Lower deduction certificate for TDS on immovable property enables reduced withholding for NRIs to avoid fund blockage.
TDS on immovable property requires buyers to deduct tax at source and deposit it with authorities; NRIs face a higher withholding rate. Where TDS would exceed actual liability, taxpayers may apply for a Lower Deduction Certificate permitting lower or nil deduction; applications are filed online in the prescribed form with documentary proof and reviewed by the assessing officer. A granted certificate fixes the TDS rate for the relevant financial year, is downloadable from the tax portal, and prevents fund blockage and the need to file returns solely to claim refunds. (AI Summary)

GST exemptions and rates clarified: food for educational institutions, construction annuities, government works, milling, guarantees, and irrigation parts.
Services of serving food to educational institutions including anganwadis are exempt from GST; examination fees and related input services by Central and State educational boards are exempt while accreditation services attract GST. Annuity payments for construction of roads are not covered by the access on payment exemption and attract GST. Works contracts for government entities qualify for concessional rate only where the structure is predominantly for non commercial use; ropeways for tourism are taxable at the general works contract rate. Milling for PDS is exempt if goods value 25% of composite supply, otherwise reduced job work rate applies. Government guarantees to PSUs are exempt. Laterals/parts solely for sprinklers/drip systems classifiable under the specified heading attract the lower rate; general use parts follow their HSN classification. (AI Summary)

GST relief for Covid treatment reduces or exempts tax on specified medicines and supplies to ease clinical management and supply chains.
Temporary GST relief exempts or reduces tax on specified medicines, medical devices, supplies and services for Covid-19 treatment, with certain medicines made nil-rated and a reduced combined rate applied to items such as oxygen, oxygen equipment, ventilators, testing kits, sanitizers, oximeters and specified diagnostics; ambulances receive a lower rate. Vaccines remain taxable at a reduced rate with tax on government provided free doses borne by the Central Government. Implementing notifications and CBIC/GSTN clarifications address related classification, input tax credit implications and compliance mechanisms including Dynamic QR Code, GSTR 2B availability, HSN search and negative liability ledger functionality. (AI Summary)

Due date for GST payment determines interest liability: timely payment of differential tax for supplementary invoices avoids interest.
Interest under Section 50 depends on the return-based due date in Section 39(7); although tax liability may arise on the original invoice date under Section 12(1) read with Section 9(1), differential tax in a supplementary invoice is payable by the due date of the return for the period in which the supplementary invoice is issued, and timely payment by that date prevents interest liability under Section 50. (AI Summary)

ATM withdrawal limits expanded with differentiated free transactions and permitted higher fees beyond free limits affecting cardholders.
The regulator set specific monthly free ATM transaction entitlements-five free transactions at own bank ATMs and a metro/non metro differentiated free allowance at other banks' ATMs-and authorised banks and operators to charge fees once those free quotas are exceeded. It also increased the interchange fee and prescribed higher per withdrawal charges beyond free limits to address ATM deployment and maintenance costs, with specified implementation dates for the revised fee levels. (AI Summary)

Investigation powers under GST enable inspection, search and seizure and raise coordination and jurisdictional issues in enforcement.
Investigation under the GST regime authorizes proper officers to inspect, search and seize premises, goods and documents upon satisfaction of tax evasion, with limited copying rights for persons whose documents are seized. A national tax intelligence agency conducts intelligence based enforcement exposing schemes like undervaluation, wrongful exemptions, fraudulent input tax credit claims and refund frauds. Jurisdictional issues include non entitlement to insist on lawyer presence during GST examinations, bar on advance rulings where investigations are pending, departmental discretion over investigation location and officer, distinction between tax adjudication and statutory investigations, and permitted dual intelligence actions by central or state authorities. (AI Summary)

