Concessional corporate tax rates: new options require surrender of key deductions and restrict loss carryforwards, affecting MAT credit availability.
Concessional corporate tax regimes permit domestic companies to elect lower tax computation in exchange for foregoing specified deductions and certain carryforward reliefs; elections are made by the return due date and are generally irrevocable. Section 115BA targets new manufacturing companies with restrictions on additional depreciation and specified incentives; Section 115BAA offers a broad concessional rate to all domestic companies subject to surrender of enumerated deductions, denial of related loss set offs and MAT credit, and mandatory normal depreciation; Section 115BAB targets qualifying new manufacturing companies with stricter eligibility, prohibition on certain reused assets, exclusion of particular businesses, and anti abuse provisions allowing arm's length adjustment of related party transactions. (AI Summary)

GST audit procedures require notice, defined scope, time-limited audits with extensions, and consequences for unpaid tax.
GST audit permits the Commissioner or authorised officer to examine a registered person's records, books and documents to verify turnover, exemptions, tax rates, input tax credit and refunds; requires at least fifteen working days' notice in form GST ADT-01; applies to specified audit periods; commences when records are made available or audit is instituted; must normally be completed within three months with possible extension for reasons recorded by the Commissioner; findings are communicated within thirty days and reported in GST ADT-02; discrepancies are communicated and may lead to tax recovery proceedings. (AI Summary)

Aadhaar authentication requirement for GST registration triggers physical verification and alters input tax credit and refund processes.
The amendment mandates Aadhaar authentication for GST registration and, upon failure, requires physical verification of the principal place of business with report filing in FORM GST REG-30. It fixes a five-year useful life for capital goods and prescribes direct crediting to the electronic credit ledger with transitional adjustments for reclassification, prescribes ledger re credit where refunds of wrongly debited ledger amounts are admissible, refines zero rated turnover definition for refunds, and creates Rule 96B for recovery of refunds where export proceeds are not realised. (AI Summary)

Opportunity of hearing must be granted; failure to allow requested adjournment and hearing leads to quashing of order.
An adjudicating authority that proceeds to pass an order while having received a written request from the assessee for additional time to file a reply and for personal hearing, and without granting the requested adjournment or hearing, violates mandatory procedural requirements and principles of natural justice; such orders are liable to be quashed and the matter remanded for fresh adjudication in conformity with the statutory adjournment rights and prescribed time limits. (AI Summary)

Corporate compliance relief: moratorium on filing fees and deadline relaxations to ease corporate burdens during the emergency.
Temporary corporate relief measures waive additional MCA 21 filing fees during the moratorium, extend board meeting intervals, defer applicability of the Auditor's Report Order, relax deposit reserve and debenture investment deadlines, allow extra time for commencement of business filings, exempt shortfalls in director residency for the period, and raise the insolvency default threshold with possible temporary suspension of initiation provisions; the author adds procedural critiques and recommends teleconferencing, flexible deposit timing, and alternative dispute resolution. (AI Summary)

Business relief measures: temporary tax, utility and social security burdens eased to preserve liquidity during mandated closures.
Immediate regulatory relief is sought to mitigate economic disruption from Covid-19 containment measures by temporarily modifying fiscal and statutory obligations. Proposed emergency measures include reduction of commercial electricity charges, deferral or partial retention of GST, suspension of interest and EMI obligations, reduction of property tax, and temporary government assumption of employer shares of provident fund and social insurance contributions to preserve business liquidity during closures. (AI Summary)

Refund for tax paid under mistake of law: limitation bars may not prevent restitution under GST refund principles.
Refunds for payments made under a mistake of law are treated as restitutionary claims not governed by ordinary statutory limitation for tax deposits; revenue must return sums recovered without lawful authority subject to unjust enrichment principles, and this approach extends into GST claims while coexisting with GST refund procedures and the separate pathway for unutilized input tax credits. (AI Summary)

GST compliance reliefs extended: filing deadlines deferred and conditional waivers with reduced interest granted until the common cutoff.
Key GST compliance deadlines were extended to late June 2020: composition scheme opt in and related quarterly payment/returns, Form CMP statements and GSTR 4 annual filing, monthly GSTR 3B returns for March-May, and annual returns GSTR 9/GSTR 9C. Turnover based reliefs provide full waiver of interest, late fees and penalties for smaller taxpayers and conditional waiver plus a reduced post due interest rate for larger taxpayers, subject to compliance by the cutoff. Time limits for notices, appeals and other GST filings within the affected period were uniformly extended; administrative circulars and legislative amendments will follow. (AI Summary)

EMI deferment as consumer relief to ease borrower cashflow while preserving bank asset quality and operational stability.
Calls for temporary relief permitting short-term deferment of periodic loan instalments on housing, vehicle and other personal loans without interest waiver but with continued interest accrual to ease borrower cashflow, preserve bank asset quality and avoid outright losses; complementary measures include waiving interbank ATM charges, suspending minimum balance penalties using annualised balance calculation, reducing digital transaction fees, and operationalising relief through regulatory advisories with cost-sharing arrangements for banks and merchants. (AI Summary)

GST compliance deadlines extended and Aadhaar authentication mandated for new registrations, with related refund and ITC amendments.
March 2020 GST notifications and rule amendments prescribe transition arrangements for merged Union territories, registration and ITC treatment for corporate debtors under insolvency processes, and a temporary filing exemption for composition taxpayers who filed GSTR-3B instead of Form GST CMP-08. The CGST Rules introduce Aadhaar authentication for new registrations with physical verification when authentication is unavailable, detail reversal of ITC for partly exempt use of capital goods, revise refund procedures to allow re-credit to electronic credit ledger and set conditions for export-related ITC refunds, and allocate powers for disposal of seized goods while specifying extensions for return filing deadlines. (AI Summary)

