Input tax credit reversal postponement permits recipients to defer reversal until supplier files return and later re avail credit.
Rule 37A defers immediate reversal of input tax credit by B2B recipients where suppliers fail to file FORM GSTR-3B, obliging recipients to reverse such credit by the recipient's FORM GSTR-3B return on or before the 30th day of November following the financial year in which the credit was availed, with interest becoming payable only if reversal is not made by that November date, and permitting re-availment of the credit if the supplier subsequently furnishes the omitted return. (AI Summary)

Reversal of input tax credit enforced where supplier non-filing or non-payment triggers mandatory reversal and interest obligations.
Amendments revise registration verification to require validation of PAN-linked mobile and email and mandate Aadhaar-based authentication with biometric and document verification at Facilitation Centres for identified applicants; Rule 9 allows physical verification based on portal risk parameters or officer approval. Rule 37 and new Rule 37A require reversal of input tax credit where consideration or the supplier's GST return remains unpaid, with interest consequences and provision for re availment once the supplier files the return. Invoice rules require recipient address particulars for supplies to unregistered persons and link invoice reporting to outstanding intimations under rule 88C. (AI Summary)

Cognizable offence threshold in GST determines arrestability and non-bailability for high-value tax evasion under law.
Prosecution under GST entails institution and pursuit of formal criminal charges for offences under section 132, with offences read against general criminal definitions. GST offences are divided into cognizable (serious, non-bailable, arrestable without warrant where specified statutory criteria are met) and non-cognizable (bailable, requiring court procedure before investigation), and prosecutorial action ordinarily follows completion of the adjudication process. (AI Summary)

Jurisdictional competence for reopening assessments: invalid notices may be quashed, but fresh lawful proceedings remain available.
An approval and notice to reopen assessment issued by an authority lacking the specified jurisdictional power is legally unsustainable and renders the notice and subsequent proceedings invalid; however, invalidation on jurisdictional grounds does not prevent tax authorities from initiating fresh proceedings if those are commenced by the properly specified authority and comply with procedural prerequisites, including the opportunity to be heard. (AI Summary)

Supplier untraceability: restrict tax additions to the profit element and permit limited percentage adjustment with verification.
Where a supplier is untraceable, purchases used to manufacture taxable finished goods should not be wholly added to income; instead, only the profit element should be treated as unexplained under bogus purchases, with a modest percentage of disputed purchases added and the matter remitted for verification of bank and fixed deposit records. (AI Summary)

Dispensation of creditor meetings under Section 230(9) allows scheme approval without a meeting when requisite creditors consent.
Where creditors holding at least ninety percent in value execute affidavits consenting to a scheme of arrangement, the Adjudicating Authority may dispense with calling creditor meetings and with related notice requirements. In liquidation proceedings, if the sole financial creditor has affidavited approval of the scheme, the dispensation condition is satisfied and the procedural requirement to issue a second-motion notice or to convene creditor meetings may be unnecessary; the Adjudicating Authority should therefore consider dispensing with the second-motion notice in such circumstances. (AI Summary)

Voluntary tax payment during search deemed involuntary; deposits made during searches cannot be treated as voluntary.
Payments of tax, interest and penalty effected while search teams remain on the premises and without statutory notice or officer acknowledgement lack voluntariness; such deposits made during searches cannot be treated as self-ascertainment under the CGST voluntary-payment framework and are subject to refund with interest where coercion or procedural noncompliance is shown. (AI Summary)

Depreciation entitlement where ownership is shared depends on demonstrable partial ownership and accounting documentation.
Depreciation was denied where the assessee claimed 50% of property cost as its asset but produced no conveyance, agreement, board resolution, or asset disclosures evidencing partial ownership; the invoice in the sister concern's name led the Tribunal to treat the arrangement as a licence rather than ownership, meaning the assessee failed to meet the ownership-and-use requirement for depreciation under section 32. The author notes the unaddressed statutory amendment inserting "wholly or partly" into section 32(1) and stresses the need for contemporaneous documentation and accounting entries to support part ownership claims. (AI Summary)

Tax definition expanded to include cess, barring cess as deductible business expenditure under income-tax provisions.
The Court applied the retrospective Explanation declaring that the term "tax" includes any surcharge or cess, and held that amounts called cess, including Education Cess, are within the scope of the statutory non-allowance and therefore cannot be claimed as business expenditure under the deduction provisions. (AI Summary)

Exclusion of time under limitation law is distinct from condonation, altering computation of condonable delay.
Exclusion of time under the law of limitations is distinct from condonation of delay; periods properly excluded cannot be counted when computing the period for which delay may be condoned. The statutory conditions for exclusion must be satisfied. Where a bona fide writ petition was filed and not entertained and an appeal was immediately preferred, the interval of the writ proceedings qualified for exclusion, altering the computation of limitation for the subsequent appeal. (AI Summary)

