Depreciable intangible business rights: functional commercial rights that operate as tools of trade qualify for depreciation.
Section 32(1)(ii) allows depreciation for specified intangible assets and "any other business or commercial rights of similar nature." Courts have held that the residual phrase encompasses intangible rights that, while not literally patents, licences or trademarks, function as tools of trade facilitating business operations. Authorities have treated goodwill, exchange membership rights and concessionary rights to operate infrastructure and collect tolls as business or commercial rights within Explanation 3(b), making them eligible for depreciation under the Act. (AI Summary)

Reverse charge on legal services requires the recipient to pay GST and report the liability when time of supply arises.
Reverse charge applies to legal services where the recipient is a litigant/applicant/petitioner; business entities above the small turnover threshold must pay GST as recipients. Time of supply for unpaid invoices is the sixty first day from invoice date; tax becomes payable when that time of supply arises and must be shown under reverse charge in the GST return, with interest on unpaid tax computed from the statutory return due date until payment. Services from a senior advocate to an advocate/firm are outside the reverse charge recipient definition and thus not chargeable to reverse charge when received by the advocate. (AI Summary)

Retrospective application of curative tax amendments preserves equitable treatment; amendment to disallowance rule should apply from insertion date.
The note addresses retrospective effect of a curative amendment to the TDS disallowance provision, explaining that remedial provisions intended to remove unintended hardship should be applied retrospectively. It observes that the provision primarily defers deduction between assessment years, that precedent supports retrospective construction of curative amendments, and that retrospective application to the original enactment date would avoid unjust demands, administrative burden, and litigation in the absence of corrective administrative guidance. (AI Summary)

E-way bill compliance: portal failures or minor entry omissions do not automatically justify seizure; adjudication required.
Courts have held that seizures premised solely on absence or defect in the e-way bill are not justified where electronic records are later produced or where portal accessibility problems prevented generation; omissions in Part-B such as vehicle number do not alone indicate tax evasion; interception prior to the effective compliance date cannot support mandatory e-way requirements; authorities must follow the statutory adjudication process for seizure and may accept bank guarantees or bonds as security pending completion of proceedings. (AI Summary)

Waiver of loan treated as a capital receipt, not taxable as business perquisite or trading liability remission.
Waiver of loan constitutes a capital receipt and is not taxable as a business perquisite since it is a monetary receipt; the business-perquisite provision does not apply to cash loan waivers. The remission provision for trading liabilities covers previously allowed trading deductions and does not extend to cessation of non-trading or capital liabilities that were not claimed as deductions. Accounting treatment should reflect the capital nature of the waiver by crediting capital reserves rather than profit and loss. Deeming provisions that seek to tax capital receipts are problematic and should not be used to tax loan waiver. (AI Summary)

GST collections timing: month end receipts can mislead on economic revival; sustained trends and compliance measures matter.
GST monthly receipts concentrated at fiscal year end reflect activity recorded the prior month and arrear payments, so a single high monthly collection is an unreliable indicator of sustained economic revival. Structural composition shows a heavy IGST share from inter state transactions versus combined CGST/SGST for intra state supplies. Future revenue stability and compliance may be influenced by administrative reforms including a shift to cash basis accounting, implementation of TDS/TCS provisions, and the e way bill system. (AI Summary)

Anti profiteering obligation requires passing tax rate and input credit benefits to consumers, assessed by factual price reconciliation.
Anti profiteering under GST mandates that any reduction in tax rate or benefit of input tax credit must be passed to recipients by way of commensurate price reduction. A fact specific investigation comparing pre GST and post GST tax incidence and ex showroom prices concluded a marginal tax rate reduction and that the supplier had lowered the post GST ex showroom price; the computed benefit to the purchaser included the input tax credit, so no additional amount was payable. (AI Summary)

Cancellation of registration: procedural grounds, show cause process, and input tax reversal obligations under GST.
Registration under GST is required for persons making taxable supplies who exceed prescribed turnover thresholds and voluntary registration is permitted. Cancellation may occur by surrender or by the proper officer on specified grounds including discontinuance, change in constitution, loss of liability, contraventions, failure to furnish returns, non commencement after voluntary registration, or fraud. The proper officer must issue a show cause notice and allow hearing; cancellation does not extinguish prior tax liabilities and requires payment equivalent to input tax credit on goods held or output tax, with specific rules for capital goods. A procedure allows revocation of cancellation subject to conditions and timelines. (AI Summary)

Zero-rated supply under GST: exporters may claim IGST or unutilized input tax credit refunds subject to prescribed procedures.
Exports are treated as zero-rated supply allowing either refund of integrated tax paid or refund of unutilized input tax credit when supplies are made under bond or LUT. Shipping bills constitute refund applications for exported goods subject to a valid return; other zero-rated claims must use the prescribed electronic form and be supported by specified statements and documents. Authorities must accept physical submissions where required, limit document demands to prescribed items, rectify data mismatches through return amendment procedures, and avoid withholding refunds for minor procedural lapses. (AI Summary)

Quasi-judicial grant protection: cancellation requires express statutory power; general clauses section not a substitute for revocation.
Where a grant or registration is quasi-judicial, it cannot be varied, reviewed or rescinded by invoking a general amendment power; cancellation requires an express statutory power or rule permitting withdrawal, or exceptional vitiating grounds such as fraud. General clauses provisions authorising amendment of notifications or rules do not supply authority to revisit adjudicative determinations, and apply only to executive or legislative acts within the enabling statute. (AI Summary)

