Empowerment to refer best judgement assessments back to Assessing Officer with a prescribed time limit for fresh assessment.
The Bill proposes empowering the Commissioner (Appeals) to set aside best judgement assessments made under section 144 and refer the case to the Assessing Officer for a fresh assessment, and proposes a consequential amendment to section 153(3) to prescribe a time limit for disposal of cases so referred; the amendment applies to appellate orders passed on or after the specified commencement.

Penalty for inaccurate reporting clarified to include due diligence failures; reasonable cause defence added under amended provisions.
The amendment specifies that penalty applies where a person furnishing statements under section 285BA either furnishes inaccurate information or fails to comply with prescribed due diligence, to align with the AEOI/CRS framework. It further adds the penalty provision to the scope of section 273B, allowing a reasonable cause defence against imposition of the penalty. The changes are enacted prospectively as provided in the Finance Bill.

Tax clearance certificate requirement now covers Black Money Act liabilities, affecting exit permissions from India.
The amendment adds liabilities under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 to the list of tax statutes whose outstanding liabilities may render it necessary for a person domiciled in India to obtain a tax clearance certificate before leaving the country, while preserving the proviso requiring recorded reasons and prior approval of the Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner; the amendment takes effect from 1 October 2024.

Assessment time-limits revised: new deadlines for returns under administrative orders and revived block assessments procedures
Amendments revise time-limits: assessments on returns filed following administrative directions may be completed within twelve months from the end of the financial year of filing; fresh assessments after appellate or supervisory orders will include cases set aside by the Commissioner (Appeals); timelines are specified for revived proceedings following annulment of block assessments; and search-period exclusions are adjusted so the limitation date falls at the end of the month after exclusion. A consequential provision applies return-obligations to returns furnished under administrative orders. Effective from 1 October 2024.

Deductibility under Section 80G updated to specify National Sports Development Fund as eligible recipient; applies prospectively.
Section 80G is amended to specify that donations to the National Sports Development Fund established by the Central Government are deductible in computing total income, replacing the earlier reference to the National Sports Fund; the amendment is prospective and will apply to subsequent assessment years.

Tax provision amendment: removal of National Housing Bank references in income recognition rules for housing finance companies.
Amendment proposes deleting references to the National Housing Bank in section 43D, removing the clause on public companies engaged in housing finance and related explanations that linked recognition of interest income on prescribed bad or doubtful debts to NHB guidelines, and aligning tax text with the regulatory transfer of housing finance companies to the Reserve Bank of India; the amendment is effective from 1 April 2025 and applies to subsequent assessment years.

Asset recovery: amendment enables liabilities under the Black Money Act to be recovered from seized or requisitioned assets.
The amendment adds a reference to the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 to Section 132B of the Income-tax Act, authorising recovery of existing liabilities under the Black Money Act from assets seized or requisitioned under section 132, with prospective effect from the 1st day of October, 2024.

Time limits for responses under benami property procedure extended; provisional attachment decision lengthened and statement referral increased, effective October.
Amendments to section 24 fix procedural timelines: benamidar and beneficial owner must file explanations within three months from the end of the month of notice; the Initiating Officer's period to provisionally attach or decide attachment matters is extended to four months from the end of the month of notice; and the period to prepare and refer the statement of the case to the Adjudicating Authority is increased to one month from the end of the month in which the attachment order is passed.

Immunity for benamidars: conditional immunity offered to encourage full disclosure, withdrawable for falsehood or concealment.
Insertion of Section 55A permits the Initiating Officer, with previous sanction of the competent authority, to tender conditional immunity from penalty under section 53 to non-beneficial-owner persons involved in benami transactions in exchange for a full and true disclosure; accepted immunity renders them immune from prosecution and penalty to the extent tendered, but the Initiating Officer may record non compliance or falsehood and, with sanction, withdraw immunity, enabling prosecution and imposition of penalties for the offence or related offences.

Proof of origin rules updated to accept diverse trade agreement documentation, including self certification, facilitating trade.
The Customs Act amendments permit varied forms of proof of origin, including self certification, to align with trade agreements; empower the Central Government to proscribe specific manufacturing or other operations in warehouses; and expand references from "a class of importers or exporters" to include "any other persons," broadening the scope of certain customs provisions.

