Employee contribution deduction preserved when deposited before tax-return filing despite delayed statutory deposit, protecting employer tax treatment.
Appellate authorities have held that employee contributions to provident and insurance funds paid by the employer after statutory due dates but deposited on or before filing the income-tax return cannot be disallowed under the tax provisions governing timing of deductions; an ITAT Jaipur order affirmed deletion of AO additions by following Supreme Court and jurisdictional High Court precedent. The author warns that treating such sums as deemed income if deduction is denied raises practical unfairness and potential constitutional questions about expansion of the definition of income. (AI Summary)

Service classification clarifies operator-led versus operator-free vehicle rentals and introduces reverse charge exposure.
HSN 9966 is now limited to renting of road vehicles with operators and HSN 9973 to leasing/rental of machinery and equipment without operators, following 30 September 2019 notifications. Reclassification of vehicle rentals without operators from 9966 to 9973 may change applicable tax rates and affect blocked input tax credit for motor vehicle rentals. Effective 1 October 2019, renting of motor vehicles can attract reverse charge where the supplier is non corporate, the recipient is corporate, and the supplier charges the lower fuel inclusive tax and has restricted credits, with registration and anti profiteering implications. (AI Summary)

Limited review procedures require limited assurance on interim financials with prescribed reporting formats and compliance consequences.
Limited review is a limited assurance engagement on interim financial information requiring inquiry, analytical procedures and understanding of internal control to conclude whether interim statements are prepared, in all material respects, under the applicable reporting framework. The reviewer must obtain written management representations, evaluate misstatements in aggregate, assess accompanying information for consistency, communicate required adjustments, and, if necessary, modify the conclusion or withdraw. The engagement is governed by applicable Standards on Review Engagements, prescribed report formats, publication and intimation obligations, and a regulatory enforcement regime for listing compliance. (AI Summary)

GST registration for co working spaces permitted, allowing distinct taxpayers at the same address to obtain separate registrations under PAN-based rules.
Supply of packaged frozen seafood bearing the supplier's name and contact details to institutional customers is taxable under GST where the packaging identifies the product with the brand holder; multiple GST registrations are allowed for separate companies operating within a co working premises when subleasing is permitted and address proof is shown; appeals from AARs are subject to strict limitation under Section 100 and may only be extended for limited cause, with delay and reliance on external views insufficient to condone late appeals regarding concessional rate claims for evacuated tube collectors. (AI Summary)

Input Tax Credit capping restricts provisional claims and forces monthly reconciliation, altering return filing and compliance obligations.
The Board extended continued use of GSTR-3B as the monthly return until the new return scheme, set due dates for GSTR-3B and GSTR-1 based on turnover and filing frequency, and provided regional extensions. It deemed certain annual returns as furnished for small taxpayers who did not file, treated GSTR-3B as the monthly return retrospectively, introduced a cap on provisional Input Tax Credit requiring monthly reconciliation with procurement records, and amended procedural rules on suspension, demand notices, refunds, practitioner qualification, and transitional return filing. (AI Summary)

Cash basis under S.43B: GST input tax credit must be claimed in the year of actual payment.
Section 43B mandates that deductions for tax, duty, cess or fee are allowable only in the previous year in which such sums are actually paid, imposing a cash-basis rule for specified tax-related outflows. This rule applies to amounts included in closing stock, deposits in Personal Ledger Accounts, unutilised CENVAT/MODVAT credits and GST Input Tax Credit; judicial authority recognises PLA and CENVAT/MODVAT deposits as actual payment. Taxpayers must therefore claim such credits in the year of actual payment, with timely return filing and evidence to secure statutory exceptions. (AI Summary)

Input Tax Credit benefit not required to be passed where no ITC accrued; anti profiteering not attracted in such sales.
The supplier was not required to pass on any benefit because there was no reduction in tax rate nor any Input Tax Credit availed post GST; the project was completed before GST and no pre GST credit was carried forward, hence the anti profiteering provision did not apply and the complaint was dismissed. (AI Summary)

Zero-rated supply to SEZs permits tax relief for inbound supplies but refunds require authorised operations certification, complicating GST compliance.
Supplies to and from SEZs are treated as inter State supplies under GST with Zero-rated supply status for supplies to SEZ developers or units, allowing either supply under bond/letter of undertaking with refund of unutilised input tax credit or supply with tax payment and subsequent refund. Refunds are procedurally regulated and, per administrative view, limited to supplies for authorized operations. Separate GST registration is required for SEZ units, inter unit transfers are rendered taxable, and supplies by SEZs to DTA are treated as akin to imports attracting customs duty and IGST, creating compliance and practical difficulties in billing models and reverse charge scenarios. (AI Summary)

Reverse charge on renting of motor vehicles requires body corporates to account for GST where supplier is non corporate.
GST under the reverse charge applies where a body corporate receives services described as renting of a motor vehicle from a non-body corporate supplier who charges GST; the recipient must assess contracts to distinguish renting from passenger transport, verify the supplier's GST and input tax credit position, and, where ambiguous, seek jurisdictional clarification to avoid misclassification and potential duplicate taxation. (AI Summary)

Refund re filing eligibility: taxpayers may reapply under specified conditions after inadvertent NIL refund claims, with procedural safeguards.
Taxpayers who inadvertently filed a NIL refund claim may reapply for the same period and category only if they originally filed a NIL claim and have not filed refund claims under the same category for any subsequent period (the latter restriction applying to unutilized ITC for exports, supplies to SEZs, and inverted duty accumulation). Eligible applicants may file under the "Any Other" category for the same period with full supporting documents; the proper officer will assess admissibility, may require debit from the electronic credit ledger via Form GST DRC 03, and will issue Form GST RFD 06 and payment order in Form GST RFD 05 upon compliance. Rejected refunds allowed on appeal require a fresh claim under the appeal related category with supporting orders and may trigger re credit procedures in line with prior guidance. The Board has also withdrawn earlier guidance on post sale discounts. (AI Summary)

