ITR portal processing errors causing refund status mismatches despite bank credits, urging portal fixes and clearer status updates.
Technical disruptions in the e filing portal have caused refund processing anomalies and status inconsistencies: taxpayers have received refunds to their bank accounts while the portal continues to show returns as processing or refunds awaited. Incomplete or inaccurate AIS/TIS data and differential handling of longer returns contribute to delays. The author urges portal improvements, better data reconciliation, extended processing allowances for complex returns, and improved grievance-tracking and status transparency for taxpayers. (AI Summary)

One-line order dismissing appeal for delay invalidated, matter remanded for fresh speaking order and hearing.
The court determined that a one-line summary and impugned order dismissing an appeal for delay without detailed reasons or full disclosure lacked procedural fairness. It directed the revenue authority to pass a fresh speaking order addressing merits (not merely limitation), to afford personal hearing, and to consider any refund application for amounts collected in excess of pre-deposit, within a specified timeframe and without unnecessary adjournments. (AI Summary)

Suspension of registration: issue revised invoices and report supplies after revocation, with tax liability arising then.
Suspension of registration prohibits issuance of tax invoices and furnishing returns for the suspension period; non tax documents may be issued. On revocation, the taxpayer must issue revised invoices for supplies made during suspension and report those supplies in the first returns after revocation (GSTR 1 and GSTR 3B), recording GST payable and restoring input tax credit subject to section 16(4) limitations. Time of supply for goods is the revised invoice date; for services billed during suspension it is the date of receipt of payment. Net tax liability must be paid in cash with interest under section 50(1). (AI Summary)

Account freezing restrictions: banks cannot suspend ATM or dishonour cheques on inoperative accounts absent judicial or law enforcement direction.
Banks may not suspend ATM, internet or mobile banking access, impose freezes, or dishonour cheques drawn on accounts classified as inoperative/dormant absent competent judicial or law enforcement directions. RBI guidance requires that inoperative classification be used for internal monitoring and that customers not be inconvenienced; operations should be permitted after due diligence. CKYC mechanisms and customer induced transactions are acceptable means to reactivate accounts without repetitive in branch KYC submissions. Failures by Ombudsman and RBI grievance channels to enforce these directives have permitted persistent bank non compliance and customer harassment. (AI Summary)

Cash refund entitlement for pre GST CENVAT credits under the CGST Act, limited by re credit rules after final adjudication.
Entitlement to cash refund exists for unutilised pre GST CENVAT credit under the CGST Act refund provision; re crediting debited CENVAT credit back to input tax accounts is allowed only after final adjudication, abandonment of the refund claim, or when re credit cannot produce a double benefit. Authorities must guard against premature re credit that would permit dual recovery, and bona fide conduct in awaiting finality is a relevant consideration. The refund provision of Section 142(3) of the CGST Act governs cash payment for such unutilised credits, and authorities should process the sanctioned cash refund with applicable interest in accordance with the statutory framework. (AI Summary)

Retroactive application of benami law barred; criminal proceedings for pre-enactment transactions cannot proceed under amended regime.
Criminal proceedings and confiscation under the amended benami regime cannot be applied retrospectively to transactions entered before the Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016. The amended provisions expand the scope of punishable conduct beyond the pre-amendment statute and cannot be used to impose punitive consequences for prior transactions; retrospective confiscation is inconsistent with the principle against ex post facto punishment and with protections against arbitrary penal measures. (AI Summary)

Authority to freeze bank accounts for pending KYC is unclear, causing consumer hardship and regulatory confusion.
Banks lack a clear, continuing regulatory mandate to freeze customer accounts solely for pending periodic KYC: the earlier 2014 partial freeze process is no longer supported in the public regulatory record, RTI and Master Direction review show no present RBI instruction to delegate freezing powers to banks, and PMLA does not itself authorize punitive freezing by RBI or its designees. Judicial precedent disfavors bank freezes and prefers account closure after notice; regulatory ambiguity has produced customer hardship, inconsistent bank practices, and calls for RBI clarification, greater CKYC use, and stronger ombudsman remedies. (AI Summary)

Interest liability under GST Section 50 is not automatic; procedural adjudication is required before recovery and quantification.
Section 50 imposes interest on unpaid GST and links interest on returns filed late to the portion paid from the electronic cash ledger; while interest liability arises by operation of law, courts have held that quantification and recovery cannot be unilaterally imposed where the assessee disputes tax periods, tax quantum, or input tax credit claims, and the revenue must resort to the statutory adjudicatory proceedings before enforcing interest in contested cases. (AI Summary)

Search and seizure powers require reason to believe and senior authorization, permitting seizure of secreted goods and documents.
Search and seizure under GST permits a senior authorized officer to enter premises, break open receptacles and seize goods, documents, books or things that the officer has reason to believe are secreted and are useful or relevant to proceedings; authorization must be in prescribed written form and seizures recorded in the prescribed seizure order, with seized items retained for examination and subject to release or continued retention as proceedings progress. (AI Summary)

