Ignorance of law principle: tax relief and penalties hinge on nature of default, intent, and administrative fairness.
The article explains that while ignorance of law is no excuse remains a core principle, its application in taxation depends on the nature of the default, surrounding facts, and whether there was guilty intention or benefit to the taxpayer; tribunals and guidance recognize that complex statutory regimes may justify relief for bona fide or technical errors, and tax officers are obliged to assist taxpayers and not take advantage of their ignorance. (AI Summary)

Aggregate turnover: include exempt interest income such as PPF and loan interest when determining GST registration threshold for registration.
The AAR held that interest income exempted by the rate Notification (services by way of extending deposits, loans or advances where consideration is interest) constitutes exempt supplies and must be aggregated with taxable supplies, such as rent, to determine the 'aggregate turnover' for GST registration threshold. The author disputes this, arguing that 'supply' requires receipt to be in the course or furtherance of business and that personal interest receipts unconnected to business should not be included. (AI Summary)

Extension of corporate filing deadlines: name reservations and resubmissions permitted beyond original expiry due to pandemic disruption.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs extended filing timelines for name reservations and resubmission (RSUB) of incorporation and change of name forms affected by COVID 19: name reservations for companies and LLPs and associated SPICe+/INC 24/FiLLiP filings whose reservation periods expired in the affected window are extended by the applicable reservation period; RSUB validity for company and LLP SRNs in that window is extended by an additional short grace period from end of June, with cases already marked NTBR or pending rejection subject to case by case extension and not to be reclassified solely for non resubmission during the extension. (AI Summary)

Border Adjustment Tax to equalise import and domestic pricing by charging non creditable duties under the destination principle.
A Border Adjustment Tax is proposed as a non creditable import charge under the destination principle to offset embedded domestic levies not creditable post GST, thereby equalising competition between imports and domestically produced goods. The measure seeks WTO compatibility by applying taxes equally to imports and like domestic products and avoiding export subsidies, while recognising risks of international retaliation and sectoral dependence on competitive imports. (AI Summary)

Undisclosed foreign assets' retrospective taxation challenged; undisclosed foreign income is chargeable prospectively under the Black Money law.
The Act charges tax on undisclosed foreign income prospectively for assessment years after the statutory effective date, while treating "undisclosed foreign asset" as presently held foreign property lacking satisfactory source explanation. Several provisions-the declaration window with concessional treatment, a proviso tying valuation to the year the asset comes to the assessing officer's notice, a deeming clause treating acquisition as the notice year, and valuation rules-create ambiguity suggesting retrospective or retroactive operation for pre enactment assets. Textual constraints, limits on provisos, potential ultra vires valuation rules, and constitutional protection against ex post facto penalisation support objections to retrospective taxation of such assets. (AI Summary)

Input tax credit reversal on write offs may not extend to inputs or services used in finished goods.
GST disallows credit for goods that are lost, stolen, destroyed, written off or disposed of as gifts or samples, but unlike the earlier CENVAT rule it contains no payment based reversal mechanism. The critical issues are timing of eligibility (at receipt versus until use), whether mere accounting write downs or provisions trigger denial, and whether denial extends to inputs, input services and capital goods used in finished goods or WIP. A purposive, narrow reading of "in respect of" and the principle that credit eligibility is determined when availed support the view that write off of FG or WIP does not automatically require reversal of credit on inputs or services already used. (AI Summary)

Works contract services for non-commercial use: reduced GST rate denied where supply supports predominantly commercial electricity distribution.
Applicability of reduced GST on works contracts under Entry 3(vi)(a) depends on five conditions: the supply must be a composite works contract, provided to a government or governmental entity, constitute original works (construction/erection/commissioning), be meant predominantly for use other than commerce, industry or profession, and where supplied to a government entity, be procured in relation to work entrusted by government. The AAR found the contracts supported a predominantly commercial activity and denied the reduced rate; the author argues the decisive test should be the actual use of the services. (AI Summary)

Registration threshold based on aggregate turnover may compel registrations despite non taxable receipts; reform urged to use taxable turnover instead.
The article contends that including exempt and nil rated receipts within aggregate turnover for GST registration-where any part of a person's receipts is taxable-misaligns with the GST laws' object of levy and collection on taxable supplies, produces anomalous compulsory registrations and compliance burdens, and therefore requires prompt legislative clarification or amendment to base registration on taxable turnover instead. (AI Summary)

Input tax credit on cash carry vans hinges on whether transported cash is statutory "money" or "goods"; procedural review ordered.
Availability of Input Tax Credit for motor vehicles used as cash carry vans depends on whether transported cash is classified as goods or excluded as money under the GST statute. An appellate authority denied credit treating cash as excluded, but a court found the authority failed to address the petitioner's principal submission on statutory definitions and remitted the matter for fresh, reasoned consideration consistent with natural justice. (AI Summary)

Warrant of authorization: written, signed search warrants required where authorities have reason to believe documents or undisclosed assets will not be produced.
Search and seizure under the Income Tax Act permits specified senior officers to issue a written warrant of authorization when they have reason to believe that documents will not be produced, that summonsed material has been withheld, or that undisclosed income or property is possessed; the warrant must identify person and place, be signed and sealed, be produced at the start of the search, and blank or incomplete warrants are invalid. (AI Summary)

