Retention limits under Section 132: seized assets must be handed to assessing officer promptly; post-handover encashments invalid.
An authorised officer must hand over seized assets and documents to the assessing officer within the statutory handover period; thereafter only the assessing officer may exercise powers to encash or appropriate assets. Encashments and adjustments made by the authorised officer after losing statutory competence are without authority and ineffective, requiring restoration of the prior status so that the competent assessing officer may reconsider claims under the tax settlement scheme in accordance with law. (AI Summary)

Reconciliation of tax statement mismatches can prevent disputes by prompting remedial corrections and administrative extensions wherever required.
Reconcile Form 26AS, AIS and TIS with books by identifying mismatches from data errors, duplications, omissions, timing differences and misreporting; then remediate by correcting books, requesting portal rectifications from system authorities, and seeking amendments from reporting parties such as employers, banks, mutual funds, depositories and brokers. Undertake this review before filing returns where time permits and seek administrative extensions and assessing officer procedures for rectification to avoid disputes arising from uncorrected reporting discrepancies. (AI Summary)

Installment payment of tax dues allows adjustment of Input Tax Credit only against final installment, with reducing-balance interest.
Assessee may pay assessed GST liability in 24 monthly instalments with any adjustments from pending appeals or Input Tax Credit applied solely against the final instalment; interest on the tax component is computed on a reducing-balance basis after instalment completion and must be paid within sixty days, while default accelerates the balance and permits recovery and registration cancellation; current GST dues remain payable during the instalment period. (AI Summary)

Manual filing of refund applications remains permissible and must be processed despite administrative online-only directives.
Rule 97A's non-obstante clause equates references to electronic filing in Chapter X with inclusion of manual filing, so administrative circulars mandating online-only submission govern applications filed on the portal but do not extinguish a statutory right to file and have processed refund applications manually; officers must accept and process manually filed refund claims that meet the prescribed documentary requirements rather than reject them solely for non-electronic submission. (AI Summary)

Refund for misclassified inter State/intra State supply must be reconsidered under Circular interpreting 'subsequently held,' with fresh appellate decision.
The High Court set aside the appellate order rejecting the refund and remitted the GST refund claim for fresh consideration by the appellate authority in light of Circular No. 162/18/2021 GST interpreting the phrase "subsequently held" in the CGST and IGST refund provisions, directing the authority to decide the matter afresh in accordance with law without expressing any opinion on merits. (AI Summary)

Anticipatory bail is a statutory right; custodial interrogation under the CGST Act is not warranted, subject to conditions.
Anticipatory bail is a statutory right under the CGST Act and custodial interrogation is not inherently required by that statute. The court noted the interplay of Section 132 offences with Sections 135 and 138-presumption of culpable mental state subject to defence, and compounding-concluding that statutory punishments and compounding provision reduce the necessity for detention. The court therefore conditioned anticipatory bail on bonds, sureties, passport surrender, cooperation with investigation, prohibition on witness inducement, operational contactability and location sharing, and permitted cancellation on breach. (AI Summary)

TDS credit allowed to employee despite employer non-deposit; employer liable under recovery mechanism and credit must be given.
TDS credit must be granted to an employee where tax has been deducted by the employer even if the employer failed to deposit the deducted tax; recovery of the deducted amount should be pursued from the employer under the statutory recovery mechanism treating the employer as liable for non-deposit, and the tax department cannot deny the employee the benefit of the deducted tax. Any recovery or adjustment improperly made against the employee is to be refunded to the employee with statutory interest within a short period. (AI Summary)

Transaction value must be accepted unless contemporaneous evidence disproves invoice price, shaping customs valuation and provisional assessments.
Transaction value is the primary basis for customs valuation and must be accepted unless contemporaneous evidence shows the invoice price is incorrect; gem valuation depends on attributes (carat, colour, clarity, cut) and different value concepts may produce divergent figures. Where information or tests are lacking, customs may permit provisional assessment on security, with finalisation and adjustment under prescribed procedures. Importers and exporters must assemble contemporaneous documentary evidence (invoices, bills of entry, origin certificates, replenishment licences) and may use certified valuers, appraisers and trade panels to substantiate declared values; certain unset and uncut stones are exempt subject to replenishment authorisations. (AI Summary)

GST Annual Return filing requirements updated: self certified returns, threshold based GSTR 9/C obligations and optional reporting rules.
The substituted rule 80 requires a self certified GST annual return and reconciliation for FY 2020 21 due 31.12.2021, removes mandatory auditor audit for reconciliation, and sets turnover thresholds: exemption up to two crore, GSTR 9 mandatory up to five crore with GSTR 9C required only above five crore. Form and instruction amendments permit optional reporting or netting of various tables for FY 2020 21, add an "Others" liability category in GSTR 9C, recast Part V as taxpayer declaration of additional liability, and omit auditor certification, while TRAN 1/2 disclosures and certain reversals remain mandatory in specified tables. (AI Summary)

Extension of filing deadlines by Assessing Officer proposed with safeguards to protect assessee rights while preserving revenue.
Proposal to reinstate and formalise AO power to grant limited extensions of statutory filing deadlines for returns where exceptional personal, health, operational or contingency circumstances impede timely compliance. Extensions would be subject to interest payable as per law to protect revenue, while preserving assessees' entitlement to deductions, loss carryforwards and refund interest. Procedural features include prescribed application form and time limits, illustrative grounds, evidentiary rules for repeat applications, differentiated extension caps, and a deemed-allowance/default decision timeframe with prompt service of rejection orders. (AI Summary)

