Input tax credit: statutory compliance confers entitlement but remains subject to procedural and transitional limits.
Whether Input Tax Credit is a vested right or a concession hinges on statutory eligibility and transitional rules: Section 16 sets claimant conditions and temporal bars, Section 140 governs carry forward of pre GST credits, and Rule 117 prescribes deadlines. Courts and policy instruments have divided between protecting accrued credits where substantive requirements are met and treating credit as a legislatively controlled concession subject to procedural and transitional restrictions. (AI Summary)

Unified limitation period for tax demands creates a single deadline for issuing show cause notices and orders.
Section 74A creates a unified regime for determining unpaid, short paid, erroneously refunded tax or wrongly availed input tax credit for relevant financial years, requiring a show cause notice within a single limitation period from the annual return due date or refund date, subject to a monetary threshold. It prescribes timelines for issuing orders, permits limited extensions, provides for pre notice voluntary payment to avoid notices or conclude proceedings, and differentiates penalties for non fraudulent shortfalls and for cases involving fraud, willful misstatement or suppression. (AI Summary)

Cancellation of designs: Statutory procedure mandates petition to the Controller, restricting original jurisdiction and allowing appeal to appellate forum.
Section 19 of the Designs Act, 2000 prescribes grounds and a Controller centric procedure for cancellation of registered designs-covering prior registration, prior publication, lack of novelty or originality, non registrability, and failure to meet the statutory definition of a design-and provides an appeal route to the appellate forum; this framework contrasts with the earlier statute which permitted direct petitions to the appellate forum for certain grounds and to the Controller for others. (AI Summary)

Input tax credit eligibility for construction hinges on whether the immovable property qualifies as a plant under the functionality test.
The legislature's distinct use of the expression plant or machinery requires a different meaning from the defined plant and machinery; works contract services for construction of immovable property are excluded from ITC except where the construction qualifies as a plant or machinery or where the service is an input to further works contract supply, and the functionality of the building in the taxpayer's business must be tested to determine whether ITC is available. (AI Summary)

Proper officer designation under GST allows intelligence officers to issue orders when assigned relevant functions, subject to appeal.
An intelligence officer may validly pass orders under the CGST framework when the officer's actions fall within the statutory definition of proper officer for the function in question; departmental identity alone does not preclude such authority. Challenges alleging procedural defects, including opportunities for personal hearing, are to be pursued through the prescribed statutory appeal mechanism rather than by impugning the officer's authority where the function is covered by the proper officer designation. (AI Summary)

Interest awards under the Interest Act govern court power to allow post-claim interest at the current rate.
The Act empowers courts, tribunals and arbitrators to allow interest at a rate not exceeding the current rate of interest for specified periods: for written-instrument debts from the date payable to suit institution, and for other claims from the date specified in a written notice to institution of proceedings; amounts paid before proceedings attract no interest. It defines "debt" and "current rate of interest," authorises interest on interest, mandates interest in fiduciary, security, fraud and maintenance contexts unless special reasons exist, and excludes contractual interest entitlements, certain negotiable-instrument compensation, and specified civil-procedure provisions. (AI Summary)

GST exemption threshold: exceeding the limit renders entire maintenance charges taxable and sinking funds taxable as advance consideration.
Exemption for maintenance charges by a Residential Welfare Association applies only up to the prescribed per member monthly threshold; where contributions exceed that threshold the entire amount is taxable. Amounts collected as a sinking fund are advance payments treated as consideration for future services and taxable. Recoveries for common area electricity are part of a composite supply with common area maintenance and are taxable if the maintenance service does not qualify for the Notification exemption. (AI Summary)

Right to appeal survives full payment of GST demand; payment does not bar challenging the underlying assessment.
Payment of the full amount demanded under Section 129(3) of the Assam GST Act leads to deemed conclusion of proceedings related to that notice under Section 129(5), but does not extinguish the taxpayer's statutory right to file an appeal against the underlying order; payments made to secure release of confiscated goods or to avoid harassment are not admissions of liability and should not be treated as forfeiting appellate remedies. (AI Summary)

Supply of electrical energy exempt from GST; suppliers cannot claim input tax credit on related procurements.
Supply of electrical energy is constituted as goods and is exempt from GST under the applicable rate exemption entry for electrical energy, covering both intra-state and inter-state supplies. Because the outward supply is exempt, the supplier is ineligible to claim Input Tax Credit on GST paid for procurement of the solar power plant or related inward supplies, consistent with the rules restricting ITC when outward supplies are exempt. (AI Summary)

Dishonour of cheque: complaint remains maintainable even if account frozen; accused must prove lack of knowledge and sufficient funds.
A complaint under the Negotiable Instruments Act is maintainable when a cheque is dishonoured on the ground 'account frozen'; the drawer must prove he lacked knowledge of the freezing, that the freezing was beyond his control, and that sufficient funds existed when dishonour occurred. Once a magistrate takes cognizance and issues process, he cannot recall that order; challenges to such continuation are to be pursued by appropriate criminal procedure remedies. Varied grounds for dishonour are treated as species of the statute's single offence, and factual disputes on timing and balance are for trial determination. (AI Summary)

