Mukesh Butani

Budget 2026 signals a decisive push to cut tax litigation, decriminalise defaults and offer long-term certainty as India prepares to roll out the new income-tax law

India's masterstroke was the red carpet rollout for sovereign wealth funds in 2020 with an exemption for income from investments in specified Infrastructure

A high-level committee should be set up to review India's trade and Customs regulations, and undertake economic impact analyses of trade agreements

SC's Tiger Global ruling marks a shift in India's tax jurisprudence, unsettling treaty certainty, expanding anti-avoidance scrutiny and raising concerns over predictability for foreign investors

Customs regimes can lead to labyrinthine legal disputes. Budget 2026 must recognise that an excessively defensive Customs posture can itself become a trade barrier

Certain amendments on trust taxation are welcome. All classes of registered non-profit institutions such as public trusts, society, university/educational institutions have been identified

Anticipating US action on tariffs, India seems to have made the first move by revamping its tariff structure by reducing the slabs to eight rates

The introduction of the tax dispute settlement scheme promises a transformative impact on India's tax landscape

Unlike recent Budgets, this year most taxpayers are in for a pleasant surprise with rationalisation of rates and slabs, which reduce the effective tax burden. In balance, it's a mixed bag

This judgment opened the floodgates, and various similar claims were raised against the government asserting the investor's rights under other BITs

The move, though limited to income tax, has sent the ball rolling for a regulatory framework of crypto assets

The finance minister must be appreciated for resisting the temptation to increase taxes

The cascading effect of taxes owing to crisscross and delinked taxes, which were officially acknowledged but never addressed, is a thing of the past

The Nafed-Alimenta judgment shows it might perhaps be time for Parliament to intervene and clarify the notion of public policy in the context of foreign arbitral awards

The health crisis is a moment of reckoning and an opportune time to revisit GST policy-design

We need innovative solutions to address tax litigation

The Centre's commitment to reduce harassment of a sound taxpayer reaffirmed

Short-term focus shifts to what extent the new measures will impact the fiscal deficit, accelerating non-tax revenue of the government

The operational creditors cited the NCLAT's decision on July 4, 2019, in Standard Chartered Bank vs Satish Kumar Gupta, R P of Essar Steel

The Budget focused on redistribution of wealth with tax administration reforms