Taxability of transferable development rights: exclusive permanent transfers treated as sale of immovable property, licences treated as taxable services.
Where exclusive, permanent and irrevocable development rights are transferred to a developer, those rights create an interest in land and amount to a sale or transfer of immovable property rather than a license; licences, leases, tenancies and easements of vacant land are treated as taxable services. When the developer gives flats to the landowner as consideration, the developer is providing construction services and is liable for GST on the value of those services, including on the owner's share received in kind. (AI Summary)

Resolution Corporation empowered to resolve failing financial service providers and provide deposit insurance under a consolidated statutory framework.
The Bill establishes a central Resolution Corporation with powers to resolve failing financial service providers through transfer of assets, merger, liquidation by tribunal order, bail-in, and bridge service providers; creates dedicated funds for deposit insurance and resolution operations; provides for designation of Systematically Important Financial Institutions with additional powers; sets a time-bound resolution framework and methods; extends coverage to banks, insurers, FMIs, payment systems, NBFCs, holding companies and foreign branches; and amends multiple statutes to consolidate resolution and deposit insurance functions. (AI Summary)

Anushka Sharma wedding ring highlights proof of prior export and baggage rules affecting duty on re-imported jewellery.
Whether jewellery returned in accompanied baggage is exempt from duty depends on the baggage regime and proof of prior export. The Baggage Rules, 2016 limit duty-free jewellery allowances, exclude jewellery from "personal effects," and remove an earlier concession for previously exported jewellery, increasing reliance on documentary proof. Section 20 treats re-imported goods as generally liable to duty, subject to notifications, while export certificates serve as the primary means to establish duty-free re-import and avoid redemption fines and personal penalties. (AI Summary)

Limited scrutiny notice requirement: expansion of scrutiny must be within limitation and approved or challenged by assessee.
Limited scrutiny requires the Assessing Officer to serve a notice when it is necessary to ensure no understatement of income, excessive loss, or under paid tax, and such notice must be issued within six months from the end of the financial year in which the return was filed. Expansion beyond the selected issues is impermissible without recorded reasons, proper order sheet entries and prior approval from a senior authority; failure to follow these procedures may give rise to disciplinary action and supports an assessee objection, including on limitation grounds. (AI Summary)

Mandatory penalty equal to duty: no judicial discretion to impose a lesser penalty once intent to evade is established.
Where facts establish that duty was not levied or was short paid or erroneously refunded by reason of fraud, collusion, willful misstatement, suppression of facts, or contravention of the Act or rules with intent to evade duty, the person liable must pay a penalty equal to the duty so determined; once those conditions are found, the penalty provision is mandatory and does not permit reduction by appellate or quasi judicial bodies. (AI Summary)

Proof of export under GST: removal of ARE1 and bond re credit procedures creates uncertainty for exporters seeking documentary evidence.
The transition to GST removed the A.R.E.1 procedure and altered export procedures, creating uncertainty about acceptable proof of export and the mechanics for bond re credit; previously accepted proofs included customs attested shipping bills, bills of lading, foreign exchange remittance certificates and VAT export forms for merchant exporters, which supported bond re credit and compliance reporting. (AI Summary)

Input tax credit on retention money: adjust credit only when supplier's tax liability is reduced, not for contractual withholding.
Availability of input tax credit should not be conditioned on payment to the supplier where tax liability is fixed by law independent of receipt. Contractual reductions or retentions in invoice value should lead only to proportionate adjustment of credit when the supplier's tax liability is reduced; reversals solely for delayed or withheld commercial payments are inappropriate. (AI Summary)

Anti-profiteering obligation requires suppliers to pass tax benefits to consumers or face price reductions, refunds, penalties, registration cancellation.
Section 171 requires suppliers to pass reductions in tax rates or the benefit of input tax credit to recipients by way of commensurate price reductions; an Anti-Profiteering Authority and screening committees are empowered to determine non-compliance, identify registered persons who have not passed on benefits, and order price reduction, return of amounts with interest, penalties, recovery measures, and cancellation of registration, with prescribed procedural routes for consumer complaints under the Central Rules. (AI Summary)

E Proceeding file upload flexibility should permit compressed archives to improve electronic assessment communication and compatibility.
The ITBA's E Proceeding facility currently permits only scanned PDF uploads and has per submission file limits, causing compatibility and accessibility problems; the author proposes allowing native document formats and compressed archive uploads (ZIP/RAR/7 Zip etc.), recommending the department select endorsed compression software and provide guidance or links to assessees to facilitate reliable electronic submission and viewing. (AI Summary)

Discount treatment under GST: invoice-recorded or pre-linked discounts excluded from taxable value subject to ITC reversal.
Under GST, discounts reduce taxable value only if recorded in the invoice or established by agreement and specifically linked to invoices, and where post-supply discounts require reversal of attributable input tax credit; contingent or surprise incentives not known at or before supply and not invoice-linked do not qualify as deductible discounts and remain part of assessable value. (AI Summary)

