Power to call for information: targeted verification notices enable centralized processing while raising data privacy and procedural safeguard concerns.
Clause 259 empowers a prescribed income tax authority to issue notices to any person to furnish information useful for or relevant to verifying information already in the authority's possession, requiring specification of form, manner and time. Sub clause (2) permits processing and utilisation of received information under a scheme to be notified under section 260, indicating standardized, centralized data handling while leaving procedural safeguards, definition of "proceeding," and privacy protections to the forthcoming scheme.

Power to collect information: authorised tax officers may require prescribed business records during business hours with non-removal safeguards.
Clause 254 empowers designated income-tax officers to enter premises where a business or profession is carried on during business hours and require proprietors, employees or other persons to furnish prescribed information, while expressly prohibiting removal of books, documents, cash, stock or valuable articles. The power is linked to subordinate rules that prescribe the form and content of information, limits activity to collection (not search or seizure), and includes specified ranks and authorised inspectors subject to delegation and procedural safeguards.

Survey powers modernisation expands access to digital records while preserving timing limits and prior approval safeguards.
Clause 253 expands survey powers to include computer systems, electronic media and virtual digital space, permits entry to any place where business is carried on or where records are kept, and obliges persons present to provide access and technical assistance. It limits entry hours, restricts removal of assets, authorises marking, extracts, oath-recorded statements, time limited impounding with recorded reasons and inventories, mandates prior senior approval for surveys and allows enforcement measures for non-cooperation.

Power to call for information enables tax authorities to require verified data from wide categories to support tax enquiries.
Clause 252 confers an expansive authority on specified income-tax officers to require verified information, accounts, and returns from a wide range of persons and intermediaries - including banks, firms, HUFs, trustees, assessees in relation to specified payments, and dealers/brokers/exchanges - to support enquiries, assessments, investigations and international information-exchange, while prescribing approval safeguards where no proceedings are pending and authorising prescribed forms and verification.

Application of seized assets: statute permits AO to appropriate assets for tax recovery while preserving release safeguards.
Clause 250 authorises the Assessing Officer to apply assets seized or requisitioned towards tax, penalty and interest liabilities (excluding advance tax), covering liabilities under the new Act, the Income tax Act and the Black Money Act. It preserves application of money first, permits appropriation and sale of non monetary assets as prescribed, and allows other recovery modes. Assets may be released on application within thirty days subject to AO satisfaction and senior officer approval and must be released within 120 days; excess assets must be returned and interest is payable on prolonged retention under a specified formula.

Non-disclosure of reason to believe or suspect limits appellate access while preserving investigative secrecy in tax searches.
Clause 249 bars disclosure of the reason to believe or reason to suspect recorded by income-tax authorities under sections 247 and 248 to any person, authority, or the Appellate Tribunal, thereby insulating the subjective satisfaction that authorises search, seizure, or requisition from appellate scrutiny while leaving constitutional courts able to review reasons in appropriate proceedings.

Requisition powers enable tax authorities to obtain material held by other agencies for tax proceedings.
Clause 248 authorises a senior approving authority, on forming a reason to believe that summoned books, documents, electronic records or assets are in another authority's custody or will not be produced, to empower specified officers to requisition such material; on delivery the material is treated as if seized, invoking seizure related procedural safeguards while allowing the original authority to retain material until it is no longer necessary for its own proceedings.

Retention limits on seized materials ensure time-bound return and supervised copying rights under the proposed income tax clause.
Clause 251 governs copying, extraction, retention and release of seized books, documents and electronic records, requiring transfer to the jurisdictional Assessing Officer where necessary, preserving a supervised right to make copies or extracts on application, and imposing a default retention period with extensions only on recorded reasons and higher approval; an absolute cap prohibits retention beyond thirty days after completion of all proceedings, and affected persons may object to continued retention before the Board which must hear them.

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.