Supply of food by employer to employees: employer recoveries from canteen treated as taxable supply under GST.
Providing food in an employer run canteen and recovering the actual cost from employees qualifies as a supply under the GST Act because it involves consideration and falls within the definition of business activities incidental or ancillary to trade; Schedule II treats supply of food for consideration as a service, and absence of profit does not negate the existence of supply, while prior service tax/VAT precedents addressing double taxation are distinguishable in the GST context. (AI Summary)

Minimum income guarantee funding may rely on tax buoyancy, budget rationalisation and strict targeting to avoid new targeted taxes.
The article analyses the NYAY Minimum Income Guarantee targeting the poorest 20 percent and assesses whether the large fiscal requirement can be met without imposing new targeted taxes. It proposes funding from tax buoyancy, rationalisation and dovetailing of existing central schemes, Direct Benefit Transfer mechanisms, partial state contributions and modest non-interest expenditure savings. It rejects further taxation of individuals, corporations, agricultural exemptions or charitable receipts as unsuitable, and stresses that success depends on stringent sourcing, accurate targeting to beneficiaries, minimising leakages and managing macroeconomic risks. (AI Summary)

Reversal of input tax credit requires reversal and may attract interest where payment to supplier is not made within the deadline.
Reversal of input tax credit is required when a recipient does not pay the supplier within the 180 day period; the recipient must add the amount to output tax liability and discharge the attendant interest under the GST statutory regime. Although the GST Council recommended waiving interest, no implementing notification has been issued, and judicial commentary treating recommendations as not self executing supports recovery of interest. In audit situations where the taxpayer disputes interest but has not reversed credit, the auditor must qualify the opinion. (AI Summary)

GST transitional credit redressal mechanism allows taxpayers to pursue representation through nodal officers and grievance committees.
The article notes significant GST-era litigation and administrative remedies, emphasising the role of nodal officers and an IT grievance redressal committee for taxpayer claims on transitional credit; interim judicial intervention in municipal advertisement tax tenders; retention of Central Sales Tax registration and issuance of C-Form for goods not notified under CGST (such as high speed diesel) where legislative amendment left them outside GST coverage; and scrutiny of whether pre-GST entertainment tax scheme benefits continue under statutory saving clauses. (AI Summary)

Zero-rated supply to SEZ units does not apply to food supplied to employees; such contract catering is taxable as outdoor catering.
Contractual supply of food prepared at the supplier's kitchen and delivered to customer premises is classifiable as outdoor catering service, not as restaurant or canteen services, and is taxable under the classification for contract food services. Additional distribution duties or contracting with an employees' cooperative do not change this character. Supplies of food to employees in an SEZ do not constitute supply to an SEZ unit or developer and therefore do not qualify as zero rated supply absent specific authorization under SEZ rules. (AI Summary)

Interest on gross tax liability: delayed GST return filing can trigger interest on the full assessed tax until credit is made available.
The High Court held that input tax credit is made available in the electronic credit ledger only upon filing the prescribed return and, until such filing, the entire tax liability remains unpaid for purposes of the interest provision; accordingly, interest applies to the gross assessed tax liability pending return filing rather than solely to the net cash amount actually remitted. (AI Summary)

Investment in land as capital asset: transfers attract capital gains unless land is clearly converted into stock-in-trade.
Investment in land held for long periods is ordinarily a capital asset and transfers attract capital gains treatment; development, plotting and construction on owned land are normally improvements to the capital asset rather than trading, and conversion to stock-in-trade requires factual justification such as consistent accounting treatment and absence of construction activity confirmed by inspection. (AI Summary)

Works contract classification for CCTV systems impacts GST treatment where installations are affixed and form immovable property.
The contract to design, develop, implement and maintain a CCTV city surveillance system, priced as a single supply with asset ownership vesting in the government and contractor liability extending through commissioning and maintenance, was treated as a composite supply whose principal character is a works contract because the CCTV components are affixed to structures and partake of immovable property. (AI Summary)

Advance rulings divergence: AARs decide classification, supply and rate issues, prompting centralized appellate reform.
Advance rulings under GST, issued by State AARs per sections 95-106 and related rules, resolve classification, rate and supply characterization questions but have produced divergent orders; a centralized appellate authority has been approved to address conflicts. Recent rulings: cast iron brackets were classified as cast articles under Chapter 7325 due to casting process and iron predominance; supply of power between related captive units was held to be a supply of goods not job work; cured dried tobacco leaves were classified as unmanufactured tobacco under HSN 2401 but assigned to a different rate schedule entry; storage provided in third party godowns was treated as rental/leasing of non residential property. (AI Summary)

Place of Effective Management determines corporate residence and can subject a foreign company's global income to Indian taxation.
POEM determines corporate residence by locating where key management and commercial decisions for the business as a whole are, in substance, made. CBDT guidance prescribes a fact specific, annual, substance over form test: first assess Active Business Outside India via four objective metrics averaged over three years; if ABOI exists, majority of board meetings abroad tends to indicate POEM outside India unless de facto control is exercised from India; if not ABOI, identify who makes key decisions and where they are made using primary and secondary factors. Administrative approvals and transition rules govern tax computation, depreciation, loss carryovers, accounting periods and TDS. (AI Summary)