TCS liability for e commerce operators: ECOs must collect and remit tax on third party supplies through their platforms.
Electronic commerce operators are defined as persons operating digital platforms and are subject to specific GST obligations: compulsory registration where required to collect tax at source, liability under reverse charge for certain notified services (including appointment of a local representative if no taxable presence exists), mandatory collection and remittance of TCS on net taxable supplies (excluding notified RCM services), monthly filing of Form GSTR 8, annual filing of Form GSTR 9B, limited rectification windows with interest for corrections, supplier entitlement to claim credit of TCS, and penalties for failure to comply with statutory notices. (AI Summary)

Sale of developed plots as construction services: GST applies when infrastructure and amenities are proportionately charged making plots saleable.
Sale of developed plots providing roads, drainage, pipelines, demarcation and other infrastructure that are charged on a super built-up basis and are intrinsic to the plots is characterized as construction services, attracting GST; by contrast, a transaction that is only the sale of an immoveable plot without such attendant infrastructure remains excluded from GST under Schedule III. (AI Summary)

Transitional Input Tax Credit preserved despite retrospective timing amendment, as timelines deemed directory and credit treated as vested right.
The Delhi High Court held that the Brand Equity reasoning survives a retrospective amendment inserting a time limit into the transitional GST provision. The Court found the delegated classification of timelines arbitrary and vague, treated transitional Input Tax Credit as a vested right protected under Article 300A, and concluded that procedural timelines are directory because no consequences for non-compliance are prescribed and timelines have been extended historically. (AI Summary)

Time limit for input tax credit applies to reverse charge credits, tied to self invoice issuance and payment requirement.
The statutory cut-off in section 16(4) for claiming input tax credit applies to tax paid under the reverse charge mechanism because credit entitlement is linked to the period to which the invoice pertains and, for reverse charge supplies, to the self invoice which must be issued within the prescribed period; payment of tax remains a prerequisite. A noted query questions whether a proviso addressing supplier uploaded invoices limits application of the time bar to self invoices. (AI Summary)

GST Appellate Tribunal procedure: pre-deposit requirement and adjusted limitation for filing appeals pending tribunal constitution.
The document sets out the statutory structure and governance of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal, defining National, Regional and State/Area Benches, their composition, appointment and qualification criteria for President and Members, tenure, removal and suspension safeguards, and administrative powers. It prescribes appellate procedure including filing formalities, acknowledgements, cross-objections, delay condonation, fees, categories of authorized representatives, hearing arrangements, the pre-deposit requirement for admission of appeals, the Tribunal's civil-court powers, amendment and binding effect of its orders, refund with interest and transitional relief through a Removal of Difficulties order where the Tribunal was not yet constituted. (AI Summary)

Automated CPC communications creating taxpayer uncertainty, prompting transfers to assessing officers and contested adjustments contrary to settled practice.
CPC Bangalore has issued automated communications transferring historical returns to assessing officers even where no proceedings are pending and limitations have lapsed, creating taxpayer uncertainty. CPC has made prima facie adjustments on contentious issues-such as additions for delayed but actual employee contribution payments-contrary to favourable judicial views, and has in some cases denied correct interest on refunds despite returns filed within extended due dates. These mechanical practices risk unnecessary demands, litigation, and harassment. (AI Summary)

Relaxation of charge filing timelines condones pandemic delays and resets the commencement for reckoning of statutory filing periods.
The scheme condones delay for filing Form CHG-1 and CHG-9 by excluding the pandemic period from reckoning under charge registration timelines for charges created before March 1, 2020 (where the filing period had not expired) and for charges created or modified during the pandemic window; where forms remain unfiled the counting resumes from October 1, 2020 (or the equivalent first day) for purposes of the filing period under the charges regime. (AI Summary)

Revisional authority powers: statutory power to examine records, stay orders, and revise subordinate GST decisions after hearing.
The Revisional Authority may call for and examine records suo motu, on information or on request from Commissioners, and if a subordinate officer's decision is found erroneous, prejudicial to revenue, illegal, improper or to have omitted material facts, may stay the decision, give notice, hear the person, make further inquiry and pass orders enhancing, modifying or annulling the decision; it must issue a summary of the order indicating the final amount of demand in the prescribed form. (AI Summary)

Digital internal office automation via e-Office streamlines file management, enhances security, and enables paperless, contactless operations.
CBIC has implemented the e-Office application to automate internal file handling - receiving and marking dak, operating files, drafting and routing letters for approval and dispatch - with embedded monitoring and security controls to prevent alteration or backdating, thereby improving decision speed, transparency, accountability, reducing paper use and enabling continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic. (AI Summary)

Input tax credit restriction: provisional ITC capped when supplier-uploaded invoice details are missing, claimable after upload.
The amendment to Rule 36(4) restricts provisional input tax credit in FORM GSTR-3B for invoices whose details have not been uploaded by suppliers under section 37(1), by capping such claims to a prescribed proportion of the eligible credit reflected in supplier-uploaded returns; the cap is calculated on a consolidated basis across all suppliers, excludes supplies outside the supplier-uploading regime, must be self-assessed by taxpayers, and any shortfall may be claimed in later periods as suppliers upload missing invoices, with further amendments reducing the proportion and allowing cumulative adjustment for specified months. (AI Summary)