Liquidity support policies and strengthened tax compliance measures bolster economic recovery and curb invoice fraud.
An accommodative monetary stance was maintained to support credit flow and recovery while enhancing supervision of non-bank financiers and cooperative banks, imposing temporary dividend restrictions to conserve capital. Concurrently, GST administration tightened compliance-waiving short-term QR penalties, mandating expanded product coding, instituting SOPs to counter fake invoices and fraudulent ITC claims, improving portal automation and issuing filing reminders. A centralised borrowing mechanism was used to meet compensation cess shortfalls, recorded as state capital receipts for financing. (AI Summary)

Optional concessional corporate tax rate available to qualifying domestic companies, subject to disallowance of incentive deductions and irrevocable conditions.
Optional concessional corporate tax permits a qualifying domestic company to compute its total income at a lower rate if prescribed conditions are met and the option is timely exercised; the election is irrevocable and lapses on breach. The regime disallows specified incentive and Chapter VI-A deductions, prevents set-off of related carried forward losses and unabsorbed depreciation, prescribes depreciation determination and transitional written down value adjustments, and provides a modified concession for IFSC units while preserving certain employment-related deductions. (AI Summary)

Moratorium under insolvency law halts customs sale of uncleared imported goods and protects debtor's asset control.
Moratorium under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code bars proceedings against a corporate debtor's assets after initiation of insolvency resolution and, by virtue of section 238, overrides inconsistent laws; accordingly an interim resolution professional may take control and custody of imported goods owned by the corporate debtor even if those goods are in customs custody, and the customs authority cannot proceed with sale under section 48 once the moratorium is in place unless statutory relinquishment or disposal formalities have been completed. (AI Summary)

Arrest without FIR permissible under CGST where reason to believe offence; anticipatory bail denied for main accused.
The High Court held that registration of an FIR is not a precondition for arrest under the CGST Act; where the Commissioner has reason to believe an offence under Section 132 has been committed, arrest may be authorized independently of assessment. The Court found prima facie evidence of fraudulent availment and transmission of input tax credit, failure to produce e way bills, transport and payment proofs, and noncompliance with summons. Consequently, anticipatory bail for the principal accused was refused while limited pre arrest relief was granted to a dormant partner subject to bond and compliance conditions. (AI Summary)

Composite supply exemption for crushing and fortification of grain supplied to state governments may remove GST liability when goods value is minor.
The service of crushing whole unpolished grain supplied to State Governments is characterized as a composite supply where the crushing and fortification service is predominant and packing materials are ancillary; when the value of goods in the composite supply does not exceed the prescribed threshold, such supplies to a State Government for distribution through the Public Distribution System qualify for exemption under Sl No. 3A of Notification No.12/2017, though revenue may alternatively classify the activity under job-work or manufacturing-service entries of Notification No.11/2017. (AI Summary)

Pass on benefit of tax reduction: suppliers must reduce final prices commensurate with rate cuts or face anti profiteering action.
Suppliers must pass on GST rate reductions through commensurate reductions in final prices. In this case the supplier raised base prices after the rate cut and kept post reduction MRPs that preserved higher base prices, so DGAP found the benefit was not passed on and quantified the excess realization. The Authority accepted that computation, directed commensurate price reduction, ordered deposit of the determined amount into Consumer Welfare Funds where recipients were unidentifiable, and indicated penalty liability under the anti profiteering provisions. (AI Summary)

Regulatory filing portal updated: new NEAPS URL introduced with transitional multiple-access and single-link availability during cutover.
NSE introduced an additional NEAPS URL to support redesigned, user-friendly online filing of SEBI disclosures, compliance filings, corporate governance reports, shareholding patterns and results. Companies may access legacy and new URLs until further notice, but during the cutover only the new URL will accept submissions. Technical support contact details are provided for assistance; a disclaimer limits the author's liability for errors in the informational material. (AI Summary)

Common portal service of notices: uncertainty over which portal qualifies may render electronic notices vulnerable to challenge.
The article identifies a procedural gap: although service may be effected by e-mail or by making communications available on the common portal, the Government must notify a portal for specific functions. Multiple GST-related websites exist for different purposes, but none is expressly notified for service of notices under the common-portal method; therefore notices uploaded on an unstipulated website may not comply with the statutory electronic-service requirements and may require reissue, while acted-upon communications may remain valid. (AI Summary)

Relief calculation under Sabka Vishwas Scheme: apply relief to the outstanding tax after deducting appropriated and pre-deposit payments.
Calculation under the Sabka Vishwas Scheme hinges on determining the tax dues that attract percentage relief and on deducting amounts already paid or pre-deposited: eligible liabilities include show cause notices, arrears, unpaid declared duties, enquiry-quantified amounts and voluntary disclosures; late fee/penalty-only notices with duty paid receive full waiver. Relief percentages apply to the outstanding duty after appropriation, and Section 124(2) mandates deduction of pre-deposits or deposits made during proceedings when issuing the statement of amount payable. (AI Summary)

Input tax credit statement Form GSTR 2B provides a monthly auto drafted ITC summary for use in GSTR 3B filings.
The amended Rule 60 creates a monthly auto drafted Form GSTR 2B compiling ITC data from supplier filings (GSTR 1, GSTR 5, GSTR 6) and ICEGATE imports. It distinguishes claimable ITC (Part A, four sections including imports and reverse charge supplies) from non claimable or reversible credits (Part B and Table 4), and directs recipients to use GSTR 2B for FORM GSTR 3B reporting while consulting GSTR 2A for near real time details. (AI Summary)