Grievance and complaint procedure: Board registers filings, seeks evidence, and determines prima facie within prescribed timelines.
The Regulations create a structured grievance and complaint mechanism defining grievance and complaint, identifying stakeholders and service providers, prescribing filing content and channels, requiring disclosure (with confidentiality options), assigning registration numbers, permitting clubbing of related matters, and setting timelines for Board actions including information requests, prima facie assessment, directions for redress, and potential inspection, investigation or show cause notices; non frivolous complaint fees are refundable and summary statistics are to be published. (AI Summary)

GST registration threshold changes reshape service providers' registration, returns, export compliance and composition eligibility, increasing regulatory impacts.
GST replaces prior exemption mechanics with a state-wise registration threshold assessed annually; registration before crossing the threshold triggers tax obligations. Interstate suppliers require compulsory registration irrespective of threshold. Export of services now requires an LUT or bond. Return filing shifted to monthly but small service providers may use quarterly returns and cash-basis payment under relaxed turnover limits; composition limits increased and proposals aim to extend composition to service activities. (AI Summary)

GST applicability on society maintenance charges affirmed by FAQ, conflicting with agent/collector precedents and increasing litigation risk.
GST is being applied to maintenance charges collected by builders and later transferred to societies despite prior service tax rulings that treated builders as mere collectors not liable to tax; the government FAQ asserts taxability without legal reasoning, and although it lacks formal legal backing, it is likely to spur renewed litigation against the backdrop of earlier precedents. (AI Summary)

GST procedural compliance: courts stress advance-ruling and assessment routes over immediate tax-rate or liability adjudication.
Early GST litigation has addressed procedural, classification and transitional-credit issues, emphasizing that disputes over tax liability and rate classification generally belong to the statutory assessment or advance-ruling processes rather than immediate writ adjudication. Courts noted administrative gaps-such as portal unavailability and lack of prescribed interstate transport documents-and indicated that provisional accommodations or security-based arrangements may be required pending final quantification, while preserving authorities' assessment powers. (AI Summary)

Time of supply rules: post-delivery invoices set the supply date, but habitual delayed invoicing risks statutory penalties.
Where a tax invoice could not be issued at the time of removal of goods, the supplier must issue the invoice after delivery and the date of that invoice determines the time of supply; however, habitual delay in issuing invoices may attract preponement of time of supply and penal consequences, so post-delivery invoicing is an exception rather than an alternative to issuing invoices at or before removal or delivery. (AI Summary)

Advance ruling under GST clarifies registration, classification and input tax credit entitlement to reduce tax uncertainty.
An advance ruling under GST provides binding determinations to the applicant on registration requirement, classification, notification applicability, tax liability, time and value of supply, and admissibility of input tax credit. Any registered person or person seeking registration may apply; the AAR process includes filing a prescribed application with fee, communication to the jurisdictional officer, hearings for applicant and department, an admissibility decision and, if admitted, a ruling within the prescribed period. Appeals lie to the AAAR with limited condonation power; the ruling binds only the applicant and concerned officer and may be voided for fraud or suppression. (AI Summary)

Input tax credit reversal: proportionate credit must be added to output tax when invoice amounts remain unpaid.
The proviso requires a recipient who "fails to pay" any amount of the value of supply together with tax within the prescribed period to add an amount equal to the input tax credit availed to its output tax liability with interest; the wording contemplates partial non-payment so that reversal should be proportionate to the unpaid portion, though alternative views argue full credit should remain where supplier has remitted tax or where contractual timing makes retention not yet payable. (AI Summary)

Aadhaar linking as a privacy restriction may be upheld, enabling mandatory linkage and limiting private remedies against the State.
Aadhaar linking raises whether compulsory biometric linkage to services and identity documents satisfies the constitutional right to privacy when assessed as a reasonable restriction. The government will defend mandatory linkage by reference to unique identity and welfare delivery, while framing Aadhaar provision and associated activities as sovereign functions, limiting private suits and potentially insulating such activities from non sovereign liability concerns. (AI Summary)

Timing of deductions under the actual payment rule drives unnecessary litigation and administrative burden; repeal urged.
Section 43B requires specified deductions to be claimed only in the year of actual payment irrespective of accounting method. The article explains adjustments: disallow unpaid amounts charged to profit and loss, and allow payments actually made in the previous year (including advances, payments under protest, and payments against past liabilities not debited to profit and loss). It argues that the provision causes timing disputes and administrative burdens, often without material revenue benefit, and recommends deletion so recovery is handled by other enforcement mechanisms. (AI Summary)

Retrospective operation of administrative circulars cannot be assumed; reliance on unrelated circulars may produce adverse consequences.
The note contrasts two Board instructions on monetary thresholds for appeals-one applying revised limits only to appeals filed thereafter and a later one extending limits to pending appeals-and explains that the Supreme Court correctly held the earlier instruction was not retrospective. It cautions that counsel's reliance on a differently worded circular not before the Court led to unnecessary issues, and it stresses that administrative circulars should be applied according to their clear terms, with beneficial circulars construed to effect their remedial purpose where appropriate. (AI Summary)