GST on development rights and construction services affects valuation, timing and reverse charge liability for collaboration agreements.
GST on collaboration agreements addresses taxability of transfer of development rights, construction services and pre /post completion flat sales across three phases. Earlier phases treated construction as continuous composite supply with taxable value based on cost plus margin or deemed fractions of sale value; timing was tied to completion events or sale agreements. The later framework differentiates taxable and exempt sales, prescribes reduced effective rates for specified residential projects, requires valuation of construction supplied to landowners by reference to prices charged to independent buyers less deemed land value, fixes time of supply to completion certificate or first occupation, and imposes reverse charge and cash payment/no ITC conditions in certain cases. (AI Summary)

Depreciation rules for new corporate tax options may limit allowable rates, affecting claimable initial depreciation.
For three new corporate tax options, initial depreciation is excluded and any carried-forward portion is deemed allowed; depreciation other than the excluded initial depreciation must be determined in a manner to be prescribed. Existing written-down-value and actual-cost appendices continue to apply, and a rules proviso limits allowable depreciation on asset blocks that previously attracted higher rates. Given that published appendices have capped maximum rates, the statutory and rule language prescribing special manners appears largely redundant unless further rule amendments are made. (AI Summary)

Refund processing: electronic issuance triggers automatic ledger recredit and requires corrected application details for disbursement.
The GST online refund process implements a single-authority electronic workflow where refund applications and acknowledgements are issued electronically. Deficiency communications issued electronically will automatically recredit the taxpayer's electronic credit or cash ledger and necessitate filing a fresh refund application against the same reference. Taxpayers must ensure bank account details validate successfully and use the update functionality linked to the application reference if validation fails; acknowledgements and deficiency memos are electronically issued by the tax officer. (AI Summary)

New manufacturing tax option constrained by strict eligibility and deduction bars, widely reducing practical uptake
The fifteen percent tax option for new domestic manufacturing companies is tightly conditioned: companies must be newly set up and commence manufacturing by a fixed deadline; formation by splitting or reconstruction is largely barred; use of previously used machinery or certain pre-used buildings is prohibited save narrow exceptions; the company must engage only in manufacture and related research or distribution; a range of specified deductions and chapter VI-A benefits are disallowed and related loss carryforwards cannot be set off; the option is exerciseable by the prescribed due date and, once exercised, is irrevocable; related-party arrangements may be adjusted to arm's length profits. (AI Summary)

Defamation law: statutory exceptions and privileges narrow liability for reputational imputations while balancing public interest.
The note defines defamation as published imputations that harm reputation-covering imputations about individuals, the deceased, and collective entities-and sets out ten exhaustive exceptions including truth for public good, good-faith opinions on public servants or public questions, fair reports of judicial proceedings, and good-faith accusations or cautions. It distinguishes absolute and qualified privileges as separate defences and summarises criminal sanctions for defamation, printing or engraving known defamatory matter, and selling such matter, each attracting imprisonment, fine or both. (AI Summary)

Option under section 115BAA clarifies an irrevocable corporate tax regime choice and limits specified tax incentives.
The new elective corporate tax regime under section 115BAA is irreversible once chosen, requires companies to compare present and projected tax positions before electing, and affects specified incentives. Revised depreciation rules are to be prescribed; the elective regime restricts treatment of additional depreciation but preserves ordinary depreciation carryforwards and other losses for set off. Issuance of clarificatory circulars where provisions are clear may create unnecessary confusion and leave other technical issues unresolved. (AI Summary)

GST recordkeeping obligations require maintenance and retention of specified accounts, transactional documents, and accessible electronic logs.
Registered persons must maintain true and correct accounts at their principal place of business covering production or manufacture, inward and outward supplies, stock, input tax credit availed, and output tax payable and paid, together with prescribed transactional documents in physical or electronic form. Specific record requirements apply to composition dealers, agents, carriers, manufacturers, service providers and works contractors. Books and related invoices must be preserved for the prescribed retention period, made available at related places of business, and produced on demand; misplaced documents found elsewhere are presumed to be maintained by the registered person unless disproved. (AI Summary)

Composite supply principle governs bundled food with restaurant service; restaurant rate applies and input credit denied.
Characterisation rests on whether each sale is naturally bundled with restaurant service. Supplies made through the restaurant and billed as restaurant sales constitute a composite supply with restaurant service as principal supply, attracting restaurant GST rates and disallowing input tax credit. Sales made independently at the sweetshop counter, billed separately and lacking nexus with restaurant service, are supplies of goods subject to item-specific GST rates and eligible for input tax credit. Separate records and billings must be maintained for each activity. (AI Summary)

Electronic signature requirement: unsigned computer-generated papers lack required authentication and may lack evidentiary value.
Computer-generated business communications bearing a legend that no signature is required do not attain duly executed status merely by being system-produced; legal sanctity requires authentication by a valid electronic or digital signature meeting the Information Technology Act's reliability conditions or a wet-ink signature for instruments demanding handwritten form, and reliance on unsigned confirmations or password-protected attachments creates evidentiary and commercial risk unless parties have explicit contractual arrangements addressing authentication. (AI Summary)

Inconsistent tax assessments undermine business-friendly claims, creating taxpayer uncertainty and administrative harassment by revenue authorities.
Inconsistent positions by revenue authorities on the same facts produce conflicting tax demands and undermine the claimed business friendly posture of the State. One authority treated freight as taxable while another declared it exempt, leading to simultaneous demands and denial of input credits; such internal inconsistency generates taxpayer uncertainty and operational disruption. (AI Summary)