Deemed GST registration verification intensified with mandatory physical checks and post-registration scrutiny; E-way bill unblocking now available online.
A Standard Operating Procedure requires mandatory physical verification for applicants with failed or non opted Aadhaar authentication before grant of registration, subjects deemed registrations to compulsory post registration verification and potential cancellation under rule 22, and permits interim notices based on risk parameters such as discrepancies between GSTR 1 and GSTR 3B filings; separately, an online Form EWB 05 process has been enabled for taxpayers to seek unblocking of E way bill generation, with orders issued by the tax officer and conditions for restoration tied to return filing. (AI Summary)

Dividend restriction challenged as too broad; modest payouts should be allowed to protect shareholder income and market confidence.
The author challenges the RBI prohibition on bank dividends for FY2019 20 as disproportionate and harmful to dependent shareholders and market capitalisation. Citing the 2005 framework that ties permissible payouts to bank-specific financial metrics, the note urges permitting modest dividends-up to the average of each bank's minimum and maximum permissible payout-and limited use of reserves, to balance capital conservation with shareholder income and market confidence. (AI Summary)

GST return filing framework updated: elective quarterly returns, IFF invoice uploads and auto drafted input credit statements introduced.
The amendment substitutes Rules 59, 60 and 61, inserts Rule 61A and introduces Form GSTR 2B, requiring most registered persons to file GSTR 3B by prescribed due dates, offering an elective quarterly return option subject to eligibility and turnover thresholds, establishing an Invoice Furnishing Facility for interim monthly invoice uploads excluded from quarter end GSTR 1, and auto populating recipient statements (GSTR 2A/2B) from suppliers' filings to support input tax credit claims. (AI Summary)

HSN code digit requirements updated: expanded digit precision for larger turnover and specified chemicals mandate on invoices.
Rule 46 requires HSN on tax invoices. Notification No.78/2020-CT (effective 01.04.2021) revises prior turnover-based tiers, requiring four-digit HSN for taxpayers below a specified aggregate turnover threshold and a higher-digit HSN for those above it, while supplies to unregistered persons are excluded. Notification No.90/2020-CT (effective 01.12.2020) imposes an eight-digit HSN requirement on invoices for specified chemical goods. Taxpayers must determine appropriate HSN codes using existing rate and exemption notifications and may seek expert classification where multiple codes are possible. (AI Summary)

Failure to pass on input tax credit benefit led to mandated price reduction and refund under Section 171 protections.
A supplier of a used imported offset press failed to reduce the base price to reflect the benefit of input tax credit available after GST implementation and thereby contravened Section 171 of the CGST Act, 2017. DGAP found that the supplier retained the pre-GST embedded duty component in the base price despite being eligible to claim IGST credit post-import, calculated a commensurate reduced price and identified the excess charged as profiteering. NAA upheld the finding, directed refund of the profiteered amount with interest and noted possible penalty under Section 171(3A). (AI Summary)

Optional relief under section 43B permits claiming payments made after TAR signing but before the ITR due date, risking TAR ITR mismatches.
The document explains that the proviso to sub section (1) of section 43B permits claiming specified expenses if actually paid on or before the due date for furnishing the return under section 139. A regulatory extension created different due dates for TAR and ITR, so payments made after the TAR cutoff but before the ITR due date can be claimed in the ITR yet be absent from the TAR, causing mismatches. Recommended responses include accelerating payments, claiming in the next year, or filing ITR claiming post audit payments followed by revised TAR and revised ITR; an amendment aligning the proviso's reference date with TAR or an intermediate date is suggested. (AI Summary)

GST rate challengeability limited: tax rates are not justiciable unless shown to be confiscatory in nature.
The article explains that GST rates fixed on the recommendations of the Council are policy decisions and not ordinarily justiciable; courts will intervene only if a rate is shown to be confiscatory. Applying this, a public interest petition seeking extension of essential-commodity status and reduction of GST on masks and sanitizers was dismissed: inclusion under the Essential Commodities Act and price regulation are executive choices attracting judicial restraint, and mere disagreement over tax levels does not justify mandamus to reduce notified rates. (AI Summary)

Limitation Periods restrict issuance of service tax notices; extended period may be invoked only for suppression of facts.
Service tax limitation rules set normal windows (originally one year, later extended to eighteen and thirty months) for issuing Show Cause Notices measured from the relevant date of filing periodical returns, while a distinct five year extended limitation applies only where suppression of facts is alleged; disclosure in returns, debatable issues notified to authorities, or matters already audited generally preclude invoking suppression, and COVID time extensions have affected procedural deadlines that departments have sometimes used to issue additional SCNs. (AI Summary)

Dynamic QR Code compliance relaxation extended; penalty waiver applies during transition, with mandatory QR requirement thereafter.
The requirement to provide a cross-reference of payment using a Dynamic QR Code on B2C invoices for taxpayers exceeding the prescribed aggregate turnover threshold is subject to a transitional waiver that suspends penalties during the interim, conditional on the taxpayer implementing the QR-code requirement from the start of the subsequent compliance phase. The QR code must be configured by the taxpayer, and a Dynamic QR Code displayed digitally with payment cross-reference qualifies as compliance; specified supplier categories remain exempt. (AI Summary)

Tax rate parity: reduce individual, HUF and firm income taxes to offset GST burden and restore post tax capacity.
Urges reduction of income tax rates for individuals, HUFs and firms to parity with the lowest corporate rate because high GST and limited deductions have increased the effective tax burden. Emphasises ability to pay-derived from capital base, earnings, dependents, savings and social security-as the governing tax policy principle, and argues that adequate post tax income is necessary to sustain living standards and reduce incentives for avoidance. Recommends rate rationalisation to restore income after tax and enable savings and capital formation. (AI Summary)