Online acceptance of LUTs via ARN raises legal questions about circulars' force and portal-driven compliance burdens.
Operational and legal frictions persist: the GST common portal's limited capacity and technical failures hinder timely online compliance; online filing of LUTs generates an ARN and is treated as deemed to be accepted by Circulars, raising questions about the legal force of Circulars versus Notifications; GSTR 2 and GSTR 3 filings were placed in abeyance while GSTR 1 imposes heavy manual data burdens on taxpayers; and cancellation orders for migrated registrants are being delayed despite rules requiring issuance within 30 days. (AI Summary)

Jurisdiction over legacy service-tax notices questioned, prompting litigation and administrative review under GST transitional rules.
GST implementation has prompted litigation over jurisdiction, transitional relief, registration migration and tax treatment of composite supplies. Administrative guidance limits filing concessions to technical glitches and contemplates appeals. Key operative points: departmental jurisdiction to pursue legacy service-tax notices may be impaired by reallocation of taxing powers; registration migration problems require administrative fixes; lessees receiving e auction proceeds bear compliance and payment responsibilities affecting input tax credit and invoicing; and accessories sold in unpriced composite packages are not separately taxable. (AI Summary)

Interest paid to close relatives disallowed where no commercial justification provided for paying a higher rate than third party loans.
Tribunal sustained disallowance of interest paid in excess to close relatives because the assessee failed to justify paying a higher rate to relatives when loans from third parties were available at a lower rate. The Tribunal held that without comparison of all relevant loan terms and supporting evidence-such as timing, security, amounts, flexibility, indirect costs and past practice-the excess payment to relatives could be disallowed. (AI Summary)

Reassessment invalidity: mere change of opinion without new tangible material cannot sustain reassessment proceedings.
Reassessment cannot be sustained merely because the assessing officer has formed a different opinion where all relevant facts and enquiries were considered in the original assessment; the Supreme Court affirmed that notices issued and reassessments initiated on the same record, absent new tangible material, are void. The reported decision involved allowance of deductions in the original assessment, subsequent challenge based only on re-allocation of expenses from the same record, and rejection of reassessment as founded on change of opinion. The author recommends procedural reforms including a monetary threshold, recorded reasons with notice, and an opportunity to present objections before proceeding. (AI Summary)

Input service distribution allocates eligible service tax credit among same PAN units, subject to invoicing, apportionment and recovery rules.
An Input Service Distributor is an office that claims and distributes input tax credit of eligible services (not goods) to other suppliers with the same PAN; distribution must follow prescribed documentary requirements, not exceed available credit, allocate recipient specific credits to the correct recipients, and apportion multi recipient credits by proportionate turnover in the relevant period. Rule 39 prescribes character of credits (CGST/SGST/IGST) based on recipient location; Rule 54 prescribes ISD invoice particulars. Excess distribution is recoverable with interest under statutory recovery provisions. (AI Summary)

Capital receipt treatment for interest on share application money reduces public issue expenses when linked to capital-raising purpose.
Interest earned on share application money that is deposited in separate accounts because of statutory requirement or as an incident of raising share capital is inextricably linked to the capital-raising process and is to be set off against public issue expenses; by contrast, surplus funds deposited primarily to earn income are taxable as revenue. The distinction depends on purpose and connection, and incidental receipts directly connected to capital formation are deductible from capital costs. (AI Summary)

Bar on civil court jurisdiction limits adjudication under GST to statutory remedies and specified appeals, streamlining dispute resolution.
The GST framework bars ordinary civil courts from adjudicating questions under the Act and confines remedies to statutory processes; permits prescribed fees for document supply; empowers Central/State Governments to make rules (including limited retrospective rules) and the Board to make regulations consistent with the Act; requires laying of rules/notifications before the legislature; authorises delegation of powers and issuance of uniform instructions to officers; prescribes multiple modes of service with deemed service rules; mandates rounding off of monetary items; and allows time limited remedial orders to remove implementation difficulties. (AI Summary)

Corporate governance reforms strengthen board independence and disclosures, enhancing director eligibility and related-party transaction transparency requirements.
Recommendations strengthen board independence, expand independent director eligibility, and enhance disclosure and accountability for listed equity companies. Key operative measures include limits on multiple directorships, mandated disclosures of directors' expertise and auditor credentials, enhanced related party transaction transparency, consolidated quarterly reporting, strengthened roles for audit and remuneration committees, and mandatory secretarial audits for listed entities and material unlisted subsidiaries. Phased governance standards address board size, gender representation, separation of CEO and Chair roles, quorum requirements, AGM webcasting, and recalibrated shareholder approval for certain related-party payments. (AI Summary)

Concessional GST treatment for merchant exports conditioned on RCMC, documented purchase order, and export within prescribed time.
Merchant export permits supplies between a registered supplier and a registered recipient-exporter at a concessional GST rate, conditional on GST registration, merchant exporter holding an RCMC, a written purchase order sent to the supplier's jurisdictional officer, issuance of a prescribed tax invoice reflecting the concession, export of goods within 90 days (failure of which exposes the supplier to liability for balance tax with interest), requirement to furnish warehouse acknowledgements and export documents to the supplier and its tax officer, and the option to instead follow the normal export route under bond/letter of undertaking with IGST payment and refund/credit claims. (AI Summary)

Final GST return obligations require filing Form GSTR-10 and reversing input tax credit upon registration cancellation.
On cancellation a registered person must file a final return (Form GSTR-10) within three months and pay, via the electronic credit or cash ledger, an amount equal to the input tax credit on inputs, input-contained goods and capital goods held immediately before cancellation or the output tax on such goods, whichever is higher; capital goods adjustments, valuation rules where invoices are unavailable, mandatory certification for estimated stocks, itemised disclosure and authorized signatory verification are required, while specified categories are excluded from filing. (AI Summary)