Applicability of GST penalty to non taxable persons limited; retrospective use of amended penalty provision restricted by the Court.
The Supreme Court held that penal liability under the Act is confined to persons who qualify as 'taxable persons' and that the amended penalty provision introduced in 2021 cannot be applied retrospectively to entail liability for earlier assessment years; leave was granted to examine these substantial legal questions and recovery of the penalty was restrained subject to the appellant depositing a portion of the demand through the prescribed ledgers. (AI Summary)

Qualified tax advice: court stresses assessees must engage qualified consultants, prompting departmental guidance and fresh adjudication.
A GST show-cause proceeding was materially affected by an irrelevant reply drafted by an unqualified tax consultant, prompting the court to emphasise that ill-advice prevents assessees from furnishing suitable, document-supported responses. The court urged the tax department to issue public guidance recommending engagement of qualified consultants and identified the need for fresh adjudication with a hearing and provisional financial/account measures while the advisory deficiency is remedied. (AI Summary)

ISD recovery principle challenged; prima facie grounds found and composite GST show cause proceedings temporarily restrained.
The petition challenges the Input Service Distributor recovery mechanism under Section 21, arguing recipient liability for excess credits is constitutionally and procedurally infirm where recipients lack control; it also contests multi-year composite show cause notices and the statutory absence of clear attribution rules and savings protection for prior periods. The court recorded a prima facie case and temporarily restrained the questioned notice, consolidating the matter with similar petitions for further hearing. (AI Summary)

Authorized Economic Operator expansion for MSMEs streamlines customs benefits while strengthening environmental and integrity requirements across supply chains.
FoS 2025 requires customs and traders to coordinate environmental compliance and risk management, expands tailored Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) access for MSMEs with simplified procedures and expedited benefits, and mandates an institutionalised ethics and integrity framework alongside measures to counter insider threats, increasing short term compliance costs while aiming to strengthen long term supply chain trust, market access and sustainable trade facilitation. (AI Summary)

Revised MRP declaration permitted for pre packed goods to reflect GST rate changes, subject to stamping, limits and notices.
The Legal Metrology authority permits manufacturers, packers and importers to declare revised retail sale prices (MRP) on unsold pre packaged stock manufactured or imported before the GST rate change by stamping, sticker or online printing while retaining the original MRP. Any increase in the displayed price is limited to the additional tax component; in cases of tax reduction the revised price cannot exceed the post tax reduction amount. Obligations include two newspaper advertisements, notices to dealers and legal metrology offices, and limited reuse of existing packaging subject to price corrections until the specified cut off. (AI Summary)

Income Tax filing portals experiencing outages; extension and fee relief urged for timely ITR and audit report submissions.
Persistent ITD portal failures-error messages, access denials, corrupted saved data and slow downloads/uploads-have materially impeded timely electronic filing of non audit ITRs and related forms. The author urges the Finance Ministry and Board to announce an immediate extension of time for filing ITRs, tax audit reports and associated returns, and to grant relief from late fees and denial of carryforward of losses for returns filed within a specified subsequent window. (AI Summary)

Post-sale discounts under GST clarified as price adjustments or taxable consideration, requiring clear agreements and documentation.
The Circular clarifies that commercial credit notes do not affect the supplier's tax liability and do not oblige recipients to reverse Input Tax Credit; post-sale discounts are treated as mere price reductions in principal-to-principal transactions unless a linked agreement requires the dealer to pass a funded discount to the end customer, in which case the discount is included in the dealer's taxable consideration, and separately identified promotional services provided by dealers to manufacturers constitute a distinct taxable service. (AI Summary)

Input Tax Credit relief: taxpayers who filed GSTR 3B by the deadline can claim prior-year ITC despite earlier limitation objections.
Registered taxpayers may claim Input Tax Credit for FYs 2017 18 to 2020 21 where GSTR 3B returns were filed on or before 30 November 2021; assessment orders denying ITC solely on limitation grounds were quashed, recovery restrained, and refunds/re credits ordered, while tax authorities remain entitled to examine non limitation defects such as fake invoices or excess claims. (AI Summary)

Extended limitation for tax recovery cannot be invoked without demonstrable fraud or wilful suppression of facts.
Invocation of the extended five year limitation requires demonstration that the tax shortfall resulted from fraud, wilful misstatement, or suppression of facts; absent such mens rea, and where the ordinary three year limitation has expired, notices and orders premised on the extended period lack jurisdiction and are liable to be quashed, with reassessment, if permissible, confined to the general limitation regime. (AI Summary)

Country of Origin certificate verification: failure to follow two month return and verification rules invalidates post-import denial of preferential tariff.
Where an importer produces a valid Country of Origin certificate, it constitutes substantive evidence of origin and entitlement to preferential tariff treatment unless the importing Customs authority follows the Rules (2009) and treaty procedures requiring return of the COO with specified grounds within a two month period, conduct of retroactive checks where reasonable doubt exists, and, if necessary, verification visits. Actions denying preference without complying with those notification, verification and consultation protocols, or contrary to binding statutory notifications and CBIC instructions that give Rules of Origin overriding effect, are procedurally defective. (AI Summary)

National Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling to resolve conflicting GST advance rulings and bind specified taxpayers.
The Finance (No.2) Act, 2019 inserts provision for a National Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling (NAA) to resolve conflicting advance rulings issued by Appellate Authorities of multiple States/Union territories. The NAA will comprise a judicially qualified President and two Technical Members, appointed by the Government with prescribed safeguards, fixed terms and protected conditions of service. It may confirm or modify conflicting rulings after hearing parties, rectify apparent errors within six months, declare rulings void for fraud or suppression, bind applicants and same-PAN registrants and exercise civil court powers for inquiry and enforcement. (AI Summary)

GST rate rationalisation shifts to a two-tier structure, abolishing intermediate slabs and imposing high rates on sin goods.
The GST Council recommended comprehensive GST rate rationalisation by adopting a dual-rate regime (standard and merit slabs), shifting most former 28% and 12% items to 18% or 5% respectively, and creating a distinct high-rate category for selected sin/demerit and luxury goods with compensation cess merged into new rates for most items while remaining separate for certain tobacco products; rate changes to be implemented from 22 September 2025 aiming to improve affordability, boost consumption, and streamline tax incidence. (AI Summary)

Extension of ITR filing and tax audit report deadlines urged due to portal outages and excessive form burdens.
Request for immediate administrative extension of deadlines to file ITR (non audit), upload tax audit reports and related forms due to persistent IT portal outages, access denials, slow performance, data retrieval difficulties (26AS, TIS, AIS), risks of data corruption, and excessive compliance workload compounded by lengthy, information heavy ITR forms that warrant review and simplification. (AI Summary)

Flue gas emissions regulation mandates controls to limit pollutants and protect air quality and public health.
Regulatory frameworks impose limits on flue gas pollutants and require industries to deploy technical controls-such as flue gas desulfurization, selective catalytic reduction, electrostatic precipitators, fabric filters, activated carbon injection, and carbon capture-to meet emission standards and protect air quality and public health. (AI Summary)

Withholding GST refunds absent an actual pending appeal is impermissible; refunds must be processed unless appeal or stay exists.
An appellate-authority-sanctioned refund cannot be withheld on the basis of the Commissioner's opinion alone; withholding under Section 54(11) requires (i) an actually pending appeal or proceeding against the refund order and (ii) a reasoned opinion that the grant would likely adversely affect revenue due to malfeasance or fraud. Absent a current appeal or stay, the appellate order is final for refund disbursal, though recovery may follow if a subsequent appeal overturns the order. (AI Summary)

Pendente lite interest preserved where a contract does not clearly and expressly bar the arbitral tribunal's power.
The arbitral tribunal may award pre reference, pendente lite and post award interest; the power to grant interest for the period before an award is subject to party agreement, and a contractual clause merely stating no interest on delayed or disputed payments does not, by itself, expressly or by necessary implication bar the tribunal from awarding pendente lite interest, whereas post award interest is governed by statute and applies unless the award directs otherwise. (AI Summary)

Rule 96(10) repeal ends ongoing proceedings under the rule, restoring exporters' eligibility for IGST refunds.
The repeal of Rule 96(10) removes its operative force and, absent an express savings clause in the repeal notification, pending show cause notices, adjudications and appeals founded solely on that rule cease; finally concluded matters remain unaffected, and general saving provisions applicable to primary legislation do not revive proceedings based on a delegated rule. (AI Summary)

GST registration cancellation must be processed promptly after closure and submission of documents, with mandated expedited disposal.
When a taxpayer closes business and furnishes all documents for GST registration cancellation, the department must process the cancellation expeditiously where no further queries remain, and pending applications should be decided within a short specified period to prevent undue administrative delay. (AI Summary)

GST Appellate Tribunal centralises appellate jurisdiction and designates the Principal Bench as national authority for conflicting advance rulings.
The Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) is constituted as a two tier body with Principal and State Benches under section 109 of the CGST Act, allocating place of supply disputes to the Principal/National Bench and other disputes to State Benches. GSTAT will hear appeals against Appellate and Revisional Authority orders and certain anti profiteering matters are assigned to the Principal Bench. The GST Council has recommended that the Principal Bench serve as the National Appellate Authority for Advance Rulings and proposed timelines and a limitation date for backlog appeals, pending implementing notifications. (AI Summary)

Input tax credit entitlement upheld when genuine supply is documented despite later supplier registration cancellation.
Subsequent cancellation of a supplier's GST registration does not, by itself, justify denial of Input Tax Credit where the supplier was registered on the invoice date and the recipient establishes genuineness through unimpeached tax invoices, evidence of goods movement (including e-way bill), and corroborating payment and return records. (AI Summary)