Non-disclosure of reasons protects search and seizure confidentiality while limiting appellate access and focusing review on procedural defects.
Clause 249 creates an absolute statutory bar on disclosure of the "reason to believe" or "reason to suspect" recorded for authorising searches and seizures, preventing disclosure to any person, authority, or the Appellate Tribunal. It preserves the requirement to record reasons and follow procedures but confines challenges to procedural defects, manifest arbitrariness, or jurisdictional absence; constitutional courts may still examine reasons in camera in exceptional cases of mala fides or lack of jurisdiction.

Search and seizure powers modernized to encompass electronic records, provisional attachment, and expanded evidentiary presumptions.
Clause 247 modernises search and seizure for income tax enforcement by explicitly covering electronic records and undisclosed foreign assets, authorising entry, search, extraction, seizure or prohibitory orders, requisitioning technical assistance, and provisional attachment subject to prior approval and recorded reasons, while retaining the reason to believe standard and rebuttable statutory presumptions regarding ownership and authenticity of seized material.

Quasi judicial powers enable tax authorities to compel discovery, attendance, and document production with procedural safeguards.
Clause 246 vests specified income tax authorities with civil court-equivalent powers for discovery, inspection, compulsory attendance, production of books and documents, examination on oath, and issuance of commissions; permits exercise of those powers in the absence of pending proceedings where there is a reason to suspect or by Board notification; authorises impounding of produced documents subject to recorded reasons, a limited retention period excluding holidays, and sanctioned extensions.

Faceless jurisdiction transforms tax administration by institutionalizing remote assessment and team-based dynamic jurisdiction.
Clause 245 creates a statutory Scheme for faceless jurisdiction, authorising the Central Government to operate specified income-tax powers and functions remotely, including vesting jurisdiction in assessing officers, transferring cases, and ensuring continuity on change of incumbency; it permits notifications to modify Act provisions to implement the Scheme and requires such notifications to be laid before Parliament, balancing administrative flexibility with concerns about the scope of delegated legislation and safeguards for procedural fairness.

Change of incumbent of an office: successor may continue proceedings but assessee can demand reopening or rehearing.
Clause 244 provides that when an income-tax authority ceases to exercise jurisdiction and is succeeded by another, the successor may continue the proceeding from the stage left by the predecessor, and before such continuation the assessee may demand that the previous proceeding or any part thereof be reopened or that the assessee be reheard before any assessment order is passed.

Power to transfer cases: modernised transfer framework preserves opportunity to be heard while enabling cross jurisdictional transfers.
Clause 243 empowers designated senior income tax authorities to transfer any "case"-defined to include pending, completed and future proceedings-among Assessing Officers within or across jurisdictions; transfers between different authorities require agreement or, failing that, Board intervention. The clause mandates, where practicable, a reasonable opportunity of being heard and recording of reasons, exempts intra city/locality transfers from prior hearing, permits transfers at any stage without re issuing notices, and consolidates authority designations under the term "specified income tax authority."

Assessing Officer jurisdiction clarified: territorial nexus, strict time bars and internal administrative resolution govern assessment authority.
The clause anchors AO jurisdiction to the taxpayer's principal place of business, profession, or residence and empowers a specified income-tax authority to determine jurisdictional questions, with escalation to the Board where multiple authorities are involved. It mandates strict time limits for raising jurisdictional objections linked to notice service or assessment stages, requires AO referral of unresolved objections before completing assessment, and preserves AO powers over income arising within their area despite jurisdictional disputes.

Centralized jurisdiction and delegation: Board directions reallocate tax authorities' powers, shaping jurisdictional clarity and administrative flexibility.
Clause 241 vests income-tax authorities with powers exercisable in accordance with directions issued by the Board, permits higher authorities to exercise functions of lower authorities, authorizes delegated written orders for subordinates, and sets jurisdictional criteria including territorial area, persons, classes of income and cases. It enables the Board to issue general or special orders empowering specified senior officers to perform others' functions, contains deeming provisions treating references to the Assessing Officer as references to substituted officers and removes certain approval requirements, and expands notification powers to prescribe the manner of returns and designate responsible authorities.

Taxpayer's Charter mandated: statutory duty to adopt a charter, but enforceability and remedies remain undefined.
Clause 240 of the Income Tax Bill, 2025 and Section 119A of the Income-tax Act require the Central Board of Direct Taxes to adopt and declare a Taxpayer's Charter and empower the Board to issue orders, instructions, directions or guidelines for its administration. Both provisions mandate adoption while leaving substantive content, enforceability, remedies, review, and stakeholder consultation to the Board's discretion, creating interpretive issues concerning legal status, variability of protections, and mechanisms for accountability.

Administrative instruction power guides tax authorities, subject to non interference in individual cases and parliamentary oversight.
Clause 239 grants the Board a broad administrative instruction power to issue binding orders and directions to income tax authorities for uniform administration, subject to safeguards: it cannot direct outcomes in individual cases or interfere with appellate discretion. The clause permits targeted interventions-general or special orders for assessment and collection, condonation of belated claims by non appellate authorities, and relaxation of deduction requirements where default is beyond the assessee's control and compliance occurs before completion of assessment-and requires reasons and parliamentary laying of certain relaxation orders.

