Refund claims must be filed as tax returns, simplifying refunds and extending limitation for sale of attached property.
Claims for refund under Chapter XIX must now be made by furnishing a return under the statutory return-filing provisions, replacing the prior prescribed claim form and verification procedure, effective 1 September 2019. The limitation for sale of immovable property attached for recovery of tax is extended from three to seven years from the end of the financial year in which the demand becomes final, and the Board may further extend that period by three years for reasons recorded in writing; this amendment is also effective 1 September 2019.

Residence-based taxation clarified: expanded assessee definition and reassessment provisions to capture undisclosed foreign income and assets.
Amendments expand the definition of assessee to include residents in the relevant previous year and certain non-residents or not-ordinarily-residents who were resident either in the year the income relates to or in the year an undisclosed foreign asset was acquired, with acquisition year determined without applying a carry-forward provision; they also add "re-assess" and "reassessment" terminology and make reassessment procedure from the income-tax framework applicable with modifications, while clarifying that the appellate authority may both increase and decrease penalties.

Post-deadline payment relief: notified declarants may pay outstanding tax with monthly interest and possible refunds after review.
Amendments permit the Central Government to notify classes of declarants who may make outstanding tax, surcharge and penalty payments after the due date by a notified date, with interest at one per cent per month or part-month from the day after the due date until payment. The Government may also notify classes of persons entitled to refunds of amounts paid in excess under the Scheme; the refund provision is made retrospective to 1 June 2016.

Securities transaction tax change: levy on exercised options now measured by the strike settlement price difference, affecting option sales.
The taxable value for sale of an option in securities where the option is exercised is redefined to be the difference between the strike price and the settlement price, replacing the previous measure of the settlement price for STT calculations; this legislative amendment is enacted by Clause 193 of the Finance (No.2) Bill, 2019 and takes effect from 1st September, 2019.

Benami transaction enforcement: amendments streamline initiation, attachment timing, evidence admissibility and penalties.
Amendments clarify that Initiating Officer need not obtain prior Approving Authority approval once notice under section 24(1) is issued; fix that the 90 day periods for provisional attachment and passing of orders run from the end of the month of notice and exclude court stays; introduce a penalty for failure to comply with summonses or furnish information; permit admissibility of certified authority records as evidence; and replace prior sanction by the Board with sanction by the competent authority.

Tax exemption extension for SUUTI preserves income-tax immunity retrospectively, extending the concession for an additional two-year period.
The Finance Bill (Clause 186) proposes to extend SUUTI's income-tax and related tax exemption for an additional two-year period, maintaining its immunity in relation to income, profits, gains or amounts from the specified undertaking, and to give the amendment retrospective effect from the start of the relevant fiscal year.

Customs duty definitions clarified under Finance Bill, setting scope and an enactment date effectiveness for amendments.
Amendments in the Finance (No. 2) Bill, 2019 clarify that Basic Customs Duty means the customs duty under the Customs Act, 1962; Export duty means the customs duty on goods in the Second Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975; and Road and Infrastructure Cess means the additional duty under section 111 of the Finance Act, 2018. Amendments become effective on enactment unless otherwise specified, and clause numbers are shown in square brackets.

Verification of identity through biometric identifiers enables customs to verify individuals and suspend benefits for non-compliance.
Amendments broaden customs powers: departure manifests may be furnished to notified persons; a new verification chapter permits identity checks through Aadhaar or alternatives with regulatory exemption and penalties for non-compliance; authorised screening and body scans may be reported to a magistrate. Arrest powers extend beyond territorial waters, specified offences are made cognizable or non-bailable, and custody rules for seized goods are clarified. Officers may provisionally attach bank accounts with limited extension and adjudicatory release. New penalties address fraudulent procurement or use of instruments and increase monetary caps; the Board may make related regulations.

Anti circumvention measures for countervailing duty introduced, and appeals on safeguard determinations moved to appellate tribunal.
An amendment inserts an anti circumvention provision into the Customs Tariff Act to prevent evasion of countervailing duty, and another amendment channels appeals against determinations or reviews about increased import volume for imposition of safeguard duty to the Customs Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal.

Customs duty revisions: targeted increases and reclassification to align tariff lines, affecting specific goods and book treatment.
The Finance (No. 2) Bill, 2019 revises Basic Customs Duty rates for specified tariff headings across construction materials, precious metals, automobile parts and electronics effective 06.07.2019 by virtue of a provisional collection declaration, and inserts Chapter Note 7 to exclude printed books for personal use from heading 9804 so they attract applicable merit rates. Clause 87(b) directs creation of specific tariff lines and rectification of classification errors to align the First Schedule with HSN, effective on a date to be notified in the Official Gazette.

