Renting of immovable property: one-time premium not subject to service tax; tax applies only to the rent element.
The Tribunal held that a one-time premium paid for obtaining a lease is not chargeable to service tax under renting of immovable property because premium (price for grant of lease) is distinct from rent (payment for use and occupation); service tax applies only to the rent element constituting payment for continuous enjoyment, and therefore charging service tax on the one-time premium was incorrect, leading to the demand being set aside. (AI Summary)

Premature writ petitions at notice stage disrupt tax adjudication; parties must exhaust adjudication and appeal remedies.
Writ challenges to show-cause notices issued for alleged discrepancies between filed returns and portal data are premature; the assessee must contest factual and legal objections during adjudication before the assessing officer, and may pursue appellate remedies under the GST framework if dissatisfied with the adjudication. (AI Summary)

Exemption scope limited: employee and family medical insurance excluded; vehicle insurance tied to service functions may remain exempt.
Exemption under Entry No. 3 applies only to services having a direct and proximate nexus with municipal functions; medical insurance for employees, pensioners and their families lacks that functional nexus and is therefore not covered, whereas insurance for vehicles used in water supply and sewerage operations may be exempt as directly related to entrusted municipal functions. (AI Summary)

Transfer of business as going concern allows heirs to continue proprietorship and transfer ITC without reversal when conditions are met.
Legal heirs of a deceased proprietor may either discontinue or continue the proprietorship. On discontinuance, heirs must become authorized signatories, prove heirship, apply for cancellation within thirty days, pay tax equivalent to the higher of ITC on closing stock/capital goods or output tax on such goods, file GSTR 10, and electronic ITC will lapse; heirs' liability for post death GST claims is limited to the estate. On continuance, heirs must obtain fresh registration, transfer ITC via ITC 02, cancel the deceased's registration and file GSTR 10 with no requirement to reverse ITC on inputs and capital goods transferred as part of the going concern; liability for pre death GST remains fully enforceable against heirs. (AI Summary)

Anti-profiteering duty: transfer of enforcement to Competition Commission to ensure commensurate price reductions and penalties.
Section 171 imposes an anti-profiteering obligation to pass on tax-rate reductions and input tax credit benefits as commensurate price reductions; it empowers an authority to examine compliance and to order price reduction, refund with interest or deposit in the Consumer Welfare Fund, impose penalties and cancel registration. Executive notifications transfer these examination and enforcement functions from the National Anti-Profiteering Authority to the Competition Commission and omit the rules governing the Authority's constitution, appointment, procedures and tenure, making the Competition Commission the permanent enforcement authority. (AI Summary)

Exemption Notification scope: CBEC circular cannot narrow exemptions; only the Central Government may alter exemption parameters.
CBEC does not have statutory authority to modify an exemption notification issued by the Central Government; the exemption excludes from taxable service value the documented value of goods and materials supplied by the service provider regardless of whether they are priced standard textbooks with printed MRP, and a CBEC circular attempting to limit the exemption to such textbooks cannot lawfully alter the notification's parameters. (AI Summary)

Input Tax Credit entitlement confirmed where rejection arose from inadvertent filing error; department must process eligible claims.
Where exports of nil-rated goods establish a taxpayer's entitlement to Input Tax Credit, a departmental rejection based solely on an inadvertent filing error does not defeat that entitlement; the department conceded the mistake was bonafide and was directed to process the ITC claim and complete refund processing within a specified administrative timeframe. (AI Summary)

Physical verification requirement: taxpayer presence and timely upload of verification report are mandatory, affecting registration validity.
Rule 25 requires that physical verification of a taxable person's business premises, when deemed necessary, be conducted in the presence of the person and that the resulting verification report and supporting documents, including photographs, be uploaded in FORM GST REG-30 on the common portal within fifteen working days. Administrative steps must include notice of inspection and opportunity for representation; failure to follow these procedures undermines subsequent cancellation or suspension actions and necessitates administrative reconsideration with a speaking order. (AI Summary)

Goods and Services Tax updates extend ITC amendment deadlines, finalise ocean freight IGST treatment, and expand e invoicing compliance.
CGST Rules were amended to allow ITC claims and amendments to reported B2B invoice details up to 30 November 2022 with corresponding GSTR 9 functionality; CBIC declined review of the Supreme Court decision that IGST is not leviable on ocean freight; Kerala directed electronic issuance of FORM GST MOV 09 for detention/seizure/release under Section 129. Broader reforms include sunset limits for adjudication, retrospective interest recalibration on wrongly availed ITC, phased mandatory e invoicing and HSN reporting, and rollout of the 'GST Doctor' tool for invoice level ITC matching and return reconciliation. (AI Summary)

Access to business premises allows authorised officers to inspect records and systems for GST audit and revenue verification.
Designated officials and nominated audit parties have statutory authority to access business premises to inspect books, documents and computer systems for audits, scrutiny and verification to safeguard revenue. "Place of business" includes locations where business is carried on, stored, supplied or where accounts are kept, and a "principal place of business" is the place so specified in registration where accounts may be maintained. Registered persons must keep accurate accounts of production, supplies, stock, input tax credit and output tax at their principal or specified places of business. (AI Summary)

