Consequential amendment of member assessments: appellate modification must trigger authorised adjustments to individual tax liabilities. Clause 371 requires that when appellate proceedings alter or direct a new assessment of a body of individuals or association of persons, the appellate authority must authorise the Assessing Officer to amend or make a fresh assessment of any member; the authorisation is mandatory, and the Assessing Officer may act only pursuant to that order. The clause modernises appellate references and retains the two-step mechanism while raising interpretive issues concerning the scope of "any member", timelines for action, and the definition of "fresh assessment".
Execution of Supreme Court cost orders: High Courts may transmit awards for local enforcement under established execution rules. The High Court, on petition, may transmit an order of the Supreme Court awarding costs to any court subordinate to the High Court for execution; the provision is limited to cost-related orders, is discretionary in application, requires adherence to execution rules and the Code of Civil Procedure, and mirrors the predecessor provision, leaving unresolved questions about the scope of "costs," appropriate subordinate fora, and special procedures where a government entity is the judgment debtor.
No automatic stay on tax recovery: assessed tax remains payable during appellate pendency unless a specific judicial stay is granted. Clause 369 requires that tax determined by an assessment order is payable despite the filing of an appeal to the High Court or Supreme Court, reflecting the No Automatic Stay principle that assessment orders remain enforceable unless a competent forum grants a specific stay; it narrows scope to appeals at the highest judicial levels, streamlines language compared with Section 265, and places onus on taxpayers to obtain interim relief if they seek to defer payment while preserving courts' discretion to grant stays subject to conditions.
Faceless tax administration expanded: scheme-making power permits executive modification of tax law subject to parliamentary laying. Clause 532 grants the Central Government power to notify schemes for any purpose of the Income Tax Act, 2025 to eliminate taxpayer interface and optimize resources, and to direct that Act provisions may be excluded or modified for scheme implementation; notifications must be laid before both Houses of Parliament and existing faceless schemes under the 1961 Act may be amended to ensure continuity.
Power to frame schemes expands executive authority to implement faceless, centralized tax administration with parliamentary oversight. Clause 532 authorizes the Central Government to notify schemes for any purpose under the Income Tax Act, permit notification based exceptions or adaptations of statutory provisions to implement those schemes, amend or continue existing schemes, and requires that such notifications be laid before both Houses of Parliament, thereby enabling faceless, centralized, and technology driven administration while raising concerns about the breadth of delegated legislative power and the indeterminate standard of technological feasibility.
Revisionary jurisdiction prevents orders prejudicial to the assessee while ensuring timely administrative review and minimum processing time. Clause 378 empowers senior tax officials as the Competent Authority to revise subordinate orders suo motu or on application, provided any revision is not prejudicial to the assessee. It prescribes one year limitation periods for initiation, allows condonation for sufficient cause, requires a nominal application fee, mandates disposal within a year from the end of the financial year of filing with specified exclusions for rehearings and judicial stays, and introduces a minimum sixty day residual period after exclusions for completion of revision.
Revisionary power: Competent Authority can revise orders prejudicial to revenue after hearing and within limitation. Clause 377 empowers a defined Competent Authority to call for and examine the record of proceedings and, after giving the assessee an opportunity of being heard and making necessary inquiry, to revise orders that are erroneous and prejudicial to the revenue by enhancing, modifying, cancelling or directing fresh assessments, including specified transfer pricing orders; it sets a two year limitation subject to exceptions to give effect to appellate directions and excludes certain periods from the limitation computation.
Appeals to Supreme Court: new bill mirrors CPC procedure but omits a saving proviso, raising interpretive risk. Clause 368 adopts the Code of Civil Procedure procedures for appeals to the Supreme Court "so far as may be", vests the Court with discretion on costs, and mandates that where a High Court judgment is varied or reversed, effect be given to the Supreme Court's order through the Bill's prescribed execution mechanism. The saving phrase and the absence of an express proviso preserving other reference and stay provisions are central interpretive and practical concerns.
Certification for Supreme Court appeal restricts access to cases presenting substantial legal questions, streamlining appellate tax litigation. Clause 367 confines appeals to the Supreme Court from High Court judgments to cases which the High Court certifies as fit for appeal and reframes the source of such appeals to judgments delivered on appeals under section 363, streamlining the previous reference/appeal bifurcation and maintaining a high certification threshold to limit review to substantial questions of law or issues of public importance.
Multi-judge bench requirement ensures collective resolution of contested legal points in tax appeals under the new bill. Clause 366 mandates a multi-judge bench requirement for specified tax appeals, directing that matters be heard by not less than two judges and decided according to the majority opinion; if no majority arises, judges must state the precise point of law in dispute, the point is reheard by additional judges, and the final decision on that point is determined by the majority of all judges who have heard the case.
Substantial question of law: High Court appeals limited to legal issues, streamlining tax appellate review and implementation. Clause 365 permits appeals to the High Court from Appellate Tribunal orders only when the High Court is satisfied a substantial question of law arises; it prescribes eligible appellants, a time-limited memorandum-based filing, condonation for sufficient cause, High Court formulation and limitation of the question(s) heard (with power to add questions for recorded reasons), reasoned judgments with costs, authority to decide issues not determined or wrongly decided by the Tribunal, application of Civil Procedure rules, and an express duty on the Assessing Officer to give effect to the High Court's judgment.