Basic customs duty changes reorganise import tariff reliefs and increases across strategic manufacturing and project imports.
Proposals revise basic customs duty rates and clarify notifications across sectors, granting nil-rating or reduced duties for specified defence, medical device, nuclear project and electronics capital goods imports, while increasing duties on various agricultural, petrochemical, plastic, metal, paper, flooring and automobile imports; they also permit duty on depreciated transaction value for disposal of petroleum-operation imports, expand duty-free inputs for sports-goods exports, and clarify duty treatment for non-pellet prawn and shrimp feeds.

Export duty reductions proposed under Finance Bill lower tariffs on tanned leather and hides, skins and leathers.
The Finance (No.2) Bill, 2019 proposes removal of export duty on EI tanned leather and a reduction of export duty on hides, skins and leathers, tanned and untanned, effecting tariff-rate adjustments for the leather sector under customs regulation.

Road and Infrastructure Cess increase on petrol and diesel takes effect, raising scheduled additional customs duty per litre.
Amendment to the Sixth Schedule to the Finance Act, 2018 increases the scheduled rate of Road and Infrastructure Cess as an additional duty of customs on motor spirit (petrol) and high speed diesel; the Finance (No. 2) Bill, 2019 prescribes the new per litre scheduled rate and the amendment is to take effect from 06.07.2019 with immediate provisional operation under the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1931.

Road and Infrastructure Cess increase on petrol and diesel raises additional customs duty incidence and alters fuel taxation.
The Finance (No. 2) Bill, 2019 increases the Road and Infrastructure Cess levied as an additional duty of customs on motor spirit (petrol) and high speed diesel, thereby raising the per litre cess rate applied to these fuels and altering the customs duty component in fuel taxation.

Retrospective amendments correct customs classifications and extend exemptions for temporary vehicle imports and antidumping measures.
The Finance (No. 2) Bill, 2019 proposes retrospective amendments to insert correct customs tariff headings for stearic acid and to correct antidumping classifications and exclusions for polyester yarn and polypropylene, and to give retrospective effect to an exemption of IGST and compensation cess on temporary vehicle imports under the carnet regime, thereby altering duty, IGST/cess and antidumping chargeability for specified past periods.

Customs tariff amendments extend concessional feed treatment and explicitly exempt specified semiconductor machines and audio components from BCD.
The amendments confirm that prawn feed and shrimp larvae feed in any form attract a concessional rate of 5%, while fish feed qualifies only in pellet form; propose inclusion of HS 8486 to exempt semiconductor manufacture machines from basic customs duty; add headphones, earphones and combined microphone/speaker sets to tariff subheading 8518 30 00 consistent with ITA commitments; and amend notification No. 57/2017-Customs to explicitly exclude microphones, receivers, speakers, connectors and SIM sockets from a concession entry.

Excise duty definitions clarified: amendments specify basic excise duty, road and infrastructure cess, and special additional excise duty.
Amendments define three core excise components-Basic Excise Duty as set out in the Fourth Schedule, Road and Infrastructure Cess as the additional excise introduced by the Finance Act 2018, and Special Additional Excise Duty as the levy created by the Finance Act 2002-and provide that changes effected by the Finance (No. 2) Bill, 2019 take effect on enactment unless otherwise specified.

Basic excise duty on petroleum crude raised, imposing a nominal per tonne duty and enabling provisional collection under tax law.
The Finance (No.2) Bill, 2019 amends the Fourth Schedule to the Central Excise Act, 1944 to impose a nominal per tonne basic excise duty on petroleum crude, changing the rate from nil and providing that the revised duty operates immediately under a declaration made under the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1931.

Excise duty changes impose specified rates on a range of tobacco products and alter duty treatment for crude petroleum.
Proposals set out notification based excise duty rates for multiple tobacco tariff lines-imposing per unit and percentage levies on specified categories of cigarettes, biris, smoking mixtures, chewing tobacco, snuff, tobacco extracts and other manufactured tobacco or substitutes-replacing prior nil treatment. They also remove a nominal per tonne excise charge on crude petroleum produced under production sharing contracts and certain exploration blocks, with each tariff line assigned a precise levy form to be applied by notification.

Special additional excise duty increase on petrol and diesel imposes higher fuel taxes immediately under provisional collection.
Amendment raises the scheduled rates of Special Additional Excise Duty on petrol and diesel by modifying the Eighth Schedule to the Finance Act, 2002 via the Finance (No. 2) Bill, 2019; the change is to take effect immediately under a provisional collection declaration, with the operative rates to be prescribed by subsequent notification.