Scope of Vivad se Vishwas Act clarified to exclude cases settled under IT settlement mechanism, with retrospective amendment.
The Finance Bill clarifies that the Vivad se Vishwas Act, 2020 does not cover taxes arising from settlements under Chapter XIX-A of the Income-tax Act; amendments to the definitions of "appellant," "disputed tax," and "tax arrear" in VsV are proposed to expressly exclude Chapter XIX-A cases and to operate retrospectively from 17 March 2020.

Liable to tax defined to include existence of tax liability under any country's law, including where exemption later granted.
The proposal inserts clause (29A) into section 2 to define "liable to tax" as a liability to tax on a person under the law of any country, expressly including cases where an exemption is provided after imposition of that liability; the definition is to apply from the statutory effective date and to subsequent assessment years.

Refund of excess tax under Income Declaration Scheme now payable without interest to specified persons, retrospectively effective.
The proviso to section 191 of the Finance Act, 2016 is amended to permit refund of excess tax, surcharge or penalty paid pursuant to declarations under the Income Declaration Scheme, 2016 to a specified class of persons without payment of any interest; this amendment is to take effect retrospectively from 1st June, 2016. Section 187's deeming provision that a declaration is invalid if the tax, surcharge and penalty are not paid by the specified date remains in place.

TDS on purchase of goods: new low-rate withholding applies to buyers exceeding turnover threshold and high-value purchases.
Buyers whose turnover in the preceding financial year exceeds the turnover threshold must deduct tax at a very low prescribed rate on purchases from a seller where aggregate purchases from that seller exceed the specified high-value threshold in the previous year; Central Government may exempt persons by notification. Transactions subject to other withholding or collection are excluded except where concurrent collection would arise - then the purchase withholding applies. Board-issued guidelines, binding on authorities and deductors, and a higher rate where PAN is not provided, are provided for.

Higher withholding for non-filers: TDS and TCS to be levied at enhanced prescribed rates on specified non filers.
A special withholding regime imposes enhanced TDS and TCS rates on a "specified person" who failed to file returns for the two relevant prior assessment years after the filing deadline and whose aggregate TDS/TCS in each year meets a threshold; the TDS rate is the highest of twice the statutory rate, twice the rate in force, or a fixed base rate, and the TCS rate is the higher of twice the statutory rate or the fixed base rate. PAN based higher rates interact so that the greater rate applies; non residents without a permanent establishment are excluded.

Exemption cap on provident fund interest limits tax-free interest for high contributions, effective for future assessment years.
Clauses (11) and (12) of section 10 are amended by a proviso excluding from exemption the interest accrued in a previous year to the extent it relates to contributions exceeding the prescribed monetary threshold in that year, with computation rules to be prescribed and the amendment applying prospectively to specified assessment years.

Customs duty definition clarified under Finance Bill, with amendments generally commencing on enactment unless otherwise stated.
Finance Bill, 2021 defines Basic Customs Duty as the customs duty levied under the Customs Act, 1962 and states that amendments made through the Bill will come into effect on the date of its enactment unless otherwise specified, with clause numbers shown in square brackets to indicate relevant provisions.

Common portal enables electronic filing, service and automated amendments in customs procedures, with time limits and penalty enhancements.
A common portal is introduced to enable electronic registration, filing of bills of entry and shipping bills, submission of prescribed documents, payment of duty and electronic service of orders; the customs automated system may permit risk based amendments and importer/exporter actions on the portal. Conditional exemptions will cease on a prescribed future 31st March unless extended, a two year (plus one year extension) limit is prescribed for proceedings culminating in a section 28 notice, bill of entry filing timing is tightened, pre trial disposal of seized gold requires Commissioner (Appeals) certification, inventories certified by that Commissioner gain evidentiary weight, and new confiscation and penalty provisions target wrongful refund claims and fraudulent invoices.

Countervailing duty changes: anti absorption and retrospective levy in anti circumvention cases, with time limited temporary revocations and review period limits.
Section 8B is amended for technical corrections. Section 9 adds anti absorption, retrospective levy from initiation in anti circumvention cases, aligns countervailing duty on goods cleared from EOU and SEZ into the domestic tariff area with safeguard measures, limits temporary revocation to a time bound period not exceeding one year at a time, and provides for imposition on review for fixed multi year periods. Section 9A applies parallel changes to anti dumping duty.

Basic Customs Duty increases raise rates on chemical, plastics, electronics and auto parts; HSN harmonisation and new crude tariff lines.
Amendments raise rates in the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 by increasing Basic Customs Duty on specified chemicals, plastics, gems and jewellery, electrical and electronics items, and automotive parts under the Finance Bill, 2021, with certain items moving to higher uniform duty levels and limited exclusions preserved. A separate set of tariff headings are adjusted upward without changing their stated effective rate headings. The Schedule also adds new tariff lines for petroleum crude and implements HSN 2022 harmonisation, with some changes effective immediately under provisional collection authority and others on later dates.