GST transition for works contracts: authorities must apply revised state guidelines and consider contractors' representations before coercive recovery.
The State's revised guidelines require preparing estimates using a GST-exclusive work value under the revised Schedule of Rates, issuing tax invoices that separate taxable work value and GST, and following a prescribed procedure for payments on tenders invited before the GST transition; contractors must submit representations which authorities must consider in light of these guidelines. (AI Summary)

Res judicata prevents re litigation of a power of attorney holder's capacity to appear, despite later enrollment as an advocate.
The court held that prior inter partes orders permitting a person to appear solely in the capacity of a power of attorney holder operate as res judicata on the specific question of that capacity; the subsequent enrolment of that person as an advocate does not, by itself, create an absolute statutory bar to continuing to appear as the principal's agent, nor justify re opening the issue between the same parties in the same proceedings. (AI Summary)

Reliability of surrender statements: treat broker confessions cautiously and prioritise documentary evidence over coerced admissions.
Surrender statements by brokers or alleged entry operators that conflict with contemporaneous documentary evidence should be treated with due care and caution; documentary records such as contract notes, bank cheques, PAN and share transfer documentation constitute primary evidence and cannot be displaced by contrary oral statements. Tax authorities must critically examine the circumstances under which such surrenders were obtained, avoid presumptive additions based on coerced admissions, verify transactional facts (including continued listing status), and apply rules of the Indian Evidence Act to ensure a reasoned, evidence based approach before branding transactions as bogus. (AI Summary)

Post dated cheque security: Section 138 applies only if the cheque represents a legally enforceable debt at presentation.
Whether a dishonoured post dated cheque issued as security falls under Section 138 depends on whether the cheque represented a legally enforceable debt on the date of presentation. If the underlying liability is discharged or part paid before presentation, the enforceable debt at presentation is reduced accordingly; only a cheque that represents the legally enforceable sum at maturity will engage Section 138. Proper endorsement under Section 56 is required to reflect interim part payments. (AI Summary)

Input Tax Credit: taxes on CSR mandated supplies qualify as credit when used in the course or furtherance of business.
Taxes paid on supplies procured to fulfil a corporate social responsibility mandate qualify as input tax credit where those supplies are used in the course or furtherance of business. The ruling treats statutorily required CSR spending as an obligation whose non performance would substantially impair business, and therefore the GST entitlement to credit on inputs used in furtherance of business extends to taxes paid on CSR-related supplies, subject to the conditions and restrictions of the GST law. (AI Summary)

Intermediary status denied: Genpact's services treated as principal-to-principal export under IGST Act, enabling GST refund claim.
Genpact's BPO and IT services supplied under a subcontracting arrangement were held not to constitute an intermediary under Section 2(13) of the IGST Act because the supplier performed the main services on its own account rather than merely arranging or facilitating a third party's provision; subcontracting alone does not amount to intermediary services, and accordingly the departmental classification as intermediary was quashed and the prior order recognising refund entitlement for unused input tax credit on zero-rated supplies was restored. (AI Summary)

No-objection requirement for schemes of arrangement imposes pre-filing stock exchange scrutiny and post-sanction filings for listed non-convertible securities.
Amendments require that independent director appointments under Regulation 25(2A) may be deemed valid where a special resolution fails but receives more votes in favour than against overall and from public shareholders, and removal of such directors requires the same affirmative voting test. Monitoring agency reporting under Regulation 32 is extended to preferential issues and QIPs. Regulation 52 prescribes quarterly and annual financial result submissions with accompanying audit or limited review reports, half-yearly statements of assets and cash flows, specified financial line items and ratios, special disclosures for non-convertible redeemable preference shares, and ongoing utilisation and material deviation statements for proceeds of non-convertible securities. (AI Summary)

Final GST audit report issuance requires consideration of the assessee's reply before conclusion of the audit process.
Final GST audit reports must be issued only after considering the assessee's reply to the draft audit report. The three month audit completion period begins when the records called for are made available, and while the period may be extended for recorded reasons, the department must give the assessee an opportunity to reply and then issue the final report after considering that reply, preserving the procedural right to be heard and the notice requirement by Form GST ADT-01. (AI Summary)

Preponderance of probabilities in assessing foreign gifts reversed where documentary evidence supported genuineness and donor status.
The article contends that the Tribunal's reliance on the preponderance of probabilities to treat foreign gifts as unexplained cash credits was flawed where documentary records, banking channels and donor circumstances supported the genuineness of transfers; the High Court fairly reappraised those facts under principles of the Indian Evidence Act and relevant precedent, and the author urges reconsideration of the reported Supreme Court treatment that consolidated multiple assessees under one name. (AI Summary)

Condonation of delay under Article 226 allows restoration of cancelled GST registration when non filing followed auditor's sudden death.
The High Court held that where non filing of GST returns resulted from the sudden death of the auditor and a show cause notice was not received, the Court could, under Article 226, condone delay that the Appellate Authority under Section 107 could not, set aside the cancellation order and direct restoration of GST registration, permitting the petitioner to file outstanding returns subject to payment of outstanding dues. (AI Summary)