Control of tax authorities: Board may notify subordination of income-tax authorities, affecting jurisdiction and publication standards.
Clause 238 and Section 118 empower the Board to issue notifications directing that specified income-tax authorities be subordinate to other specified authorities; this confers broad administrative control over hierarchies and supervision while remaining subject to administrative-law limits. A key textual difference is Clause 238's omission of an explicit requirement for publication in the Official Gazette, raising questions about the formal mode of notification, transparency, and enforceability that subordinate rules or judicial interpretation should address.

Appointment of income-tax authorities: Central Government retains primary power with controlled delegation and service-rule safeguards.
Clause 237 vests primary appointment authority for income-tax authorities in the Central Government while authorising delegation to the Board and specified senior officers for appointments below Deputy/Assistant Commissioner, and permits authorised income-tax authorities to appoint executive or ministerial staff, all subject to rules and orders regulating conditions of service and Board authorisation.

Hierarchy of tax authorities clarified: consolidation and streamlined nomenclature aim to centralise appellate functions and improve clarity.
Clause 236 consolidates the hierarchy of income-tax authorities-from the Central Board of Direct Taxes to Inspectors and Tax Recovery Officers-streamlining nomenclature and grouping alternative designations. It notably omits Deputy Commissioners (Appeals), signalling possible consolidation of first-level appellate functions at higher levels, and leaves allocation of specific powers and appellate responsibilities to subordinate rules and notifications.

Tonnage tax exclusion: anti abuse power to remove companies from the regime where transactions lack bona fide commercial purpose.
Clause 234(4)-(7) empowers the Assessing Officer to exclude a tonnage tax company by written order where transactions amount to an abuse of the tonnage tax scheme, operating retrospectively from the first day of the tax year in which the transaction was entered into; exclusion requires prior show cause notice and higher-level approval, and does not apply where the company satisfies the Assessing Officer that the transaction was a bona fide commercial arrangement not entered into for tax advantage.

Anti-abuse safeguards in tonnage tax: exclusion applies where arrangements produce tax advantages for non-eligible activities.
Clause 234(1)-(3) excludes the tonnage tax scheme where a tonnage tax company is party to any transaction or arrangement that constitutes an abuse by resulting, or that would but for the clause have resulted, in a tax advantage for persons other than the tonnage tax company or for the company in respect of its non-tonnage activities. "Tax advantage" includes manipulation of expense or interest allowances or cost allocation affecting non-tonnage income or loss, and transactions producing more than ordinary profits from tonnage tax activities.

Temporary cessation of operations preserves tonnage tax continuity, but temporary loss of qualifying status suspends benefits for that period.
A company is deemed to be operating a qualifying ship for tonnage tax purposes during periods of temporary cessation of operations, so long as the cessation is not permanent; however, a ship that temporarily ceases to meet the statutory criteria of a qualifying ship is excluded from qualifying status for the period of non-qualification and cannot attract tonnage tax benefits during that time.

Continuity of tonnage tax benefits preserves scheme application for qualifying companies after demerger, subject to statutory conditions.
Where a demerged company transfers its business to a resulting company before expiry of its tonnage tax option, the tonnage tax scheme shall, subject to other provisions, apply to the resulting company for the unexpired period if it is a qualifying company; similarly, the demerged company retains its option for the unexpired period if it continues to be a qualifying company, with both continuities conditional on statutory eligibility, procedural compliance, and anti-avoidance requirements.

Continuity of tonnage tax: amalgamated qualifying shipping companies retain the scheme subject to qualifying status and option deadlines.
Clause 233(1)-(4) secures continuity of the tonnage tax regime on amalgamation by applying the scheme to the amalgamated company if it remains a qualifying company, requiring non-tonnage amalgamated companies to elect the scheme within a prescribed short period, granting the amalgamated entity the longest unexpired option period when multiple merging companies are under the scheme, and excluding entities that failed to elect during the original implementation window from accessing the regime post-amalgamation.

Tonnage determination by statutory certificates ensures objective tonnage income computation and limits administrative discretion, aligning with international practice.
The net tonnage for tonnage income must be determined from prescribed certificates: Indian ships by Merchant Shipping Rules or the 1969 Convention certificate as applicable; foreign ships by a DG Shipping licence reflecting Flag State tonnage certificates or other evidence acceptable to the DG; inland vessels by Inland Vessels Act, 2021 certificates. Reliance on statutory certificates is central, reducing subjective measurement and constraining administrative assessment to verification of certificate authenticity.

Tonnage tax compliance: separate books and certified accountant's report required or tonnage tax option lapses for the year.
Clause 232(21) makes the tonnage tax option contingent, each year, on maintaining separate books of account for qualifying ship operations and on furnishing a prescribed, duly signed and verified accountant's report before the specified filing date; failure of either requirement renders the tonnage tax option ineffective for that tax year.