Determination of tax where exempt income is included: deduction at the average tax rate neutralises tax on non chargeable income.
Clause 190 provides that where total income includes income on which no income-tax is payable, the assessee is entitled to a deduction from the tax chargeable equal to the tax computed at the average rate of income-tax on that non-taxable amount; the average rate is derived by dividing total tax by total income and applying that rate to the exempt portion to neutralise any tax attributable to non-chargeable income.

General Anti Avoidance Rule expansion: new accommodating party concept widens GAAR reach and tightens tax planning scrutiny.
Clause 184 of the Income Tax Bill, 2025 largely carries forward Section 102's wide definitions for GAAR-covering arrangement, asset, benefit, connected person, fund, party, step, and tax benefit-while introducing an accommodating party concept to capture third party facilitators, updating cross references and terminology (e.g., "tax year"), and explicitly including permanent establishments and treaty arrangements to strengthen anti avoidance coverage.

General Anti-Avoidance Rule expanded to permit concurrent or substitutive application, increasing substance-over-form scrutiny.
Clause 183 expands the statutory reach of the General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR) by expressly permitting GAAR to apply "in addition to, or in lieu of" any other basis for determination of tax liability, while maintaining application "as per such guidelines and subject to such conditions, as prescribed." The clause enables authorities to apply a substance-over-form approach, allowing concurrent or exclusive use of GAAR alongside specific anti-avoidance or substantive provisions, and thereby alters the relationship between GAAR and SAARs previously left ambiguous under Section 101.

General Anti Avoidance Rule: clause makes GAAR an overriding tool but conditions its use on prescribed procedural guidelines.
Clause 183 preserves GAAR's authority to apply "in addition to, or in lieu of" other bases for tax determination, enabling recharacterisation of arrangements based on substantive economic realities. It uniquely conditions GAAR's exercise on "guidelines and...conditions, as prescribed," thereby mandating subordinate guidance to define thresholds, approval processes, taxpayer rights, documentation and timelines, with the intent of reducing arbitrariness and enhancing predictability compared with the earlier framework.

General Anti-Avoidance Rule: Treat connected and accommodating parties as one, enabling look-through of corporate structures.
Clause 182 authorises treating connected persons as one, disregarding an accommodating party, treating an accommodating party and another party as the same person, and looking through corporate structures to determine whether a tax benefit exists, thereby enabling recharacterisation of arrangements that lack commercial substance and are designed to secure tax advantages.

General Anti Avoidance Rule: broad authority to recharacterise and deny tax benefits where arrangements lack commercial substance.
Clause 181 empowers tax authorities to neutralise tax benefits from arrangements lacking commercial substance by denying benefits (including treaty benefits) and imposing a range of consequences: disregarding or recharacterising steps or whole arrangements; treating arrangements as not entered into; treating accommodating or connected parties as one; reallocating tax attributes; recharacterising residence or situs; and looking through corporate structures. Clause 181(3) authorises reclassification of equity/debt and capital/revenue character. Rule 10UA limits consequences to the impermissible part of an arrangement, providing proportionality.

Commercial substance test: disregard arrangements whose economic effect differs from form, focusing on round-trips and artificial parties.
An arrangement may be disregarded for tax purposes if it lacks commercial substance, determined by whether the overall economic effect differs materially from its formal steps; key indicators include round-trip financing, an accommodating party, offsetting elements, disguised transactions, relocations made for tax benefit, and arrangements that do not materially affect business risks or cash flows independent of tax. Certain factors-duration, taxes paid, or an exit route-are not alone sufficient to establish substance, and the Bill omits a prior explicit definition of accommodating party, potentially creating interpretive uncertainty.

GAAR main purpose test targets arrangements primarily motivated by tax benefit, with procedural safeguards for invocation.
Clause 179 defines an impermissible avoidance arrangement under GAAR as one whose main purpose is obtaining a tax benefit and which meets at least one of four tainting conditions: arm's length departure, misuse or abuse of law, lack of commercial substance, or non bona fide means; it creates a rebuttable presumption placing the burden on the taxpayer for impugned steps and is operationalized through Rule 10UB's pre reference notice, Commissioner review, and Approving Panel safeguards.

General Anti-Avoidance Rule: empowers authorities to disregard abusive arrangements and recharacterise tax consequences subject to safeguards.
Clause 178 codifies GAAR with an overriding non-obstante effect, enabling authorities to declare an arrangement an "impermissible avoidance arrangement" and determine tax consequences, applying to whole arrangements or any step or part, based on tests of commercial substance and main purpose, while procedural safeguards-notice, hearing, and an approving panel-are prescribed to temper broad remedial powers.

Interest deduction limitation restricts deductible interest to a fixed EBITDA ratio with carryforward relief and specified carve-outs.
Limitation on deductible interest in cross border related party financing restricts interest deductions where interest paid or payable by Indian entities to non resident associated enterprises is treated as excess interest, capped by a fixed ratio of the borrower's EBITDA and by interest payable to associated enterprises; disallowed amounts are carry forwardable subject to the same ratio, a deeming rule treats economically supported third party loans as associated enterprise debt, and specified carve outs apply to regulated financial entities and bona fide IFSC Finance Companies under operational rules.

