Withdrawal of CIRP application allowed post-admission if approved by the committee of creditors and placed before the adjudicating authority.
Withdrawal of a CIRP application after admission is statutorily permitted where a withdrawal proposal is approved by the Committee of Creditors and then placed before the Adjudicating Authority, while applications filed prior to constitution of the CoC are presented by the Interim Resolution Professional and may be considered without CoC approval. The regulatory framework also allows exceptional consideration of withdrawal after issuance of Form G or even at liquidation, subject to creditor approval and the Adjudicating Authority's discretion, with deference to the CoC's commercial judgment. (AI Summary)

Arrest without GST recovery notice invalid where no recovery notice issued; court outlines bail factors and protective conditions.
Arrest lacking a prior GST recovery notice and absent ascertainment of tax or penalty undermines the legal basis for custodial detention; courts must consider nature of accusation, evidence, accused's character and reasonable apprehension of witness tampering when assessing bail, and may impose conditions preventing inducement, witness intimidation, requiring attendance at key trial stages, and prohibiting further criminal activity. (AI Summary)

Registration of court decrees recording an agreement of sale does not by itself create proprietary interest; registration rules apply accordingly.
A court decree that records or substitutes an agreement of sale does not itself create an interest in immovable property; accordingly, such a decree is not treated as an instrument effecting transfer for purposes of registration prohibitions, may be registered in the sub-registrar's office where the decree was made or elsewhere if it does not affect immovable property and parties so desire, and related pending proceedings or assertions of government ownership are not by themselves conclusive grounds for refusal of registration. (AI Summary)

Secured creditor priority: customs recovery powers do not override prior perfected security interests under company law.
Whether the Customs Act creates an overriding first charge over imported goods warehoused under customs bonds was considered against the Companies Act priority scheme. The Supreme Court explained that while Crown preference survives as law in force against ordinary unsecured creditors, customs adjudication and auction powers do not negate or displace prior perfected security interests; debts falling within Section 530(1)(a) remain preferential under the Companies Act but do not override secured creditors or the statutory structure of Section 529A. (AI Summary)

First Auditor Appointment requires board consent, Form ADT 1 filing and Registrar notice to secure statutory audit oversight.
Section 139 requires the board to appoint the first auditor within thirty days of incorporation, or else the company must convene an extraordinary general meeting within ninety days; the appointment requires auditor consent and must be filed with the Registrar by submitting Form ADT 1 within fifteen days, accompanied where applicable by Form MGT 14 and particulars such as auditor name, address, contact, PAN, appointment date, and details of any outgoing auditor. (AI Summary)

Writ remedy unavailable where non intimation of business address and non cooperation accompany GST registration cancellation.
The petitioner failed to update its change of principal place of business on the GST portal; inspection found the old premises abandoned and the revenue issued a notice under section 29(2)(e) for cancellation of registration. The adjudicating authority rejected the petitioner's reply and cancelled registration. The High Court held that non intimation of address and non cooperation with proceedings meant the notice was not non speaking and that these defaults made the case unfit for relief under Article 226. (AI Summary)

Treatment of flow-through entities ensures GloBE income and covered tax are allocated to owners or the entity to prevent mismatch.
Global minimum tax rules allocate a flow-through entity's Financial Accounting Net Income or Loss by excluding amounts attributable to non-group owners and PEs, then allocating the remainder to constituent entity owners if tax transparent, to the entity if a reverse hybrid, or to the UPE when the flow-through entity is the ultimate parent. Article 7.1 permits reductions in the UPE's GloBE Income (and proportionate reductions in covered taxes) for amounts attributable to holders taxed at or above the minimum rate, to small-ownership resident natural persons, or to limited-interest exempt entities, with any residual income included in the jurisdictional net GloBE Income. (AI Summary)

Inventory valuation by a nominated Cost Accountant can be directed during assessment to verify valuation and require a prescribed report.
Section 142(2A) permits the Assessing Officer, with prior approval of a senior tax official, to direct audits by a nominated Chartered Accountant and/or an inventory valuation by a nominated Cost Accountant where complexity, volume, doubts about correctness, multiplicity of transactions or specialized activity warrant. The nominated professional must submit a signed, verified report in the prescribed form within a specified period (extendable subject to a prescribed maximum). Expenses and remuneration are to be determined by the senior official under prescribed guidelines and paid by the Central Government. A new Form 6C and rule amendments are proposed to operationalize inventory valuation, specifying detailed annexures and reconciliation requirements. (AI Summary)

Writ jurisdiction denied where alternate remedies existed and petitioner failed to exhaust timely appellate remedy.
Supreme Court affirmed that Article 226 writ jurisdiction should not be invoked where an assessee has an effective alternate statutory appeal and failed to diligently avail that remedy within the limitation period; the Appellate Authority had dismissed the delayed appeal and the High Court properly declined extraordinary relief because none of the established exceptions to the alternate-remedy rule were shown. (AI Summary)

GST rates on toys and sporting goods: classification by electronic content and product use determines higher or lower tax bands.
GST classification for toys and sporting goods applies differential rates by product type: non electronic scooters and similar toys attract a lower toy rate while electronic toys and video game systems are placed in higher bands; unspecified toys default to the top band. For sporting goods, general sports items and specified fishing equipment are taxed at a lower band, athletic/gym/fitness equipment at a higher band, and unspecified sporting goods default to the higher band. (AI Summary)