Procedural autonomy preserved in appellate tribunal; statutory cross references modernized while e governance provisions omitted, affecting bench practice. Clause 364 maintains the President's authority to constitute Benches, preserves the dual Judicial and Accountant member default and Special Benches for significant issues, permits single member disposal for lower value matters subject to presidential or authorised member designation, grants the Tribunal procedural autonomy and quasi judicial powers, modernises cross references to new penal and procedural statutes, and omits previous express provisions enabling executive notification of e governance schemes, raising transitional and implementation questions.
Tribunal Orders: stay limits and rectification rules balance taxpayer rights and revenue protection in the appellate process. Clause 363 establishes the Tribunal's authority to decide appeals after hearing parties, permits rectification of mistakes apparent from record within a prescribed period subject to a nominal fee and hearing where liability is increased, and prescribes an aspirational timeline for disposal. It provides a conditional stay-of-recovery regime requiring deposit or security with limited extension criteria and automatic vacation if disposal does not occur within the aggregate period; the Tribunal may award costs, must communicate orders to the assessee and Commissioner, and its orders are final save for specified statutory exceptions.
Appeals to Appellate Tribunal: modernized scope, uniform timelines, cross-objection rights, fee rationalisation preserved. Clause 362 modernizes appeals to the Appellate Tribunal by listing appealable orders across the reorganized administrative hierarchy, prescribing a uniform filing period, permitting respondents to file cross-objections treated as independent appeals, allowing the Tribunal to condone delay for sufficient cause, and setting form, verification and a progressive fee regime while exempting revenue appeals and cross-objections from fees.
Tribunal independence: bifurcated appointment and service rules safeguard ITAT members' conditions and transitional rights. Clause 361(2) and Section 252A use non obstante language to govern ITAT members' qualifications, appointments, term, salaries, allowances, resignation and removal by bifurcating applicable regimes: post Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021 appointees are governed by Chapter II of that Act (detailing qualifications, a Search cum Selection Committee, tenure and service conditions), while pre Finance Act, 2017 appointees remain governed by the Income tax Act, 1961 and its rules as if the contested Finance Act provision had not come into force.
Appellate tribunal constitution updated to centralize appointments and delegate presidential powers, affecting tribunal independence and transitional safeguards. Clause 361 maintains a multi member Appellate Tribunal of Judicial and Accountant Members while empowering the Central Government to determine member strength; mandates that the President be a High Court judge with substantial judicial experience or a Vice President; permits appointment of one or more Vice Presidents; and authorizes delegation of presidential powers to Vice Presidents by written order. The clause defers detailed eligibility and service conditions to the general tribunal framework and includes a transitional rule preserving pre existing service conditions for incumbents.
Appellate Powers: authority to modify assessments and penalties subject to a reasonable opportunity to be heard. The appellate authorities may confirm, reduce, enhance, or annul assessments and may confirm, cancel, or vary penalty orders; the Commissioner (Appeals) alone may set aside assessments and remit for fresh assessment in specified cases. Any enhancement of assessment or penalty or reduction of refund requires a reasonable opportunity for the appellant to show cause. The appellate authority may consider and decide any matter arising from the proceedings, and must take into account materials produced before the Settlement Commission where proceedings abate.
Appeal procedure: preservation of right to be heard, reasoned orders, and discretionary powers for inquiry and additional grounds. Clause 359 sets the appellate procedure before first instance tax authorities, affirming the right to be heard, notice of hearing, powers to adjourn and direct further inquiry, discretion to admit additional grounds of appeal if omission was not wilful or unreasonable, a requirement for written reasoned orders specifying points for determination and decisions, a directory timeline aiming at one year disposal where possible, and communication of orders to the assessee and appropriate senior tax officials.
Appeal procedure: prescribed form, 30 day limitation, pre deposit requirement with written reason exemptions permitted. Clause 358 preserves the Section 249 appellate framework by requiring appeals in prescribed form and verification, imposing a graded appeal fee related to assessed income, and setting a thirty day limitation from service of the order or demand. It excludes time spent on specified relief applications from limitation, permits condonation of delay for sufficient cause, and conditions admission on payment of tax on returned income or advance tax where no return is filed, while allowing written reason exemptions from the advance payment requirement.
Appellate jurisdiction redefined: Clause 357 sets scope of appealable tax orders and preserves DRP-related exclusions. Clause 357 defines the orders appealable to the Commissioner (Appeals), listing assessment, reassessment, recomputation, intimation adjustments, orders treating a person as agent of a non-resident, and penalty orders, while preserving exclusions for orders following Dispute Resolution Panel directions and allowing the Board to specify additional appealable cases; it updates and consolidates categories previously under Section 246A and raises interpretive issues concerning exclusions, newly numbered sections, penalty consolidation, and transitional treatment of pending appeals.
Deduction for specified diseases: treatment costs for listed serious neurological, oncological, renal and hematological ailments qualify.
Deduction for medical treatment is available for specified diseases and ailments: neurological disorders (including certified disability of 40% or above, dementia, dystonia musculorum deformans, motor neuron disease, ataxia, chorea, hemiballismus, aphasia, Parkinson's), malignant cancers, full blown AIDS, chronic renal failure, and hematological disorders such as hemophilia and thalassaemia.
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