Transactions with non-cooperative jurisdictions: treated as international transactions, triggering transfer pricing scrutiny and denial of deductions.
Clause 176 creates a regime for transactions with persons in notified jurisdictional areas: government notification power; deeming parties as associated enterprises and transactions as international transactions for transfer pricing; disallowance of deductions absent prescribed authorisation and documentation; deeming unexplained receipts as assessable income; and mandatory higher withholding on payments to NJA persons, with broad definitions and anticipated procedural rules similar to Rule 21AC.

Anti-avoidance in securities transactions deems income to the economic owner to prevent dividend and bonus stripping abuse.
Clause 175 establishes a deeming regime that treats dividends and interest received by an interposed holder as the income of the original economic owner where securities are transferred and subsequently reacquired, limits taxpayer liability where similar securities are acquired, apportions income for partial-year beneficial interest holders, provides exceptions if the taxpayer proves absence of avoidance, disallows losses from dividend and bonus stripping within prescribed acquisition and disposal windows, and treats disallowed bonus-related losses as cost adjustments for retained units.

Deeming of income transferred to non-residents prevents tax avoidance by treating economic beneficiaries as taxable residents.
Clause 174 applies where a transfer of assets, before or after commencement, results in income payable to a non-resident, and where the transfer alone or with associated operations confers on any person rights that give the power to enjoy that income. Such income is deemed to be that person's income for all purposes; related capital sums are treated to prevent disguise as non-taxable receipts. Exceptions exist for bona fide commercial transactions, with the taxpayer bearing the burden to satisfy the assessing authority.

Arm's length price principle reaffirmed and clarified in revised transfer pricing definitions, with expanded enterprise and transaction scope.
Clause 173 of the Income Tax Bill, 2025 restates and refines transfer pricing definitions: arm's length price as the benchmark between independent parties in uncontrolled conditions; an expansive definition of "enterprise" covering goods, IP, services, contracts, investments and securities (directly or via units/subsidiaries); "permanent establishment" as a fixed place of business; and "transaction" to include informal or non enforceable arrangements. The clause updates the "specified date" cross reference to the Bill's return filing provision and adopts more itemised drafting while maintaining substantive continuity with Section 92F.

Accountant's report requirement: certified transfer pricing reporting mandated for international and specified domestic transactions, with prescribed form and timing.
Clause 172 requires every person entering into an international or specified domestic transaction in a tax year to obtain and furnish, by the specified date, a report from an accountant in the prescribed form, signed and verified as prescribed, setting forth such particulars as may be prescribed; the clause makes the obligation statutory, preserves applicability across taxpayer categories, and defers procedural form, verification and timing details to subordinate legislation while maintaining continuity with the existing reporting mechanics.

Transfer pricing documentation: contemporaneous records required and rapid furnishing on demand to enhance transparency and enforcement.
Clause 171 mandates maintenance and furnishing of prescribed transfer pricing documentation by persons entering into international or specified domestic transactions and by constituent entities of international groups, while delegating the specific content, retention periods, thresholds and filing procedures to rules. It enshrines a ten day furnishing requirement with possible extension, cross references definitions to the Bill's reporting provisions, and anticipates master file, local file and country by country reporting formats, thereby consolidating and modernising existing documentary obligations.

Secondary adjustment: statutory deemed advance and repatriation rule with alternative option to pay additional tax in lieu of interest.
Clause 170 mandates secondary adjustment where a primary transfer pricing adjustment of a prescribed monetary threshold increases income or reduces loss and excess money is not repatriated within the prescribed time; unrepatriated excess is deemed an advance to any non-resident associated enterprise and attracts notional interest computed as prescribed, with an alternative statutory option to pay an additional income-tax that is final and bars further credit or deduction.

Advance Pricing Agreement application: modified returns must align tax assessments with agreed transfer pricing terms and timelines.
The statutory mechanism requires taxpayers to furnish a modified return limited to APA-impacted items within a prescribed post-agreement period, treats that filing as a return for assessment purposes, and directs assessing officers to modify completed assessments or complete pending proceedings in accordance with the APA; designated limitation and deeming provisions clarify timelines and the status of proceedings to ensure retrospective yet circumscribed implementation of the APA.

Advance pricing agreements secure pre determination of arm's length pricing to enhance transfer pricing certainty and reduce disputes.
Clause 168 preserves the APA framework by empowering the Board, with Central Government approval, to determine the arm's length price or manner of attributing income to India for international transactions; to specify statutory and rule based methods (with adjustments); to make APAs prevail over general transfer pricing provisions; to bind both taxpayers and tax authorities for covered transactions; to permit rollback for prior years; and to declare APAs void ab initio for fraud or misrepresentation, with corresponding limitation period consequences and scheme making authority for procedural rules.

Safe harbour rules mandate acceptance of declared transfer prices and deemed income, delivering taxpayer certainty while limiting administrative discretion.
Clause 167 empowers the Board to prescribe safe harbour rules under which income-tax authorities shall accept the transfer price or deemed income declared by the assessee for transactions falling within section 9(2) and arm's length price provisions, creating a statutory presumption that reduces administrative discretion and dependency on detailed rule-making to specify eligibility, thresholds, documentation, and procedural requirements.