Waiver of interest requires genuine hardship, circumstances beyond control and cooperation before discretionary relief may be granted.
Waiver of interest under Section 220(2A) allows specified Commissioners to reduce or waive interest charged under post-demand interest where three cumulative conditions are met: payment would cause genuine hardship; the default arose from circumstances beyond the assessee's control; and the assessee cooperated in assessment or recovery proceedings. The power is discretionary, must be exercised judicially with satisfaction on each limb, and cannot be invoked where willful evasion or concealment defeats the statutory criteria. (AI Summary)

Reopening of assessment should not be used where rectification power can correct apparent mistakes, to avoid undue prejudice.
Where an apparent mistake exists in an assessment order, the Assessing Officer must invoke rectification power rather than reopening; reopening requires contemporaneous recorded reasons, relevant material supporting a belief that income escaped assessment, and cannot be used to reargue conclusions from the same material. Parallel reopening while rectification is pending is invalid, and reopening for simple computational or apparent errors is disproportionate and prejudicial when rectification is an available efficacious remedy. (AI Summary)

Retrospective application of amended limitation periods cannot revive time barred tax demands; vested rights remain protected.
The Finance Act, 2016's extension of limitation periods for issuing show cause notices is presumptively prospective and, lacking express retrospective language or clear legislative intent, cannot revive demands which had become time barred under the earlier law; procedural amendments will not be construed to impair vested rights or open up barred liability where doing so would offend the presumption of prospectivity and the doctrine of fairness. (AI Summary)

Classification of polypropylene leno bags upheld as plastic woven sacks under tariff heading based on prior declaration and estoppel.
The AAAR held that polypropylene leno bags woven from polypropylene strips are classifiable under the chapter for plastic goods rather than textile headings, relying on precedent treating sacks woven from plastic tapes as plastic goods and on the manufacturer's prior tariff declaration and duty-drawback practice; applying equitable estoppel, the AAAR disallowed the company's attempt to adopt a divergent classification without amendment or cogent explanation. (AI Summary)

Margin scheme under GST: second hand goods taxed on margin, including inter state supplies under IGST valuation rules.
Margin scheme under GST allows registered dealers in second hand goods to pay tax on the margin (selling price minus purchase price) where no input tax credit was claimed; repairs and refurbishing add to the margin, repossessed goods have a deemed purchase valuation adjusted for holding period, sellers under the scheme should not issue taxable invoices and purchasers cannot claim input tax credit, and the scheme applies to inter State supplies by applying central valuation rules to IGST. (AI Summary)

Committee power to replace an interim resolution professional requires valid reasons and Adjudicating Authority oversight before confirmation.
The committee of creditors may, by prescribed voting majority at its first meeting, either appoint the interim resolution professional as resolution professional with written consent or resolve to replace the IRP by proposing another professional to the Adjudicating Authority; the Adjudicating Authority must forward the proposed name to the Board for confirmation, and the committee's decision to replace an IRP must be supported by valid reasons and procedural fairness, otherwise the Adjudicating Authority may exercise its supervisory discretion to refuse or review the change. (AI Summary)

Cognizability of GST offences determined by offence gravity and punishment; lesser offences treated as non cognizable and bailable.
GST penal provisions enumerate various fraudulent acts-such as issuance of invoices without supply, wrongful availment of input tax credit, falsification of records, obstruction of officers, dealing in goods liable to confiscation, tampering with evidence, and supplying false information-that attract prescribed punishments. Cognizability for prosecution is determined by the offence's nature and maximum punishment under the statute; higher gravity offences are cognizable and non bailable while others are non cognizable and bailable. Prosecution also requires prior sanction of the Commissioner. Courts may grant anticipatory bail with stringent conditions where the statutory thresholds and available evidence do not mandate custody. (AI Summary)

Active Company Tagging (INC 22A) compliance required for specified companies; non filing triggers penalties and filing restrictions.
Companies incorporated on or before 31 December 2017 must file e Form Active (INC 22A) by the prescribed date; exclusions include struck off, striking off, liquidated, amalgamated/dissolved companies and those missing AOC 4 and MGT 7 filings, with LLPs out of scope. Non filing attracts a monetary late fee, marking as Active Non Compliance in registry data and temporary debarment from filing certain corporate forms until payment. Filing prerequisites include software and connectivity, company and auditor identifiers and PANs, SRNs of annual filings, registered office latitude/longitude, and a photograph showing the registered office with a Director/KMP who has affixed a digital signature. (AI Summary)

Taxation of advertisements rendered ultra vires where constitutional entry and municipal enabling provisions were omitted.
The article explains that municipal imposition of Advertisement Tax became legally untenable after the constitutional entry permitting State taxation of advertisements and the municipal enabling provision were omitted by amendments; consequently municipal bye laws framed to levy advertisement tax lacked legislative competence and were held susceptible to challenge as ultra vires, with amounts collected under such bye laws liable to refund. (AI Summary)

Transport and Marketing Assistance scheme: agro exporters may claim freight reimbursement to offset prepaid air and ocean transport costs.
The Central Government's Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) scheme reimburses part of prepaid air and ocean freight for specified agricultural product exporters to improve competitiveness, addressing difficulties small and medium exporters face in negotiating freight and managing last minute shipments; exporters should consult the scheme notification and claim procedures. (AI Summary)