Taxation of dividends shifts to shareholders, abolishing payer-level tax and imposing withholding and limited deductions under transitional rules.
Removal of Dividend Distribution Tax and return to a classical system makes dividend and income from units taxable in the hands of shareholders and unit holders at their applicable rates, removes payer-level additional tax and related exemptions, limits deductions against such income to interest expense capped at twenty per cent, reallocates taxability for business trusts and interposed vehicles to unit holders, and introduces expanded withholding obligations and transitional rules phasing out payer-level taxation.

Significant Economic Presence deferred while source rules target India-directed digital ad and data revenue for taxation.
The proposal defers the Significant Economic Presence concept until 1 April 2022 (applicable AY 2022-23), pending threshold rules; clarifies that India-sourced income includes advertising targeted at Indian customers and sale of India-collected data (effective 1 April 2021), aligns the indirect transfer exception for investments by foreign portfolio investors with SEBI's revised FPI regulations (effective 1 April 2020), expands the definition of royalty to include receipts from sale/distribution/exhibition of cinematographic films (effective 1 April 2021), and empowers the Board to prescribe income attribution rules under section 295 with staggered effective dates.

Treaty anti abuse preamble aligns DTAA purpose with MLI to prevent treaty shopping via statutory amendment.
The proposal amends the statutory power to enter into DTAAs so that agreements for the avoidance of double taxation must be made without creating opportunities for non taxation or reduced taxation through tax evasion or avoidance, including treaty shopping arrangements aimed at indirect benefit of residents of other jurisdictions, thereby implementing the MLI's anti abuse preamble into domestic treaty making authority.

Penalty for false invoices: levy equals aggregate false or omitted entries and also targets those who cause them.
A new provision proposes a penalty for false entries under GST where penalty equals the aggregate amount of false or omitted entries used to evade tax; liability extends to persons who cause such entries. "False entries" include forged or falsified documents, invoices without actual supply or receipt of goods or services, and invoices involving non existent persons. The amendment is intended to deter fraudulent ITC claims and takes effect from the fiscal implementation date in the Finance Bill.

Contract manufacturing classification: raw materials supplied by assessee or associate treated as work under section 194C, preventing tax avoidance.
Amendment treats contract manufacturing where raw material is provided by the assessee or its associate as work under section 194C, closing a compliance gap exploited by sourcing materials through related parties, and defines "associate" by reference to the relational test in clause (b) of sub section (2) of section 40A.

Tax residency thresholds tightened: visit exemption reduced, not ordinarily resident test tightened and deeming rule for citizens without foreign tax liability.
The proposal reduces the special visit exemption for Indian citizens and persons of Indian origin so shorter periods of presence in India count towards residency; replaces the existing multi-part test for not ordinarily resident status with a single prior non-residence stability test; and deems an Indian citizen who is not liable to tax in any other jurisdiction to be resident in India, aimed at preventing arrangements that result in global non taxation.

Taxpayer's Charter empowers the tax board to adopt a charter and issue directions and guidelines to tax authorities for administration.
Insertion of section 119A empowers the Board to adopt and declare a Taxpayer's Charter and to issue orders, instructions, directions or guidelines to other income tax authorities for administration of the Charter, with the amendment taking effect from 1st April, 2020.

E-penalty scheme to digitalise penalty proceedings, remove in-person AO interface and enable dynamic jurisdiction in penalty imposition.
A proposed amendment would insert a sub-section empowering the Central Government to notify an e-penalty scheme to digitalise penalty proceedings, remove in-person interface between Assessing Officers and assessees insofar as technologically feasible, optimise resources by centralised speciality, and provide for penalties to be imposed under a dynamic jurisdiction model by one or more income-tax authorities; the Government may notify exceptions or adaptations to existing jurisdictional and procedural provisions and must lay notifications before Parliament.

Stay conditions for appeals: security deposit requirement limits extensions and total stay period before tribunal under tax law.
The ITAT may grant a stay only if the assessee deposits or furnishes security equal to a prescribed proportion of the tax, interest, fee, penalty or other sums; extensions of stay are available only on application showing delay not attributable to the assessee and upon compliance with the deposit/security condition, and the total period of stay is subject to an overall statutory cap. Effective from 1 April 2020.

Survey approval requirements: amended hierarchy now mandates higher-level approval before conducting surveys under section 133A.
Amendment introduces a tiered prior-approval regime for exercise of survey powers: where information is received from a prescribed authority, lower-ranked officers require prior approval from the intermediate supervisory tier; in other cases, officers below the senior administrative tier require prior approval from that senior tier. The change raises the approval threshold in non-prescribed-authority cases and takes effect from the stated effective date.

