company payees during fiscal year period.
Rates for deduction of income-tax at source on non-salary incomes for FY 2021-22 remain as specified in Part II of the First Schedule to the Finance Bill, 2021, unchanged from the prior year; applicable statutory sections continue to govern deduction. A graduated surcharge applies to TDS for specified non-resident recipients, companies and certain entities with caps for dividend and specially taxed income components, and a Health and Education Cess is levied on income tax including surcharge for non-residents and foreign companies.

Income-tax withholding and advance tax rules clarified for salaries, with surcharge structure and universal cess applied on computed tax.
Part III of the First Schedule prescribes rates for tax withholding from salaries, computation of advance tax and charging of tax in special assessments. It sets rate schedules for individuals (including senior categories) and other persons, specifies surcharge slabs with marginal relief, provides an optional alternative tax regime for eligible individuals and HUFs, and outlines separate rate and surcharge rules for co-operative societies, firms, local authorities and companies, with a universal health and education cess applied on tax inclusive of surcharge.

LTC cash exemption allowed for prescribed consumer expenditures subject to GST, electronic payment and receipt conditions.
A new proviso to clause (5) of section 10 will exempt cash allowances in lieu of LTC for the assessment year beginning 1 April 2021, subject to conditions: option for deemed LTC fare for the 2018-21 block; specified expenditure on goods or services taxed at an aggregate GST rate of twelve percent or more from GST-registered vendors during the specified period; payment via prescribed account-payee or electronic modes with tax invoice; an exemption cap per person limited to the lesser of a fixed ceiling or one-third of specified expenditure; and coordination with employer-provided amounts.

Affordable rental housing deduction expanded to include government notified rental projects, and time limit for approvals extended.
The deduction equal to one hundred percent of profits and gains from the qualifying housing business is extended to include rental housing projects notified by the Central Government that meet conditions in that notification, and the outer time limit for project approval determining eligibility is extended so that the same temporal cut-off applies to these affordable rental housing projects.

Tax incentives for IFSC units expand exemptions and relaxed conditions for eligible funds, offshore banking investment divisions.
Proposed amendments extend tax exemptions and relaxed conditions to units and fund managers located in an International Financial Services Centre by permitting modification of section 9A conditions, treating the investment division of an offshore banking unit as a specified fund for section 10 and section 115AD purposes (subject to Category III AIF registration and separate books), and by inserting exemptions for non-deliverable forward transfers, aircraft-lease royalties, and capital gains arising on relocation of funds where Original Fund, Relocation and Resultant Fund meet prescribed conditions; consequential amendments to sections 47, 49, 56, 79 and 80LA are provided.

Zero coupon bond issuance by infrastructure debt funds permitted, triggering tax-rule amendments and retrospective withholding changes.
Amendment to the definition of zero coupon bond extends eligible issuers to include notified infrastructure debt funds, enabling those funds to issue instruments with no payment or benefit before maturity; implementing amendments to Income-tax Rules (including Rules 2F and 8B) and an associated amendment to withholding provisions in section 194A are contemplated, with specified staged effective dates and Official Gazette notifications to operationalise the changes.

Tax neutral conversion of cooperative banks preserves deduction apportionment and treats asset and share transfers as non-transfers.
Conversion of primary co-operative (urban co-operative) banks into banking companies is brought within the business reorganisation provisions so that section 44DB's apportionment of deductions between predecessor and successor applies; transfers of capital assets and allotment of shares on conversion are not to be treated as transfers under section 47, effected by amendments to section 44DB and clauses (vica)/(vicb) of section 47, effective 1 April 2021.

Strategic disinvestment: clarifying demerger treatment and extending carry forward benefits to enable restructuring before transfer of control.
Amendments treat certain reconstructions or splits of a public sector company as demergers where assets transfer and the resultant entity remains a public sector company, and extend carry forward and set off benefits to amalgamations involving public sector and erstwhile public sector companies subject to conditions, limits on deemed losses and allowances, and notified requirements; new explanations define control, erstwhile public sector company, and strategic disinvestment.

Interest deduction for affordable home loans extended to cover loans sanctioned within the revised outer date, effective for assessment year 2022 23.
The amendment extends the outer sanction date for loans eligible for the interest deduction for affordable residential house property while retaining existing conditions: availability to first time home buyers, limitation to interest on loans from financial institutions, and a cap on the stamp duty value of the property. The extension allows loans sanctioned within the revised period to qualify and takes effect from 1 April 2022, applying to the corresponding assessment year.

Startup incorporation date extension expands eligibility for tax deduction and capital gains reinvestment benefits through amended provisions.
The proposal extends temporal eligibility for startup tax benefits by amending the startup deduction and capital gains reinvestment exemption: the outer date for incorporation of eligible start ups is extended to enlarge eligibility for the hundred percent deduction (subject to the turnover ceiling and three year within ten year rule), and the outer date for qualifying transfers of residential property is extended so more capital gains can be reinvested in eligible start ups; both amendments take effect from the start of the fiscal year.

Safe harbour threshold for residential transfers widened, so circle rate counts only where valuation gap is materially large.
The safe-harbour margin for specified first-time allotments of residential units is increased, so declared consideration will be treated as full value where the stamp duty value does not exceed the enhanced margin; correspondingly, stamp duty value will be imputed as income only when the gap between agreement value and circle rate exceeds that margin. The change applies to transfers meeting the statutory temporal, allotment and consideration conditions and takes effect from the stated assessment year onward.

Senior citizen filing exemption: qualifying pension recipients relieved from return filing when bank computes and deducts tax.
The amendment exempts resident senior citizens aged seventy five or older from filing income tax returns if their sole income is pension and optional interest from the same prescribed bank, provided they furnish a prescribed declaration. The specified bank must compute taxable income after allowable deductions and rebate and deduct tax at source; once tax is deducted for the assessment year, the senior citizen is not required to file a return for that year.