Discontinuance of Income-tax Settlement Commission: pending settlement cases transferred to Interim Boards with inherited powers.
Income-tax Settlement Commission is discontinued and pending settlement applications will be handled by one or more Interim Boards of Settlement composed of three senior officers; the Interim Boards inherit the Commission's powers mutatis mutandis for disposal and rectification of orders, pending applications are deemed valid where invalidity was not declared, assessees may withdraw applications within a prescribed period causing proceedings to abate with specified exclusions to limitation and use of material, and the Central Government may notify a scheme to regulate settlement of pending applications and adapt Act provisions for transitional efficiency.

Reduction of assessment time-limit shortens statutory window for completing income-tax assessments under faceless assessment reforms.
The Finance Bill reduces the statutory time limit for completion of income-tax assessment proceedings, further shortening the window for passing assessment orders in scrutiny cases. The amendment is justified by the operational efficiencies of the Faceless Assessment Scheme-characterised by electronic, team-based, jurisdiction-less procedures-and aims to reduce taxpayer compliance burden and enable earlier detection of revenue leakages; it takes effect from 1 April, 2021.

Double deduction prevention: corpus and loan-funded applications excluded unless reinvested or repaid from prior-year income.
Voluntary contributions specifically directed to form part of corpus must be invested or deposited in prescribed modes maintained separately; application from corpus and from loans or borrowings will not qualify as application for computing the mandatory application threshold, except where reinvestment to corpus or repayment of loans from previous year's income is deposited into prescribed modes, which will then be allowed as application in that previous year. No set-off or allowance of excess application from years before the previous year shall be permitted.

Exemption limits for ULIPs tightened, with excluded policies taxed as capital gains and included under equity-oriented fund rules.
Amendments exclude from the exemption under clause (10D) of section 10 those ULIPs issued on or after 1 February 2021 whose annual premium for any policy year (or aggregate premium across multiple ULIPs held by a person) exceeds the prescribed threshold, while excluding death proceeds. Such excluded ULIPs are classified as capital assets, gains on redemption are to be taxed as capital gains under a new section 45(1B) with rules for computation, and will be treated as equity oriented funds for section 112A and 111A purposes. STT is made applicable on maturity or partial withdrawal of such ULIPs.

Slump sale definition expanded to include all forms of transfer, extending scope of capital gains computation.
Amendment expands the scope of the slump sale definition so that any mode of transfer included in the statutory definition of "transfer" can constitute a slump sale for capital gains computation; this codifies the judicial principle that transactions in substance amounting to a sale - including those with non monetary consideration or alternative legal forms - fall within the slump sale regime and aims to prevent structuring to defeat the provision.

Capital gains on dissolution: distributions in excess of capital account treated as entity income and valued at fair market value.
Where a partner or member receives a capital asset on dissolution or reconstitution, profit or gain on that receipt is chargeable as capital gains and treated as income of the specified entity in the year of receipt, with fair market value on receipt deemed full consideration. The recipient's capital-account balance is calculated excluding increases from revaluation or self-generated goodwill/assets. Money or other assets received in excess of the capital-account balance are similarly taxed as capital gains, with the capital-account balance deemed the cost of acquisition.

Provisional attachment powers expanded to permit attachment during pending false-entry penalty proceedings when large penalties are likely.
Provisional attachment permits the Assessing Officer, with prior approval from designated senior tax authorities, to attach an assessee's property for six months to protect revenue, revocable on furnishing a bank guarantee which may be invoked if tax demand remains unpaid. The Finance Bill proposes to amend this provision to allow the Assessing Officer to exercise attachment powers during pending penalty proceedings for false or omitted entries where a high-value penalty is likely to be imposed.

Equalisation levy broadened to cover sales and services regardless of operator ownership, with treaty-taxable royalties excluded.
Amendments clarify that consideration chargeable to equalisation levy excludes amounts taxable as royalty or fees for technical services under a notified tax treaty; define e-commerce supply or services to include online acceptance of offers, purchase orders, payment and supply/provision (wholly or partly); broaden consideration to cover sale of goods irrespective of operator ownership and provision of services irrespective of whether provided or facilitated by the operator. These changes operate retrospectively from 1 April 2020, and section 10(50) is adjusted to the same definition and to exclude treaty-taxable royalty or FTS, effective for assessment years from 2021-22.

Depreciation on goodwill disallowed; purchase price treated as cost for capital gains with adjustment for prior depreciation.
The proposal removes goodwill of a business or profession from the class of assets eligible for depreciation by excluding it from the definition of block of assets and from assets covered by section 32, provides transitional rules for blocks and capital gains where depreciation was earlier obtained, and preserves purchase price as cost of acquisition for capital gains subject to reduction by any depreciation claimed prior to the operative year.

Statutory time limits shortened for intimation and notices after return filing, and audit-report income adjustments formalised.
Amendments to section 143 revise processing of returned income to allow adjustments for income increases indicated in audit reports not previously accounted for, and provide consequential changes reflecting earlier amendments to relief provisions. The statutory time limit for issuing intimations under sub section (1) is shortened to nine months from the end of the relevant financial year, and the time limit for issuing notices under sub section (2) is shortened to three months; amendments take effect from 1 April 2021.

Adjudicating authority under PBPT Act designated to SAFEMA Competent Authority; limitation period for orders extended to September.
The Finance Bill designates the Competent Authority under SAFEMA as the Adjudicating Authority under the PBPT Act to commence functions from 1st July, 2021, replacing the interim discharge by the PMLA Adjudicating Authority. It also extends the time limit under sub section (7) of section 26 of the PBPT Act so that any order deadline expiring between 1st July, 2021 and 29th September, 2021 will be extended to 30th September, 2021.

Presumptive taxation for professionals clarified: LLPs excluded while individuals, HUFs and partnership firms remain eligible under existing conditions.
The amendment clarifies that the presumptive taxation provision under section 44ADA applies to residents engaged in specified professions who are individuals, Hindu undivided families or partnership firms, but excludes Limited Liability Partnerships; existing eligibility conditions including the gross receipts threshold and the deemed proportion of profits remain unchanged, and the amendment is effective from 1 April 2021 for the assessment year 2021 22 onward.

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.