E-appeal scheme to enable faceless electronic appellate proceedings and permit government to modify appellate procedure.
A proposed insertion to section 250 empowers the Central Government to notify an e-appeal scheme to enable electronic disposal of appeals, eliminate in-person interface between Commissioner (Appeals) and appellants to the extent technologically feasible, optimise resource use through economies of scale and functional specialisation, and introduce an appellate system with dynamic jurisdiction. The power includes directing, by notification, that statutory provisions on jurisdiction and appellate procedure may not apply or may apply with specified exceptions, modifications and adaptations, and requires such notifications to be laid before both Houses of Parliament.

Dispute Resolution Panel expansion: added non-resident taxpayers can seek DRP review when AO proposes prejudicial assessment variations.
Amendment expands the Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) procedure to require the Assessing Officer to forward a draft assessment order when proposing any variation prejudicial to the assessee, permitting the taxpayer to file objections with the DRP whose binding directions govern the AO. The definition of eligible assessee is widened to include non-resident persons other than companies alongside foreign companies and cases with transfer pricing adjustments.

E-assessment scheme expanded to include best-judgement assessments and extend direction power through a temporary sunset period.
Amendment expands the E-assessment Scheme, 2019 to include best judgement assessment within the scope of the scheme-making power under sub-section (3A) of section 143, and permits the Central Government to issue directions under the provision for a prescribed limited period, effective from the commencement of the stated assessment year.

Commodity Transaction Tax expansion: new tax coverage for options in goods and derivatives tied to other derivatives.
Amendments expand the scope of Commodity Transaction Tax (CTT) to include sales of derivatives based on prices or indices of commodity derivatives and sales of an option in goods, and replace "recognised association" with "recognised stock exchange". The proposal allocates CTT liability by product and settlement mode-seller liability for derivatives based on derivatives' prices or indices, purchaser liability for exercised options in goods with different treatment for physical delivery versus non-delivery settlement-and updates statutory definitions, the CTT schedule, and value computation accordingly.

Employer contribution cap to retirement funds: excess employer contributions taxable and related accretions treated as perquisite.
A combined upper limit is proposed on employer contributions to the National Pension Scheme, superannuation funds and recognized provident funds; employer contributions exceeding the combined cap in a year will be taxable, and annual accretions to the fund relating to such employer contributions shall be treated as a perquisite to the extent included in total income.

Tax Collected at Source expanded to cover overseas remittances, tour packages and sales-based collections with specified exemptions.
Amendments expand Tax Collected at Source (TCS) under section 206C to require authorised dealers to collect TCS on specified overseas remittances under LRS and sellers to collect TCS on sale of overseas tour packages, both with higher rates for non-PAN/Aadhaar cases and specified exemptions. Separately, sellers with turnover above a prescribed threshold must collect TCS on sale of goods above a set consideration limit, subject to notification-based exemptions and exclusions for certain government and diplomatic entities. Provisions take effect from 1 April 2020.

TDS on e commerce transactions: operators must withhold on gross platform receipts and treat direct payments as operator credits.
A new provision imposes TDS on e commerce transactions by requiring the e commerce operator to deduct tax on the gross amount of sales or services when credited to or paid to an e commerce participant; direct payments by purchasers are treated as operator payments. Low volume individual and HUF participants who furnish PAN or Aadhaar are exempt from withholding. The provision overrides other TDS liabilities for the same transactions, excludes operator receipts for unrelated advertising services, and includes definitions and consequential amendments to align withholding and procedural provisions.

Tax deduction on interest income: large co-operative societies must withhold tax when turnover and per payee interest exceed specified thresholds.
The amendment narrows exemptions in section 194A(3) so that a co operative society otherwise exempt under clause (v) or (viia) must deduct tax at source if it exceeds a specified turnover threshold in the preceding year and if the interest credited or paid to a payee in the financial year exceeds specified per payee thresholds, with separate thresholds for senior citizens and others.

TDS on technical services adjusted to reduce classification disputes and align withholding with work contract payments.
To reduce classification disputes and litigation, the law prescribes a reduced withholding rate specifically for fees for technical services (other than professional services), aligning its TDS incidence more closely with that applicable to payments for execution of work contracts; withholding rates for other categories of fees remain unchanged and the amendment takes effect from the commencement date specified in the measure.

Deduction timing for Section 43B: insured business expenses disallowed earlier permitted when actually paid.
A proviso is proposed to Rule 5 of the First Schedule so that any sum added back under Section 43B in accordance with clause (a) of Rule 5 shall be allowed as a deduction in computing income under the rule in the previous year in which such sum is actually paid; the amendment takes effect from 1 April 2020 and applies to assessment year 2020-21 and onwards.