Demand exceeding Show Cause Notice invalidates tax confirmation under Section 73 CGST Act when no reasons explain the excess.
Orders confirming tax demands must not exceed the amounts or grounds specified in the show cause notice and must state reasons for any variance. A confirmation that increases the demand beyond the notice or relies on unarticulated grounds is procedurally infirm, and an order that is unreasoned and demands more than the notice cannot be sustained, leaving the tax authority free to initiate fresh proceedings in accordance with law. (AI Summary)

Payment aggregator regulation requires authorization, escrow settlements, strict data security, and prohibition on card-on-file storage.
RBI's guidelines impose a compliance regime on non-bank payment aggregators requiring company incorporation with PA activity, authorization under the PSS Act, progressive and maintained net worth, board-monitored governance, merchant background checks and contractual protections, escrow-only settlements with a single scheduled commercial bank, and periodic reporting. Technology rules mandate data security, PCI-DSS/PA-DSS adherence, incident reporting, and forbid storage of card-on-file data by parties other than card issuers and card networks, encouraging tokenization and alternate mechanisms for recurring or post-transaction use-cases. (AI Summary)

Fiscally transparent entities treated as residents under DTAA, enabling treaty benefits when taxed via owners.
The article examines whether fiscally transparent entities like US disregarded LLCs qualify as residents under a DTAA by focusing on the meaning of being "liable to tax," the evidentiary role of Tax Residency Certificates, and competing interpretive approaches-including OECD commentary, domestic guidance, and tribunal reasoning-that treat taxation in the hands of owners as satisfying treaty residency requirements. (AI Summary)

Cross-empowerment in GST: concurrent probes treated as interrelated, prompting consolidation of investigations under state authority.
Cross-empowerment under Section 6(2)(b) and CBEC/CBIC guidance treats enquiries and investigations arising from a common event as interrelated, requiring coordinated handling. The High Court found pre-determination bank account attachments inconsistent with attachment guidelines under Section 83 and required central agencies to transmit investigation records to the State GST authority, which should continue proceedings and consider de-freezing accounts in accordance with law. A Special Leave Petition challenging that approach has been admitted for notice by the Supreme Court. (AI Summary)

Pre-reference interest: arbitrators may award interest unless parties clearly and unambiguously exclude it in contract.
Section 31(7) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act empowers an arbitral tribunal to include interest in awards for money, covering the period from cause of action to award and prescribing a higher post-award rate unless the award directs otherwise. This power coexists with party autonomy: an explicit, clear contractual prohibition will restrict the tribunal's ability to grant pre-reference or pendente lite interest, whereas silence in the agreement ordinarily permits the tribunal to award such interest provided the claimant's entitlement is supported by contract, statute, or trade usage. (AI Summary)

Input Tax Credit eligibility questioned after court ruling, raising uncertainty for GST treatment of immovable property services.
The article criticises the Apex Court ruling for failing to reconcile the link between the levy and entitlement to Input Tax Credit where supplies relate to immovable property, disputing the Court's distinction between construction (tied to an occupation certificate) and renting/leasing services; it also challenges the Court's approach to plant and machinery by urging a functionality nexus test before treating buildings as plant, calls for clearer criteria for the "own account" or "setting" test for construction, and warns that these interpretive gaps in Section 17 and ITC doctrine leave significant GST uncertainty. (AI Summary)

Renting a residential dwelling: long term hostel stays treated as residential and eligible for exemption under GST.
Hostel accommodation supplied with mandatory meals and amenities for a continuous ten month academic tenure constitutes renting a residential dwelling for use as a residence and is exempt under S. No. 12 of Notification 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate). Short vacation stays of one to two months by new students do not qualify for exemption, whereas similar short extensions by students who already completed ten months retain residential character and remain exempt. The AAR relied on precedents defining residence and distinguished mixed supply characterizations; subsequent GST Council recommendations and a notification amendment narrowed exemption scope and expressly excluded student residences and hostels from the entry. (AI Summary)

Charge of interest extends time for payment and functions as compensation, effectively condoning delay when accepted.
Charge of interest functions as compensation for delayed payment and, when stipulated or accepted, constitutes an effective extension or revision of the time for payment or related performance, limiting the recipient's ability to claim further damages; courts may award interest in absence of express provision, and levy or acceptance of interest under statutes or contracts can operate as condonation of delay and revision of original terms. (AI Summary)

Royalty as contractual consideration may preclude GST or service tax on mineral rights under constitutional distribution
Royalty is a contractual consideration payable by a lessee for enjoyment of mineral rights, not a tax; State legislatures retain exclusive power to tax mineral rights under Entry 50 of List II, and such taxation may include aspects of extraction and dispatch but must not assume the character of excise or a tax on sale. (AI Summary)

Prima facie fraud requirement: SCN must allege fraud, willful misstatement or suppression before extended limitation is invoked.
An SCN under Section 74 of the CGST Act must expressly state a prima facie satisfaction that Input Tax Credit was availed or utilized by reason of fraud, willful misstatement, or suppression of facts; without such specific allegations and supporting particulars to invoke the extended limitation period, proceedings under Section 74 are without jurisdiction and deny the taxpayer a fair opportunity to respond. (AI Summary)