Input tax credit entitlement limited when supplier fails to remit tax; buyer protected if authorities pursue supplier first.
Section 16 conditions availment of input tax credit on actual payment of the tax charged on the supplier's invoice to the Government; revenue must examine and pursue the supplier when tax collected by the seller is not remitted, and cannot simply reverse a buyer's credit without examining the seller and initiating recovery against the seller, as directed by the Madras High Court. (AI Summary)

Rectification powers cannot be used to rehear merits; tribunals must restrict amendments to mistakes apparent from the record.
Section 254(2) confers limited rectification powers on the income-tax appellate tribunal to correct a mistake apparent from the record, not to rehear or revisit the merits of an appeal; where the tribunal re-decides substantive issues by way of rectification, the correct remedy is appeal to the High Court rather than tribunal recall. (AI Summary)

GST compliance updates expand electronic facilitation and amend procedural forms to strengthen return scrutiny and taxpayer services.
Administrative and procedural changes in the GST regime include extension of the National Anti-profiteering Authority's tenure, amendments to FORM GST DRC-03 to record intimations from FORM GST DRC-01A and new issuance grounds, Kerala's standardized risk parameters and scrutiny procedures under section 61, acceptance of electronic e-way bills and invoices for inspection, and GSTN enhancements to GSTR-1/IFF and portal functionalities covering registration, EVC/DSC, refunds, appeals, enforcement and recovery. (AI Summary)

Interest on delayed refunds: entitlement begins from original receipt of the refund application under fiscal law, not defect cure date.
The operative legal principle is that statutory interest on delayed refunds is computed from the expiry of the prescribed period counted from the date of receipt of the refund application, not from the date defects are removed; departments may not avoid interest liability by treating only defect-free re-submission as the operative filing date, and fiscal timelines must be strictly construed against such procedural tactics. (AI Summary)

Limitation exclusion: period treated as excluded, impacting computation of appeal and proceeding timeframes and registry practice.
The period from mid March 2020 until early October 2021 is excluded in computing limitation for suits, appeals and proceedings; where limitation would have expired during that period a fixed shorter window applies from resumption, subject to any longer residual period. Registries are directed not to insist on separate delay condonation applications for appeals governed by the exclusion/extension order and appellants should record reliance on the directions in verification and registry forms. (AI Summary)

Input Tax Credit entitlement: statutory conditions determine eligibility while portal returns serve as facilitative reconciliation only.
Availability of Input Tax Credit depends on statutory conditions: possession of invoice or debit note, receipt of goods or services, tax charged being paid to Government by the supplier, and filing the return. GSTR-2A/2B and other rule-based portal statements operate as facilitative reconciliation tools and do not themselves create or replace statutory entitlement. Defences to departmental notices include reliance on books of account and self-assessment, supplier responsibility for non-payment, and the doctrine that law does not compel performance of the impossible where no mechanism exists to verify supplier payment. (AI Summary)

Payment of price is essential to a valid sale; instruments without proved consideration are void and may be ignored.
Payment of price is an essential element of a sale under Section 54: absent payment or provision for payment, an instrument does not constitute a sale and is void. Where sale deeds are executed without proved consideration and purchasers cannot show payment, transfers effected-including those via power of attorney-may be treated as sham transactions that do not divest co owners of their shares. (AI Summary)

Taxability of non-human alcohol under GST: denatured and industrial-use alcohol attract GST while potable liquor remains state-taxed.
Alcoholic liquor fit for human consumption is excluded from GST and remains subject to state excise and VAT; alcohol rendered unfit for human use by denaturing or allocated for industrial purposes is taxable under GST. Denatured ethyl alcohol and spirits for non-human use attract GST, while ethyl alcohol supplied for blending with motor spirits is subject to a distinct lower GST rate. Distillation by-products such as Distillers Wet Grain Solubles, characterised as brewing or distilling dregs, have been treated as taxable under the GST tariff. (AI Summary)

Deposit insurance protection and proposed amalgamation may defer and convert uninsured balances into bank securities under draft scheme.
The draft amalgamation scheme merges a failed cooperative bank into a transferee small finance bank using DICGC funds as an advance to pay insured depositors through the transferee, while uninsured or excess amounts are deferred, staggered for retail depositors, or converted for institutional holders into hybrid securities; the scheme contains broad immunities for the State and final interpretation powers for the regulator, and raises concerns about definitions, interest entitlement, claim verification, priority of Long Term Deposits, and administrative implementation. (AI Summary)

Regulatory power to set investment adviser fee modes and limits enables targeted investor protection and market regulation.
SEBI's statutory powers to protect investors and regulate market functionaries permit it to prescribe the manner and limits for fees charged by investment advisers; Regulation 15A and the implementing circular set two permissible fee modes (Asset Under Advice and Fixed Fee) and general conditions on aggregation, annual mode choice, advance fees, and refunds, framed as regulatory measures for investor protection rather than fiscal imposition. (AI Summary)