Concessional import duty rules eased to permit job work and full outsourcing, with clearance on depreciated value subject to differential duty.
Amendments to the Customs (Import of Goods at Concessional Rate of Duty) Rules, 2017 permit job work on imported materials (excluding gold, jewellery and other precious metals), allow full outsourcing of manufacture to job workers, and enable clearance of imported capital goods used for the specified purpose upon payment of differential duty with interest calculated on a depreciated value using depreciation norms aligned to Export Oriented Unit treatment under the Foreign Trade Policy.

Basic customs duty revisions reshape import protection and input relief across agriculture, metals, electronics and renewable sectors.
Revisions to Basic Customs Duty rates effective 2 February 2021 adjust import protection and input duty treatment across sectors: raised duties on selected agricultural by products, leather and silk intermediates; re rating of chemicals, plastics and mineral inputs; reorganised duties and an added cess for precious metals and related items; targeted lower or nil rates for specified electronics, telecom and renewable energy inputs to incentivise domestic manufacture; and newly dutiable capital goods and transitional concessions for raw materials supporting local industry.

Project Imports Scheme inclusion expands import concessions for high-speed rail projects; sponsoring authority designated to approve required imports.
High-Speed Rail projects are included in the Project Imports Scheme, making them eligible for project-specific import treatment under the Project Import Regulations. A designated Sponsoring Authority is empowered to approve the items to be imported under the scheme for High-Speed Rail Projects, centralising approval of project imports for that project class.

Withdrawal of basic customs duty exemptions narrows concessional tariff coverage, removing listed goods from notification relief.
The Finance Bill, 2021 proposes pruning concessional Basic Customs Duty by omitting specified entries from notification No. 50/2017 Customs, thereby withdrawing BCD exemptions for listed goods - including a chemical intermediate for spandex yarn, printer consumables, and multiple apparel and accessory components - with certain omissions carrying stated commencement dates.

IGCR Rules compliance required for concessional-duty import entries, with jurisdictional verification and rescission of select exemption notifications.
Amends notification No. 50/2017-Customs to prescribe observance of the Customs (Import of Goods at Concessional Rate of Duty) Rules, 2017 for specified conditional entries, empowers the changed jurisdictional authority to issue end use certificates for past periods after verification, and rescinds or merges selected standalone duty exemption notifications to rationalise concessional import conditions.

Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess imposed on specified imports, adjusting customs duties to fund farm infrastructure.
An Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) is proposed on specified imports effective 02.02.2021 under Clause 115 of the Finance Bill, 2021 to finance agricultural infrastructure; the proposal imposes itemised AIDC rates while lowering certain basic customs duty rates so consumer burden is not increased in most cases, covering edible oils, pulses, alcoholic beverages, coal, fertilisers, cotton, and precious metals with a detailed tariff schedule.

Tariff classification update: notification entries revised to clarify exclusions and omit redundant entries in customs schedule.
Amendments to notification No. 50/2017-Customs revise HS transpositions and commodity descriptions, specify exclusions for pulses, omit temporally redundant or duplicate entries, replace broad chapter references with specific headings, insert an explanation to exclude toy balloons of natural rubber latex from an exemption, simplify concessional-rate language for newsprint and similar uncoated papers, and delete redundant proviso clauses to prevent misclassification and remove ambiguity.

Social Welfare Surcharge changes narrow its application, exempting AIDC and limiting levy to value plus basic customs duty.
Modification to the Social Welfare Surcharge: Notification No. 12/2018-Customs prescribing a 3% rate on certain items including gold and silver is rescinded; SWS is rescinded on goods under headings 2515 11 and 2515 12; SWS is exempted on the value of AIDC for gold and silver, so SWS will apply only on value plus basic customs duty.

Anti-dumping duty rules revised to require earlier final findings and permit provisional anti circumvention assessments; select duties revoked.
Amendments require designated authorities in ADD and CVD review cases to issue final findings at least three months before duty expiry and allow provisional assessment in anti circumvention investigations; safeguard rules are reworked to detail implementation and renamed Safeguard Measures. Specific temporary revocations and discontinuations of anti dumping and countervailing duties on listed steel and alloy products from specified origins are announced.

Excise duty definitions clarified in Finance Bill, with specified duties and amendments effective on enactment.
The Finance Bill, 2021 defines Basic Excise Duty by reference to the Fourth Schedule of the Central Excise Act, 1944 and identifies Road and Infrastructure Cess, Special Additional Excise Duty, and NCCD with their statutory origins; it also indicates clause numbering conventions and provides that amendments in the Bill take effect on enactment unless otherwise stated.