TDS certificate requirement may be eliminated as Form 26AS provides sufficient reconciliation, easing withholding agent compliance burden.
TDS deduction obligation requires the deductor to deposit withheld tax, file prescribed TDS returns and furnish a certificate specifying amount and rate; failure to issue within prescribed periods attracts a daily penalty. Taxpayers' consolidated tax statement enables reconciliation and credit claims. Given that consolidated records reflect deductions, the author proposes removing the mandatory issuance of separate TDS certificates and eliminating the penalty for non issuance to ease withholding agents' compliance burden. (AI Summary)

Consolidation of corporate insolvency permits pooling group assets and liabilities where economic interdependence warrants a combined CIRP.
The doctrine of consolidation permits pooling assets and liabilities of economically interdependent group companies into a common CIRP when segregation would impede value maximisation. A two tier approach is applied: establish prima facie governing factors, then categorise entities according to the degree of interlinkage. Relevant factors include common control, directors, assets and liabilities, interdependence, interlacing of finance, pooling of resources, singleness of economic unit, common creditors and guarantees. Consolidation yields value and restructuring benefits but may reduce voting shares in the CoC and disadvantage operational creditors. (AI Summary)

Digital taxation in India: equalization levies, significant economic presence, and TDS on e commerce gross receipts.
India adopted unilateral digital taxation measures: a 2016 Equalization Levy (6% on online advertising with narrow carve-outs), the 2018 statutory insertion of Significant Economic Presence into business connection rules with prescribed revenue and user thresholds, a 2020 Equalization Levy (2% on non-resident e commerce operators) together with a TDS regime (Section 194O) on e commerce gross receipts, and 2021 clarifications excluding royalties/FTS and confirming levy on gross receipts, while noting treaty and attribution challenges. (AI Summary)

Prepacked insolvency process narrows statutory moratorium and grants eligible small enterprises a faster, promoter led restructuring pathway.
PIRP, aimed at MSME corporate debtors, permits initiation by the corporate debtor with majority consent of unrelated financial creditors and relies more on regulations than statute. PIRP compresses timelines by requiring prompt submission of a Form P10 list of claims and a preliminary information memorandum, gives promoters a first right to present plans, limits the moratorium compared with CIRP, and leaves management with the corporate debtor under creditor control; CIRP features public plan solicitation, statutory moratorium, and management vested in the resolution professional. (AI Summary)

Equal protection concerns over IGST on oxygen concentrators challenge heavy taxation of medical imports during a health emergency.
Imposition of IGST on imported oxygen concentrators is challenged as revenue driven and inconsistent with Article 14, given imports made during a public health emergency. The author highlights judicial developments, a governmental stay, and administrative silence on refunds, the quashing of a customs notification, thousands of affected gifts/imports, and whether the statutory definition of drugs or related classifications includes oxygen concentrators used in treatment and prevention. (AI Summary)

GST structural issues demand governance, compensation and ITC reforms to reduce compliance burden and legal uncertainty.
Four years in, GST shows structural and operational flaws: the GST Council needs greater transparency and procedural reform; the system functions practically as compartmental CGST/IGST/SGST rather than a single tax; the Compensation Cess based on an unrealistic growth assumption is unsustainable; GSTN and return architecture are taxpayer-unfriendly; and Input Tax Credit rules are overly restrictive and litigation-prone, all calling for rationalisation of slabs, credit rules, compliance burden reduction, and improved administrative trust and governance. (AI Summary)

GST relief for Covid treatment: temporary exemptions and rate reductions to lower costs while affecting input tax credit allocation.
The GST Council implemented temporary tax reliefs for Covid 19 treatment by exempting two medicines and reducing GST on specified categories including medical oxygen and equipment, ventilators and accessories, testing and diagnostic kits, pulse oximeters, sanitizers, temperature checking devices, crematorium furnaces and ambulances; notifications were issued or expected and the reliefs are time bound and reviewable, with vaccines to remain taxed at a reduced rate borne by the Central Government when supplied free, and with potential loss or reduction of input tax credit for suppliers where rates are reduced or set to nil. (AI Summary)