Protective duty mechanism removed as the statutory provision requiring Tariff Commission recommendations is omitted, ending that process.
Section 6 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, authorising levy of protective duties by the Central Government on recommendations of the Tariff Commission is omitted by the Finance (No. 2) Bill, 2024 because the Tariff Commission was wound up by resolution on 1 June 2022; the change is effective from enactment of the Bill.

Increase in tariff rates for plastics, consumer and laboratory chemicals to take immediate provisional effect; additional tariff amendments from October.
The Finance (No. 2) Bill, 2024 amends the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 to implement immediate provisional increases in specified basic customs duties using the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 2023 for certain PVC flex films, consumer goods and laboratory chemicals in small packings, and further tariff adjustments to be given effect in the Schedule from October while preserving current BCD levels for other affected goods via notification amendments.

Basic customs duty reductions across sectors to incentivise domestic manufacturing and simplify export-duty treatment.
The Finance (No.2) Bill, 2024 revises Basic Customs Duty rates effective 24 July 2024, lowering or nil-rating duties across agricultural inputs, aquaculture, critical minerals, metals, chemicals, IT and electronics, medical equipment, renewable energy inputs and precious metals; it also simplifies and rationalises export duties on hides, skins and leather to streamline export taxation.

Validation of customs notification restores duty exemption for specified oil imports subject to TRQ and bill of lading conditions.
The Finance (No. 2) Bill, 2024 validates Notification No. 37/2023 to confirm exemption from basic customs duty and anti-dumping/countervailing duties on imports of crude soybean oil and crude sunflower seed oil, conditional on unutilized TRQ quota and a bill of lading issued on or before 31 March, 2023; it also exempts GST Compensation Cess on imports into SEZs by SEZ units or developers for authorized operations.

New Shipper Review introduced for countervailing duty rules, enabling review of new exporters under amended procedures.
Amendment inserts a New Shipper Review provision into the Customs Tariff Rules, 1995 to permit review of new exporters or suppliers within the existing framework for identification, assessment and collection of countervailing duty and for determination of injury; effective from 24.7.2024.

Temporary import time limits extended for aircraft, vessels and warranty exports, enabling longer duty-free re-import and repair periods.
The notifications extend temporal reliefs and adjust tariffs: aircraft and vessels imported for maintenance, repair and overhaul may remain imported for one year (further extendable by one year), warranty exports qualify for duty free re import for five years (further extendable by two years), and the India-UAE CEPA tariff notification is amended to revise duty rates on precious metals; changes effective 24 July 2024.

BCD exemption extensions preserve duty-free treatment for specified imports, with targeted scope adjustments for certain inputs.
The Finance measure extends conditional Basic Customs Duty (BCD) exemptions for numerous specified goods-inputs, parts, capital goods, and medical supplies-preserving duty-free import treatment subject to existing notification conditions, while narrowing or broadening the scope of certain entries and maintaining targeted provisions for SEZ-related supplies and bona fide exporters; stakeholders must refer to the notification for full descriptive and documentary eligibility requirements.

Customs duty exemptions extended and expiry clauses removed, preserving specified import concessions for listed goods and sectors.
Amendments extend Basic Customs Duty (BCD) exemption timelines for specified notifications and remove prescribed end dates for another subset, thereby sustaining concessional import treatment for listed categories such as media content, specialised machinery, castor products, artworks, precious stones on approval basis, copper products, export-jobbing inputs, instructional materials and other sectoral items; notifications remain authoritative for full descriptions.

Customs duty exemptions lapse removing concessional import treatments across multiple sectors and specified notification-based exemptions.
Customs duty exemptions and concessional notifications listed in earlier customs instruments are being allowed to lapse, removing specified concessional import treatments. Affected provisions include selected entries of notification No. 50/2017-Customs covering inputs and equipment for sectors such as solar manufacturing, electric vehicles, medical devices, telecommunication equipment, and certain industrial catalysts, and several standalone notifications granting exemptions for gold imports by banks, donated second-hand computers, SAD-related exemptions, SEZ to DTA transfers, and aviation re-imports.

Social Welfare Surcharge exemption for specified minerals and metal inputs removes surcharge on listed imported goods.
Amendment to Notification No. 11/2018 exempts a specified list of imported goods from the levy of the Social Welfare Surcharge with effect from 24 July 2024, covering raw minerals, metal ores and concentrates, high purity silicon and silicon products, rare earth metals and compounds, various oxides, hydroxides, salts and carbonates, graphite and a range of unwrought metals, powders, waste and scrap.