Double taxation relief framework modernised: new clause clarifies treaty adoption, anti abuse safeguards, and documentation requirements.
Clause 159 empowers the Central Government to enter into and adopt agreements with foreign countries and notified specified territories, and permits specified domestic associations to enter into sectoral agreements subject to governmental adoption and notification. Agreements may provide relief from double taxation, avoidance of double taxation constrained by anti abuse safeguards, exchange of information to prevent evasion, and mutual assistance in tax recovery. The Act's provisions apply to the extent more beneficial to the taxpayer, but anti abuse measures in Chapter XI apply notwithstanding such benefit. Non residents must furnish a certificate of residence and prescribed documentation to claim treaty relief.

Treaty interpretation and anti-abuse primacy clarified: government may adopt association agreements while preserving treaty benefit limits.
Clause 159 authorises the Central Government to enter into agreements with foreign countries or notified territories and to adopt agreements between notified specified associations for double taxation relief, exchange of information, and mutual assistance in recovery. Taxpayers may claim the more beneficial of domestic law or a notified agreement, subject to documentary requirements for non-residents and the primacy of chapter-level anti-abuse provisions. A four-tier interpretive hierarchy for treaty terms is provided, with retrospective effect from the agreement's commencement.

Relief from taxation on foreign retirement accounts aligns Indian tax timing with foreign withdrawal taxation to prevent double taxation.
Clause 158 aligns Indian taxation of income from foreign retirement accounts with the foreign tax event by restricting relief to specified accounts in notified countries opened while the taxpayer was non resident, and by delegating timing and procedural details to rules to prevent double taxation, address timing mismatches, and guard against abuse.

Relief for irregular salary receipts: claim based allocation to prior years with computation and procedures delegated to rules.
Clause 157 provides relief where lump sum receipts (arrear or advance salary, salary for over twelve months, profits in lieu of salary, and arrears of family pension) cause an assessment at a higher rate. Relief is claim based on application to the Assessing Officer and requires allocation of amounts to earlier years; the Assessing Officer grants relief as prescribed in rules. An anti abuse exclusion denies relief where a deduction for the same amount has already been claimed, and computation, procedural steps and particulars (e.g., Form 10E practice) are to be specified by rules.

Mutuality doctrine shields club-member transactions from GST; statutory deeming fiction held unconstitutional, retrospective levy invalid.
The Kerala High Court held that the doctrine of mutuality insulates transactions between an association and its members from GST because the concepts of "supply" and "service" require distinct persons; statutory deeming provisions treating associations and members as separate persons are ultra vires Article 246A and related constitutional provisions, and retrospective application of those amendments is invalid as unfair and contrary to the rule of law.

Rebate for resident individuals: expanded two-tier relief and tapered withdrawal to avoid abrupt tax cliffs.
Clause 156 creates a two-tier rebate: a general rebate for resident individuals below a base threshold and an enhanced rebate for taxpayers opting into the new tax regime with a higher threshold and larger maximum rebate. The enhanced rebate includes a tapering mechanism for incomes above its threshold and an express cap preventing the rebate from exceeding actual tax liability, with computation rules tied to the new-regime tax rates.

Rebate allowance framework modernisation - rebates applied after tax computation and capped to prevent negative tax liability.
Allowance of rebates is enabled by Clause 155, which permits rebates to be deducted from income-tax computed on total income after tax computation and before other chapter deductions, and caps aggregate rebates so they cannot exceed the tax computed prior to rebates; the substantive conditions and limits are delegated to Section 156.

Taxation of member's share: entity-level tax exempts members, unless the entity is untaxed or taxed below top rate.
Clause 310 establishes that a member's share of income from an AOP/BOI is exempt from tax in the member's hands when the association/body is taxed on that income; if the AOP/BOI is not chargeable to tax the member's share is taxed in the member's hands; and if the AOP/BOI is taxed at the maximum marginal rate the member's share is excluded from his total income, otherwise the member's share is included in his total income.

Deduction for disability: standardized tax relief retained with mandatory medical certification and prescribed certificate submission.
Clause 154 allows resident individuals certified by a medical authority as persons with disability or severe disability to claim a fixed deduction, contingent on furnishing the prescribed certificate with the return and on certificate validity and reassessment rules; definitions are cross referenced to a Bill provision for consistency.

Deduction for interest on deposits expanded to include senior citizens and time deposits, consolidating small-saver relief.
Clause 153 provides a statutory deduction for interest on deposits to individuals, senior citizens, and HUFs, specifying eligible institutions (banks, cooperative banking societies, and post offices), preserving denial of deductions for interest held by or on behalf of firms, AOPs, or BOIs, and defining time deposits. It consolidates prior disparate provisions by including senior citizens within the same clause with expanded coverage for time deposits, while maintaining the existing deduction treatment for non senior individuals and HUFs.

