Tax audit obligation under section 44AB requires chartered-auditor reports and prescribed annexures by the specified date.
The document sets out the tax audit obligation: audits ensure proper maintenance of books and accurate income reporting, must be conducted by a Chartered Accountant where turnover or receipt thresholds are met or where presumptive provisions are disapplied, and are due by the specified date. It explains that audits under other laws suffice if the prescribed tax-audit report and annexure are furnished by that date. It also summarises the penalty framework subject to reasonable cause, auditor signing limits, non revisionability of filed reports except by law change, and use of Form No.3CA/3CB with Form No.3CD annexure. (AI Summary)

Input tax credit deadline: reconcile GSTR 2A and file September returns to prevent lapse of prior year credits and adjustments.
A statutory time bar causes ITC for FY 2017-18 invoices to lapse unless reconciled and claimed in the September 2018 return. Taxpayers must reconcile books with GSTR 2A, procure vendor corrections or duplicate invoices, issue credit notes for 2017-18 by the September deadline, and finalise annual re determination of ITC attributable to exempt supplies. Reverse charge tax and eligibility conditions (invoice possession, receipt of goods/services, supplier payment, and payment to vendor) may create conflicts with the time bar and require proactive resolution before filing the September return. (AI Summary)

Annual GST return obligations require electronic filing and audited reconciliation where audit thresholds are met.
Registered persons must file an electronic annual return by the due date, with specified exclusions and a separate annual statement for ecommerce operators; audited accounts and a certified reconciliation statement must be furnished by persons exceeding the audit threshold, and the annual return comprises identification details, detailed supply schedules, ITC reporting and reversals, tax payment particulars, prior year amendments, refund and demand particulars, HSN summaries and verification. (AI Summary)

Cancellation of registration: proceedings may be dropped if pending returns are filed and tax, interest and fees are paid.
The amendment allows the proper officer to drop registration cancellation proceedings if the person furnishes all pending returns and makes full payment of tax, interest and late fees, with the order to be passed in FORM GST REG-20; it relaxes input tax credit eligibility by permitting credit where a document shows tax charged, supply description, total value, supplier and recipient GSTINs and place of supply for inter state supplies. (AI Summary)

Classification of Artificial Stone: Caesarstone classified as article of artificial stone, not natural quartz, for GST purposes.
The dispute is whether imported Caesarstone-engineered slabs made by agglomerating high percentage quartz with resins and pigments-qualifies under Chapter 25 (HSN 2506) as natural quartz or under HSN 6810 as an article of artificial stone. Chapter Note 1 to Chapter 25 confines that chapter to crude or mechanically treated quartz (lumps or powder), whereas HSN 6810 covers agglomerated/artificial stone formed with binders. Applying tariff interpretation rules, AAR and AAAR concluded the product is an agglomerated artificial stone and classifiable under HSN 6810. (AI Summary)

Lapsing of Input Tax Credit challenged as beyond refund powers, risking extinguishment of vested credit rights.
Notification No. 20/2018-C.T. (Rate) treats denial of refund for accumulated ITC as lapsing of the underlying credit, but the statutory proviso empowering denial of refunds is limited to specifying supplies ineligible for conversion of accumulated credit into cash. That power does not authorise extinguishing the substantive, vested right to claim and utilise ITC; denial of refund leaves credit available for discharge of tax liabilities via the electronic credit ledger and rejected refund amounts must be re credited, so equating refund denial with lapsing is beyond the statute and constitutionally problematic. (AI Summary)

Mixed supply: UPS bundled with a separately marketable battery is treated as mixed supply when offered at a single price.
The AAR held that where a UPS and an external storage battery are independent goods that may be supplied separately but are offered together at a single price, the transaction is a mixed supply; only where the battery is in built and inseparable from the UPS will the supply be a composite supply classified under the principal tariff head for UPS. (AI Summary)

Approval committee authority over SEZ unit approvals, oversight of compliance, modifications, and referral to higher board on undecided matters.
The Approval Committee, chaired by the Development Commissioner with central and state ex officio members, approves imports, procurement, services and proposals for setting up, modifying or diversifying SEZ Units, monitors utilization and compliance, and may allow foreign collaborations and FDI where authorized. Proposals are submitted to the Development Commissioner in Form F and placed before the Committee, which may approve, conditionally approve or reject after hearing; inability to reach consensus on whether a process is manufacture is referred to the Board of Approval. Letters of Approval specify authorized operations, have limited validity with extension mechanisms, and may be cancelled for persistent contraventions; appeals lie to the Board of Approval. (AI Summary)

Reverse burden of proof: informant acting as investigator undermines fairness and vitiates narcotics investigations.
A prosecution is compromised if the police officer who is the informant also conducts the investigation, because such dual role creates reasonable apprehension of bias and undermines procedural safeguards-particularly under the NDPS regime where a reverse burden of proof applies-and defects in custody, sample handling, witness examination, or unexplained delays vitiate the investigation. (AI Summary)

Reverse charge under IGST: recipient liable for tax, must register, self invoice, pay in cash and claim input credit.
Reverse charge under the IGST Act makes the recipient liable to pay IGST where notified or where supplies are received from unregistered suppliers; the CGST definition of reverse charge applies. The government has specified categories of goods and services that attract reverse charge by notification and issued temporal exemptions and amendments. Registered recipients liable under reverse charge must compulsorily register, cannot opt for composition, determine time of supply under reverse charge rules, issue self invoices or consolidated invoices as prescribed, pay tax in cash through the electronic cash ledger by the due date, and may claim input tax credit for tax paid under reverse charge. (AI Summary)