Interest on refund: delayed GST refunds accrue interest from after sixty days until credited to claimant's bank account.
Interest on refund requires payment of interest where GST refunds, including refunds of pre-deposit amounts made on appeal, are delayed; a payment order must specify the delayed amount, delay period and interest, and interest (and refund) is treated as paid only when electronically credited to the claimant's bank account, with interest running from the day after the prescribed delay period until credit. (AI Summary)

Refund entitlement under export refund rules upheld where debited credit wasn't utilised; interest accrues for delayed refund.
Refunds claimed under the refund notification at the time of filing are not subject to reversal obligations introduced later; a later notification cannot be invoked to deny refunds where the original refund regime contained no debiting requirement. A charge of double benefit requires actual utilisation of the refunded amount to pay duty; unutilized and non-transferred CENVAT credit does not constitute double benefit. Interest on delayed refunds is payable after the statutory three-month period until the date of refund. (AI Summary)

Essential character of service determines taxability; harvesting and transport charges are not separate manpower supply.
Whether charges deducted for harvesting and transport constitute a separate Manpower Recruiting and Supply Agency Services depends on the essential character of the contract and basis of consideration. Where payment is made by quantity delivered and the principal is not concerned with the manpower deployed, the agreement is job-specific; the dominant nature is harvesting and transportation, not an independent supply of manpower. (AI Summary)

Bail under GST law: officers may release arrested persons for bailable or non cognizable offences subject to CrPC safeguards.
Departmental officers may release arrested persons on bail for bailable and non-cognizable offences, subject to written and telephonic notification of bail conditions, execution of a personal bond with a local surety, appearance obligations, and restrictions on travel. Deputy Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners exercise powers equivalent to an officer in charge of a police station, but must comply with the Code of Criminal Procedure; if bail conditions are unmet the arrested person must be produced before a Magistrate without unnecessary delay, normally within twenty four hours. Departments must maintain a Bail Register and follow reporting procedures. (AI Summary)

Dual-use substance classification limits drugs-act enforcement where evidence and timely investigation fail to establish exclusive drug use.
The impugned substance is a dual use bulk food ingredient listed under the Food Safety and Standards regime and not in the Indian Pharmacopoeia; Schedule K and Rule 123 exempt such dual use materials from Chapter IV licensing requirements, and the appellants' valid wholesale drug licence further narrows prima facie criminal liability. The prosecution produced no scientific evidence of exclusive drug use, no recovery of repackaged consignments, and offered no explanation for a multi year investigative delay, leaving the complaint unsupported on minimal evidentiary thresholds. (AI Summary)

Notice under Section 148A(b): primary allegations cannot be added later by supplementary notice, proceedings annulled.
The High Court held that the purpose of the pre reassessment notice procedure is to present allegations with sufficient particulars so the assessee can respond; a missing foundational or primary allegation in that notice cannot be supplied later by issuing a supplementary notice, and consequential steps based on the defective notice were set aside. (AI Summary)

Revenue expenditure on abandoned construction is deductible when written off as a sunk cost incurred wholly and exclusively.
Expenditure on construction abandoned at work-in-progress stage may be deductible as revenue expenditure when written off as a sunk cost and incurred wholly and exclusively for business; the Tribunal endorsed reversal of an assessing officer's addition where the amounts were charged to profit and loss and no enduring capital asset resulted. (AI Summary)

Agricultural produce definition excludes processed cotton seed, making GTA transport of such seed taxable under GST reverse charge.
Whether cotton seed 'Banaula' qualifies as agricultural produce for exemption from GTA services under Notification No. 12/2017 is governed by the notification's limited definition: exempted produce must arise at first-stage cultivation or only undergo processing by the cultivator that does not alter essential characteristics. Cotton seed derived after ginning in mills following sale by cultivators does not satisfy these conditions, and transport of such seed therefore falls outside the exemption and is taxable, subject to applicable input tax credit considerations. (AI Summary)

Suo moto disciplinary power enables ICAI to investigate member conduct without a written complaint triggering inquiry.
ICAI may exercise suo moto authority to investigate member conduct on the basis of 'information' without a written complaint; 'information' is a broader statutory concept than a 'complaint' and permits investigation triggered by external sources or media reports so long as those reports serve only as a prompt to gather substantive material assessing compliance with Standards on Auditing. (AI Summary)

Principles of natural justice: ex parte GST orders quashed and remitted for fresh adjudication after affording hearing.
Ex parte summary orders in GST proceedings were quashed for breach of natural justice where the revenue failed to afford opportunity to be heard, did not permit the petitioner to place essential documents, and did not provide decipherable reasons for determining the amount payable; the court ordered de-freezing of petitioner bank accounts if attached, stayed coercive action during pendency, and remanded the matter for fresh adjudication on merits after affording a fair hearing and issuing a speaking order. (AI Summary)