Patent royalty deduction for resident inventors: capped, certified relief tied to repatriated foreign receipts and compulsory licence limits.
Clause 152 provides a statutory deduction for resident individual patentees in respect of royalty from patents registered on or after 1 April 2003, subject to a statutory annual ceiling and procedural certification. Deductions in compulsory licence cases are limited to Controller determined royalty; foreign-sourced receipts qualify only to the extent repatriated in convertible foreign exchange within the prescribed period and supported by prescribed certification. Definitions exclude capital gains and sales proceeds from the scope of "royalty," and certification by prescribed authorities is required with the return.

Deduction for authors' royalty income limited by a fixed cap and repatriation plus certification requirements.
Clause 151 grants a deduction to resident individual authors for professional income from copyright assignment or royalties for literary, artistic, or scientific books (excluding textbooks), subject to a fixed monetary cap and a royalty to sales limit for non lump sum receipts. Foreign income qualifies only if repatriated in convertible exchange within a prescribed period and accompanied by prescribed certification, and claimants must submit payer verified certificates with returns; double deduction for the same income is expressly prohibited.

Tax deduction for producer companies enables full relief for profits from member-focused agricultural marketing and processing activities.
A statutory measure grants a 100% deduction on profits and gains of qualifying Producer Companies for income attributable to an identified eligible business-marketing members' agricultural produce, supplying inputs to members, and processing members' produce-subject to turnover limits, inclusion in gross total income, sequencing after other Chapter VI A deductions, and a legislatively imposed sunset period, with transitional company-law references and apportionment issues creating practical and interpretive compliance challenges.

Deduction for co operative societies preserved and modernised, with targeted categories and voting control safeguards for eligibility.
Clause 149 permits deductions for specified categories of income of co operative societies-profits from credit to members, cottage industry, marketing and specified processing of members' agricultural produce, supply of agricultural inputs, collective disposal of members' labour, fishing and allied activities, interest or dividends from investments in other co operatives, and income from letting godowns or warehouses-subject to membership, voting restrictions for certain societies, exclusions for most co operative banks, and computation after specified infrastructure deductions.

Deduction for inter corporate dividends prevents cascading taxation when dividends are onward distributed within the prescribed timeframe.
Clause 148 permits a deduction for dividends received by a domestic company from domestic companies, foreign companies and business trusts, limited to the amount the recipient company actually distributes to its shareholders by the date one month before the due date for filing the return referenced in the Bill; the same amount cannot be deducted in any other tax year. The deduction is conditional on onward distribution and timely compliance, creating documentary and administrative verification obligations and raising clarifications around the definition of dividend, treatment of foreign dividends and business trust distributions.

Tax deductions for IFSC and OBU income provide extended full relief subject to accountant certification and regulatory permission.
Clause 147 provides a consolidated deduction regime for OBUs and IFSC units in SEZs, specifying eligible assessees and qualifying income categories (OBU income, banking activities tied to SEZ undertakings/developers, approved IFSC activities, and transfers of leased aircraft or ships within the stated commencement deadline). It prescribes full deduction for designated consecutive years with an elective window for IFSC units, and conditions the allowance on submitting a prescribed accountant's certification and evidence of regulatory permission or registration.

Deduction for additional employee cost incentivises formal hiring through multi year tax relief subject to reporting and anti abuse conditions.
Clause 146 allows a deduction equal to 30% of additional employee cost for three consecutive tax years where an assessee with business income increases employee numbers and pays emoluments through prescribed modes; claims are disallowed for splitting up, reconstruction, transfer or reorganisation except for revived sick units, and are subject to exclusions based on emolument ceilings, provident fund participation, pension contribution arrangements and minimum tenure thresholds, with the deduction claim contingent on a prescribed accountant's report.

Tax deduction for bio-degradable waste businesses allows full profit exemption for a fixed multi-year period.
Clause 145 provides a deduction for businesses whose profits and gains arise from collecting, processing or treating bio-degradable waste for activities including generating power, producing bio-fertilizers, bio-pesticides or biological agents, producing bio-gas, and making pellets or briquettes for fuel or organic manure. The deduction equals the whole amount of profits and gains from the eligible business and is available for five consecutive tax years beginning with the tax year in which the business commences. Key compliance issues include defining commencement, segregating eligible profits, and clarifying interaction with other incentives.

Tax incentives for North-Eastern undertakings: full profits deduction under new clause replaces prior provision, with revised cross references and limits.
Special tax relief permits a 100% deduction of profits and gains for eligible North Eastern undertakings commencing within the specified window, subject to exclusions for certain goods and activities, anti abuse restrictions on reconstruction or transfer of used machinery, and limits on concurrent deductions and aggregate deduction periods; updated cross references modernize procedural application but may create interpretive ambiguities on commencement date and aggregation scope.

Transitional deduction continuity preserved for eligible housing projects, computed and constrained by prior statutory conditions.
Clause 142 preserves transitional tax relief by incorporating the prior housing-project deduction by reference: assessees who would have been eligible under the repealed provision may claim deductions computed under the prior statute for the tax years that would have been covered, subject to the same substantive conditions-including project approval and completion requirements, unit size and utilization thresholds, separate project accounts, exclusion of works contracts, and the clawback mechanism-while not extending benefits to new projects commenced after repeal.