Delisting of securities: exchange removed suspended and compulsorily delisted issuers, triggering buyback obligations and director debarment.
BSE removed suspended and compulsorily delisted issuers from its platform effective 4 July 2018: suspended companies were delisted under the SEBI Delisting Regulations; issuers compulsorily removed by another exchange were delisted under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules; and entities shown as under liquidation on the corporate register were also delisted. (AI Summary)

Input tax credit exclusion: Krishi Kalyan Cess cannot be carried forward as GST input tax credit under transitional provisions.
Recent State AARs addressed classification and transitional credit: frozen whole-animal carcasses in unit packaging were treated under scheduled tariff entries; skin-care products qualify as medicament only if manufactured and used primarily for treatment of specific skin diseases; and Krishi Kalyan Cess balances were held not to constitute admissible input tax credit under GST as cess is excluded and prior rules confined KKC credit to KKC liabilities. (AI Summary)

Employer-employee relationship under GST should not be location-limited, ruling risks recharacterising employee services and tax treatment.
The AAR ruled that the employer-employee relationship exists only between the corporate office and its employees, excluding other offices, so services by corporate employees benefiting other units may be treated as supplies under GST. The commenter contends labour statutes treat the employer as a single legal entity and employment as entity-wide, argues GST should not displace this characterisation, and maintains that employee-provided services to related offices should be exempt as in the course of employment, warning that treating such services as supplies would alter income-tax and withholding consequences and thus calls for reconsideration. (AI Summary)

Advance rulings on GST classification: composite works, liquidated damages and exemption scope clarified for contract specific taxability.
Recent State AAR decisions clarify GST treatment for composite works contracts, liquidated damages, transport components and exemption claims: composite supplies where materials and services form a single contract are taxable on the entire value; liquidated damages may be taxable as an independent levy depending on contractual terms; freight and transportation forming part of an overall works contract are not separate exempt supplies; and cleaning and sanitation services not entrusted to municipal functions do not qualify for the municipal function exemption. (AI Summary)

Input tax credit for Krishi Kalyan Cess denied where GST definition excludes cesses and no corresponding GST levy exists.
Section 140 allows migration of admissible cenvat credits appearing in returns up to June 30, 2017 into the electronic credit ledger, but the GST definition of input tax excludes cesses. Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 treated Krishi Kalyan Cess as a distinct cess usable only against KKC liability, and because there is no corresponding KKC levy under CGST, administrative rulings concluded that migrated KKC balances are not admissible as input tax credit under GST. (AI Summary)

Directors KYC requirement: failure to file triggers DIN deactivation and reactivation only after KYC filing and prescribed fees.
Every individual allotted a Director Identification Number must submit e form DIR 3 KYC by the prescribed due date; the obligation applies to all directors including disqualified directors. Filers must provide identity and address proof, director's personal mobile and email for OTP, passport where applicable, and registered digital signature, with certification by a practising chartered accountant, company secretary, or cost accountant. Late filing attracts a prescribed fee and non filing leads to DIN deactivation, which is reversible only after KYC filing and payment of prescribed fees. (AI Summary)

Simplified GST returns: modular single-return system with invoice upload and automated credit calculation to ease compliance.
The proposals replace existing GST returns with simplified GST forms and a modular single-return system permitting business-specific modules, reducing filing frequency to a single monthly return for most taxpayers with quarterly options for certain categories. Sellers may upload invoices in a unidirectional manner, enabling automated invoice-wise tax liability calculation and continuous buyer visibility; automatic reversal of input tax credit is prohibited, with online recovery, blocking of defaulting suppliers, and staged transition from legacy returns to full deployment of the new forms. (AI Summary)

One Person Company incorporation procedure: SPICe centralises name reservation, DIN allotment and mandatory digital-signature filings.
The operative mechanism is the SPICe route via Form INC-32, which serves as a single application for name reservation, incorporation and DIN allotment, supported by electronic MoA and AoA and prescribed ancillary forms. Filers must use Digital Signatures, propose only one name in SPICe, and furnish registered office verification to the Registrar within thirty days; One Person Companies must file nominee details and consent at incorporation and entrenchment provisions must be notified at or after incorporation as prescribed. (AI Summary)

Tax invoice requirements under GST set issuance timing and mandatory contents for claiming input tax credit.
Under GST the tax invoice is the principal document evidencing supply and enabling Input Tax Credit. Registered persons must issue tax invoices or bills of supply as prescribed; timing differs for goods (before or at removal/delivery) and services (before or within the prescribed post-supply period). Invoice Rules prescribe mandatory fields-supplier/recipient details, serial number, HSN/Accounting codes, description, quantities, taxable value, tax breakup, place of supply, reverse charge indication and signature. Credit/debit notes, revised invoices, receipt/refund vouchers and delivery challans are regulated for adjustments and special situations. (AI Summary)

Tax exemption for educational institutions hinges on legal form, registration compliance, and ongoing audit and reporting obligations.
Registration and tax treatment of educational institutions depend on legal form: charitable trusts require a trust deed and registrar filing and must obtain tax registration to claim charitable status and donor benefits; societies form by memorandum subscription and one time tax registration secures income exemption; companies may run educational activities consistent with charitable purposes; sole proprietorships are taxed in the proprietor's hands. Tax exemption requires proper legal ownership of property, charitable purpose for public utility, non inurement to private individuals, and auditable accounts, and exemptions may be withdrawn after a hearing if conditions are breached. (AI Summary)