Taxation of online betting: winnings face a flat-rate levy with mandatory TDS on payouts and no exemptions.
Winnings from online betting are taxable under a distinct flat-rate regime with cess; such income does not qualify for personal exemptions, deductions or slab rates. Betting platforms must deduct tax at source on qualifying payouts and compute and remit tax on in-kind prizes based on market value, with bettors required to report the income and claim TDS credit when filing returns. (AI Summary)

Input Service Distribution and cross charge distinction: ISD allocates input tax credit while cross charge treats inter branch cost recovery as taxable supply.
ISD is a statutory mechanism to distribute input tax credit paid on input services received at an office to other registered persons with the same PAN, requiring ISD invoices, specific allocation to entitled recipients and a separate registration; cross charge denotes charging costs by a head office to branch offices treated as taxable supplies between distinct registrations by deeming fiction, allowing allocation on any reasonable basis where recipients can claim full input tax credit. (AI Summary)

Aadhaar seeding requirement for UANs extended under Social Security Code; only Aadhaar-seeded UANs permitted for ECR filing.
Mandatory Aadhaar seeding is required and must be verified with members' UANs as a precondition for accepting electronic challan-cum-returns (ECR); the authority has extended the deadline to allow employers additional time to link and verify Aadhaar with UANs prior to ECR filing. (AI Summary)

Waste management obligations: regulatory authorisation, producer responsibility, and mandated infrastructure for safe waste handling.
The State pollution control board is the central regulator for waste in Tamil Nadu: it plans pollution-prevention programmes, sets and reviews effluent and emission standards, grants and monitors authorisations for treatment and recycling facilities, inspects operations, collects and disseminates data, organises training and public education, and enforces compliance. Specific rules govern bio-medical, e-waste, hazardous, solid and plastic wastes, assigning responsibilities to generators, producers and local bodies (including Extended Producer Responsibility), requiring authorised treatment and disposal infrastructure and providing enforcement tools including directions and show-cause notices. (AI Summary)

GST procedural reliefs and rate reductions ease compliance burdens while enabling earlier input tax credit for landowner promoters.
Notifications introduce procedural reliefs and targeted rate changes: extensions of return due dates, staged waivers and rationalisation of interest and late fees for GSTR 3B and CMP 08, an amnesty window for past late fees on GSTR 3B, temporary EVC filing and e invoice exclusions, extension of statutory time limits, cumulative application of Rule 36(4) ITC for a quarter, GST rate reductions for specified MRO services and a medicine, and amendment enabling landowner promoters to claim developer paid GST as ITC earlier by permitting developer payment before or at completion certificate issuance. (AI Summary)

GST rate rationalisation for COVID relief supplies reduces taxes on specified medical items and applies until stated expiry.
The Council approved GST rate rationalisation for COVID-19 relief supplies, reducing GST on specified medicines (some to nil), oxygen and related equipment, testing kits, and other relief materials including hand sanitisers and ambulances; vaccines remain subject to concessional GST. These concessional rates were notified by a central tax notification and are stated to be in effect until the specified expiry, with the Centre purchasing a share of vaccines and sharing a portion of GST receipts with States. (AI Summary)

Corporate tax structure: reduced-rate options and deduction rules shape taxable income planning for companies effectively.
Corporate taxable income management requires selecting eligible tax-rate options that may limit entitlement to certain deductions and carryforwards; ensuring expenditures meet the wholly and exclusively business test for deductibility; claiming specific statutory deductions (including additional depreciation, R&D and targeted Chapter VI A incentives) subject to prescribed conditions; and complying with TDS, non-cash payment norms and timely filing to preserve deductions and loss carryforwards. Capital gains carry distinct rates by asset type and holding period, with conditional reinvestment exemptions for industrial property and prescribed bonds. (AI Summary)