Tax on online money gaming now imposes GST registration and integrated-tax duties on non-resident platform suppliers.
Non-resident suppliers of online money gaming supplying to persons in the taxable territory are made liable to pay integrated tax, must obtain a single registration under the simplified registration scheme or ensure a taxable-territory representative registers and pays tax on their behalf, and failure to comply permits blocking of computer resources used for such supply; the amendments deem platform organizers and operators of specified actionable claims as suppliers and expand compulsory registration for foreign online money gaming suppliers. (AI Summary)

Inter-state sale rule: VAT not attracted where goods are sold and dispatched across State borders, obliging refund of wrongly deducted tax.
Where goods are manufactured, loaded into a railway wagon and transported to a destination outside the taxing State, the transaction is an inter-state sale and State VAT does not apply; subsequent independent movement after sale does not make it intra-state. Characterisation as a works contract is inappropriate where the contract and facts demonstrate sale of goods with inter-state movement. A recipient who deducted VAT on that incorrect basis must refund the illegally collected amount and may apply to the State VAT department for repayment. (AI Summary)

Safe harbour rules extended, maintaining transfer pricing certainty for specified cross border transactions under expanded applicability this assessment year.
Safe Harbour Rules grant pre accepted transfer prices for specified international transactions (software services, IT enabled services, KPO, contract R&D, auto component manufacture and exports, intra group loans, corporate guarantees) so declared prices must be accepted by tax authorities when conditions are met; CBDT notifications have periodically extended the temporal applicability of these provisions, with the latest extension covering the assessment year indicated in Notification No. 58/2023. (AI Summary)

Taxability of duty-free shops outside customs frontiers recalled for re-examination and related appeals to be consolidated.
The dispute concerns refund claims of service tax on charges for renting immovable property for duty free shops at arrival and departure airport terminals and whether those shops are outside the customs frontier for indirect tax purposes. The Supreme Court granted review noting legal grounds about the distinct footing of goods and services/IGST regimes, recalled its earlier judgment, and directed that the appeal be tagged and clubbed with other pending appeals for consolidated hearing while suspending coercive recovery pending disposal. (AI Summary)

FCRA account designation at the specified bank affects annual return filings and reporting obligations for foreign contributions.
Amendment requires receipt of all foreign contribution into a designated FCRA Account at the specified SBI New Delhi branch, permits additional FCRA accounts in scheduled banks for utilisation, and prohibits non-foreign funds in those accounts. Banks and authorised persons must report prescribed remittance particulars. Courts have allowed organisations that opened designated accounts belatedly to file Form FC-4 with the subsequently opened SBI account details and stayed coercive action or further penalties when returns were uploaded within a short grace period, while upholding penalties where delay was unexplained. (AI Summary)

Input Tax Credit denied where supplier collects but fails to remit GST; purchaser must prove supplier's payment.
ITC can be denied when a supplier collects tax from a purchaser but does not remit it to the Government; ITC is a concession dependent on statutory conditions, not an absolute right. The purchaser must prove the supplier's payment of the collected tax, and mere production of tax invoices is insufficient. If the supplier fails to remit, denial of ITC is permissible and the purchaser's remedy lies in recovery proceedings against the supplier. (AI Summary)

Flow-through entity treatment under Pillar Two frames allocation and top-up tax implications for tax transparent and reverse hybrid entities.
The GloBE rules treat entities fiscally transparent where created as flow-through entities, with special measures when such an entity is the Ultimate Parent Entity. Flow-through entities are split into Tax Transparent Entities-transparent in both creation and owner jurisdictions-and Reverse Hybrid Entities-transparent where created but opaque to owners-resulting in divergent tax timing and allocation; the rules apply separately from each owner's perspective so income and tax consequences may be partially attributed based on each owner's domestic characterization. (AI Summary)

Limitation on customs adjudication: show cause notice lapsed where duty was not determined within the prescribed period despite adjournments.
The High Court held that a show cause notice had lapsed where the proper officer failed to determine the amount of duty within the prescribed period under the unamended limitation regime; statutory timelines require determination unless it was demonstrably impossible, and unexplained departmental delay or repeated adjournments do not justify extension, so the impugned notice could not be adjudicated. (AI Summary)

Official seizure requirement prevents retention of personal cash during GST searches, prompting refund to owner.
Revenue lacks authority to retain personal cash found during GST search proceedings without an official seizure; continued possession of assets taken from the proprietor's residence without compliance with statutory seizure procedure is unlawful, and restitution to the proprietor is required. (AI Summary)

Taxation of online gaming clarified: new CGST and IGST amendments define supply, registration and place of supply rules.
The CGST (Amendment) Act, 2023 and IGST (Amendment) Act, 2023 enact GST Council measures taxing online gaming by defining online gaming, addressing registration, and changing the scope and place of supply; states are expected to amend state GST laws to align. Administrative changes include levy of compensation cess on utility vehicles with clarification on 'ground clearance' to be provided, CBIC notifications altering territorial jurisdiction for specific commissionerates, and an invoice incentive scheme to promote bill collection. (AI Summary)