Extension of tax compliance deadlines urged as necessary relief, calling for broader time and interest concessions for affected taxpayers.
COVID-19 is a force measure warranting temporal adjustments to tax compliance; announced measures chiefly extend filing and linkage deadlines, provide broad one-time extensions for notices, filings and investment windows, and offer an interest and penalty concession for delayed payments in the affected period. The author contends these are necessary relaxations rather than substantive relief, urges uniform application to belated and revised returns and other processes, criticizes the adequacy of the reduced interest provision, and calls for clearer legislative and circular instruments to implement the extensions. (AI Summary)

GST filing deadlines adjusted with limited interest relief for large taxpayers followed by increased interest after initial period.
For larger taxpayers there is no extension of statutory GSTR-3B due dates but a concessionary interest regime applies: no interest for the initial fifteen-day delay, followed by a reduced interest rate until a specified date, after which standard higher interest with late fee and penalty will apply. Smaller taxpayers may file certain monthly returns without interest, late fee or penalty until the last week of June, and composition scheme opt-in, payment and filing deadlines for composition dealers are similarly extended; formal circulars and legislative amendments will effect these measures. (AI Summary)

Compliance deadline extensions ease statutory filing, interest and penalty obligations, and streamline corporate and customs compliance.
Statutory and regulatory compliance timelines across income tax, indirect tax, customs and corporate law are extended to a uniform revised cutoff, with reduced interest rates and waivers of late fees and penalties in specified cases. GST relief differentiates small and large taxpayers, allowing deferred GSTR 3B filing with interest concessions for larger taxpayers and full waivers for smaller ones; composition scheme and related GST filings are similarly deferred. MCA filings attract waiver of additional fees, board meeting periodicity is extended, auditor reporting applicability is postponed, insolvency default threshold is raised, and select banking fees are temporarily relaxed. (AI Summary)

Registration requirement for resolution professionals mandates fresh GST registration and special return and input tax credit rules during insolvency.
The practitioner who assumes control of a corporate debtor is treated as a distinct person for GST and must obtain fresh registration in each State/UT where the debtor was registered, file an initial return from the date the practitioner became liable until registration is granted, and may claim input tax credit in the first return for invoices received since appointment but bearing the erstwhile GSTIN, subject to Chapter V conditions and specified exclusions. (AI Summary)

Profiteering on GST rate reduction: order for commensurate price reduction and deposit provisionally stayed by court.
The NAA, relying on DGAP investigation reports, found the supplier denied GST rate reduction benefits, quantified profiteering, ordered commensurate price reduction, directed deposit of the net profiteered amount into Consumer Welfare Funds after crediting amounts already set aside, imposed interest from dates realised, and noted potential penalty liability; Commissioners were directed to monitor compliance under DGAP supervision. (AI Summary)

Statutory compliance extensions: call to treat pandemic filing relaxations as necessary time extensions requiring broader, clearer GST and Customs waivers.
The article argues that pandemic-driven procedural extensions for GST and Customs compliances should be treated as necessary time accommodations rather than discretionary relief, criticising the press release's uniform short-term cutoff as ambiguous and inadequate; it urges clearer, longer extensions, explicit waivers of interest and penalties, staggered compliance windows for scheme elections and returns, and prompt legislative or circular measures to implement practicable administrative adjustments for both GST and Customs. (AI Summary)

Transfer of business on death: successor must register, may receive transferred ITC and face joint liability under GST.
Where a sole proprietor dies and the business continues as a going concern, the successor must obtain fresh GST registration from the date of transfer, may receive unutilised input tax credit by filing FORM GST ITC-02 with a CA/Cost Accountant certificate under Rule 41, and the transferor and transferee remain jointly and severally liable for tax, interest or penalty; cancellation for transfer or closure is processed via FORM GST REG-16/REG-19 with inventory tax consequences governed by section 29 and final return compliance in FORM GSTR-10. (AI Summary)

GST return filing deadlines revised with Aadhaar authentication, export realization requirement and refund recovery conditions adjusted.
Revises GST compliance timelines and procedures: staggered due dates for FORM GSTR 3B and FORM GSTR 1 for April-September 2020 by turnover and location; extensions and special cut offs for Jammu & Kashmir related filings; Aadhaar authentication mandated for existing authorised signatories and for new individual registrations with physical verification where required; exporters who received refunds must realize export proceeds within FEMA time limits or face recovery with interest; amendments include a clarified definition of turnover for zero rated supplies and a process to re credit wrongly paid tax to the electronic credit ledger. (AI Summary)

IBC overriding effect prevents statutory attachments and permits the interim resolution professional to assume control and continue the insolvency process.
Section 238 gives the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code overriding effect and section 14's moratorium bars suits, execution and asset alienation once CIRP is admitted; consequently, provisional attachments by GST authorities that impede the IRP's statutory duty to take custody and control of the debtor's assets and disrupt the time-bound resolution process must be released to enable the IRP to manage the corporate insolvency resolution process. (AI Summary)

Open Market Operations used to inject liquidity and stabilise markets through targeted purchases of government securities.
The note explains OMOs as the RBI's tool to manage rupee liquidity by buying and selling Government Securities via auctions on the E Kuber platform, with the Public Debt Office as registry and mandatory dematerialized SGL holdings for regulated entities. In response to Covid 19 liquidity stress the RBI conducted multi security purchase OMOs through multiple price auctions and supplemented them with dollar rupee swaps and Long Term Repo Operations to ensure market liquidity and stability. (AI Summary)