Sale versus service classification determines whether wig fitment and scalp preparation are incidental to product sale and non taxable.
Whether supply of a manufactured wig together with scalp preparation and fitment is a sale or a taxable service depends on the transaction's dominant nature: the wig is the integral component, and scalp preparation, fitment, and maintenance are incidental acts facilitating use of the product and do not convert the sale into a service. (AI Summary)

Service tax exemption for educational services prevents levy on university affiliation fees and incidental building rents in qualifying cases.
Service tax does not apply to affiliation fees and incidental charges when a university qualifies as an educational institution; affiliation fees constitute consideration connected to providing education and are exempt under Section 66D, and rents for facilities incidental to education are treated as naturally bundled services and likewise exempt. (AI Summary)

Crypto currency enables laundering through mixing, dark exchanges, OTC trades and weak KYC, demanding stronger AML measures.
The article explains that money laundering using virtual currencies leverages pseudonymous blockchain addresses and services like mixing, dark exchanges, OTC trades, gambling platforms, nested services and anonymizing mechanisms to convert and integrate Proceeds of Crime. It stresses that the PMLA criminalises concealment, possession, acquisition, use and projecting of proceeds as untainted property and argues for stringent AML/CFT measures-enforceable KYC, reporting obligations for reporting entities, stronger investigative capacity and international cooperation-to close regulatory gaps and curb crypto enabled laundering. (AI Summary)

Manufacture characterization: full-process bottling and blending of IMFL excludes those job works from service taxation under current tax regimes.
Job work comprising blending, bottling, labeling and packaging of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) performed by a contract bottling unit that completes the production process qualifies as manufacture rather than a taxable Business Auxiliary Service; isolated activities that do not amount to manufacture, such as mere packing or labeling alone, may still be taxable as services. Under the current GST framework alcoholic liquor for human consumption is excluded from GST, supporting non taxability in those circumstances. (AI Summary)

Provisional attachment time limit: attachments under Section 83 cannot continue beyond one year, requiring statutory cessation procedures.
Section 83 empowers provisional attachment of property, including bank accounts, to protect government revenue but mandates that every such provisional attachment shall cease to have effect after one year from the date of the attachment order. The Delhi High Court construed Section 83 to mean an attachment order cannot continue beyond that one year period and addressed the necessary communications to banks when the statutory period has expired. (AI Summary)

Delegated-legislation limitation: FTP condition requiring IEC at time of service is inconsistent with FTDR Act.
The FTP's temporal requirement that exporters hold an active Import Export Code at the time services were rendered imposes a substantive eligibility restriction not found in the Foreign Trade Development and Regulation Act, 1992. Delegated rulemaking under the Act cannot create rights or obligations beyond the statute's scope; therefore the IEC-at-rendering-services condition is inconsistent with the statutory scheme and should not be treated as mandatory for SEIS eligibility. (AI Summary)

Classification of advertising services: integrated print media space plus artwork treated as advertising service, affecting applicable tax treatment.
The Appellate Authority concluded that supplying print media advertising space together with design or artwork constitutes an integrated Advertising Service under SAC 998361 rather than a mere sale of blank print space or the separate "other advertising space" category, and that the nature of the contractual scope and explanatory notes governs classification and applicable tax treatment. (AI Summary)

Interest on late TDS payments: month definition changes interest calculation, tribunals endorse a 30 day month over calendar month
Section 201(1A) imposes separate simple interest for late deduction and late payment; dispute centers on whether "month" means a British calendar month as used by TRACES/CPC TDS or a 30 day month as applied in several ITAT decisions. The document cites tribunal authorities and illustrative tables to demonstrate that the month definition materially changes the computed interest liability for both late deduction and late payment periods. (AI Summary)

Service tax on composite works contracts held not leviable before mid 2007, reinforcing precedent and binding stare decisis.
Service tax was not leviable on indivisible composite works contracts prior to the Finance Act, 2007 amendment; the Supreme Court upheld Larsen & Toubro, declined to reopen that precedent due to stare decisis and the Revenue's failure to seek timely review, and held that the statutory definition making works contract service taxable applies only prospectively from the amendment's enforcement date, thereby rendering the service component taxable only from that date. (AI Summary)

Limitation extension applies to the condonation period; appeal deadlines for GST registration cancellation are covered by suo moto extension order.
Extension of limitation issued suo moto applies to both the statutory appeal period under Section 107 and any condonation period, so petitioners are covered by the nationwide extension orders; the cancellation order was also set aside for lacking digital signatures and venue particulars, requiring proper signed procedure before enforcing registration cancellation. (AI Summary)

Acknowledgement in financial statements restarts limitation, allowing insolvency claims within a fresh limitation period under the Insolvency Code.
The Limitation Act supplies a three year period for applications not otherwise governed; Section 18 provides that a written acknowledgement of liability signed by the debtor restarts limitation. Entries in books of account and signed balance sheets can constitute such an acknowledgement and thus commence a fresh limitation period. The Supreme Court held that signed financial statements evidencing the jural relationship and financial liability operate as acknowledgement, permitting a timely insolvency application filed within three years of the acknowledgement. (AI Summary)