GST refund delays due to late deficiency memos can entitle taxpayers to statutory interest on delayed refunds.
Delay in issuing deficiency memos beyond the 15 day period under Rule 90(2) prejudices taxpayers and triggers entitlement to statutory interest under Section 56; adjudication under Section 54(7) runs from the date the application is complete, and the revenue must permit cure of deficiencies, fix a hearing and decide refunds promptly, with interest payable for the period of departmental delay. (AI Summary)

FCRA registration cannot be rejected without natural justice; compounding a technical breach should not cause permanent disqualification.
Registration under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act cannot be rejected without observing natural justice; vague or newly raised allegations (such as an unnotified transfer) invalidate a rejection. Where an admitted contravention has been lawfully compounded and is technical with no wider implications, the compounding may not be used as a permanent disqualification for registration. A registered charitable trust should not be summarily recharacterised as religious without clear reason. The matter was remitted for fresh, specific notice and reconsideration. (AI Summary)

Importing capital goods: choose MOOWR to defer anti dumping duty instead of EPCG to preserve working capital.
EPCG requires payment of Anti Dumping Duty at import, generating immediate cash outflow, whereas MOOWR allows import into a bonded warehouse with deferment of duties including ADD until domestic clearance; if goods manufactured using the imported capital goods are exported, the deferred duties under MOOWR do not become payable, offering a significant working capital advantage for export oriented manufacturers and warranting re evaluation of EPCG as a default option where ADD applies. (AI Summary)

GST adjudication safeguards require jurisdiction, clear charges, and evidence before coercive recovery or arrest powers are used.
GST adjudication is presented as requiring a prior legal and evidentiary foundation, rather than a mechanical continuation of investigation. An officer must first identify lawful jurisdiction, the precise alleged contravention, governing legal basis, and tangible supporting material. A show-cause notice should reveal independent application of mind and reasons, rather than reproduce investigative conclusions, borrowed satisfaction, or unverified opinions. Jurisdiction, clarity of charge, and evidence are treated as conditions for meaningful adjudication. (AI Summary)

Tobacco and pan masala tax changes: GST at 40% on RSP, higher excise on tobacco, and new HSNS cess for pan masala.
Effective 1 February 2026, tobacco is taxed as GST + Central Excise Duty + NCCD and pan masala as GST + HSNS Cess; GST taxes these goods at 40% on RSP with Rule 31D for computation and compensation cess abolished. Central Excise moves certain pouch-packed tobaccos to machine-capacity based duty with engineer certification, jurisdictional verification, advance monthly payment, monthly returns, CCTV and abatement limited to 15-day continuous non-operation. HSNS Cess applies to pan masala packed in pouches, tins or containers, is computed per factory on machine-rated speed and pouch weight, requires registration, declarations, advance payment, returns, records, and prescribes notice, interest and penalties. (AI Summary)

GST consolidated SCNs permitted for multi year fraudulent ITC schemes; service to portal registered email is valid.
The Supreme Court upheld that emails sent to the e mail address registered on the GST portal satisfy statutory service requirements where the address is recorded as the assessee's contact, finding no breach of natural justice. It further held that consolidated show cause notices covering multiple financial years are legally permissible in cases of fraudulent input tax credit claims to detect and address patterns of fraud, distinguishing prior income tax precedents and relying on CGST provisions that accommodate multi period treatment when fraud spans years. (AI Summary)

Goods and Services Tax: Section 74 requires evidence of fraud to invoke punitive proceedings; multi year consolidated notices are impermissible.
Section 74 can be invoked only where investigation produces material evidence of fraud, wilful misstatement, or suppression to evade tax and such evidence must be included in the show cause notice; mere non payment of GST is insufficient. There is no provision for a single show cause notice or order covering multiple financial years (except the July 2017-March 2018 transitional period); consolidated notices have been quashed by high courts. Where fraud is not established, Section 75(2) mandates that the proper officer redetermine tax under Section 73 rather than appellate substitution. (AI Summary)

GST audit and SCN issuance: premature SCN issuance violates natural justice; audit commencement tied to document availability.
Premature issuance of a Show Cause Notice before expiry of the reply period granted by a pre SCN violates natural justice by denying a meaningful opportunity to be heard and vitiates the proceeding; audit commencement under Section 65 is the later of the date records are made available or the actual institution of audit, fixing the three month audit timeline and the thirty day communication period, subject to a Commissioner recorded extension, and time while writs are pending is excluded for limitation. (AI Summary)

Minimum export price controls exports of essential commodities to stabilise domestic supply and domestic prices and deter cheap exports.
Minimum export price regimes set a government floor price for specified commodities and require exporters to declare FOB values at or above that floor; customs verify declarations and may bar shipments priced below the notified minimum. Notifications are temporary and reviewed based on domestic prices, production and stocks, international prices, inflation and seasonal demand. The measure targets essential agricultural goods to prioritise local supply, stabilise domestic prices and support food security while imposing compliance and competitiveness costs. (AI Summary)

Personal guarantor insolvency process: Resolution Professional must file a Section 99 report or petitions risk procedural dismissal.
The Resolution Professional must examine applications under Sections 94/95 within ten days of appointment, may request further information (to be furnished within seven days), and must submit a report under Section 99 recommending acceptance or rejection; the Adjudicating Authority then has fourteen days from that report to admit or reject the application. Applicants must serve a copy of their petition on the RP to enable the RP's examination and report; failure to serve the RP can prevent timely reporting, extend the interim moratorium unduly, and may justify procedural dismissal under the Adjudicating Authority's powers. (AI Summary)

GST statutory dues excluded from an approved insolvency resolution plan are extinguished and post-approval recovery is invalid.
A demand for statutory tax dues for periods before approval of an insolvency resolution plan that were not included in the approved plan is extinguished and post-approval recovery actions are without jurisdiction; the 2019 amendment to Section 31 IBC is declaratory and an approved plan binds all creditors, including government revenue authorities, who must participate in the CIRP to have claims admitted. (AI Summary)

Inoperative bank account: update KYC and complete verification to reactivate accounts and restore full banking services.
An inoperative account arises when no customer initiated transactions occur for two consecutive years, prompting banks to restrict debit services. Banks must notify customers before declaring dormancy, allow penalty free reactivation, complete reactivation after due diligence and KYC verification, and provide branch and digital reactivation options. Reactivation steps include submitting a request, updating PAN/Aadhaar/passport and address proof, identity verification (in person or video KYC), and restoration of full services, typically within two to seven working days. (AI Summary)

University affiliation and related statutory fees are not taxable under GST because they lack commercial supply and consideration.
Fee collections by statutory universities for affiliation, registration, convocation and related charges are statutory/regulatory and do not amount to a taxable supply or business under the CGST Act because they lack commercial intent and contractual consideration; CBIC circulars and GST demands attempting to tax these fees were quashed as beyond regulatory authority. (AI Summary)

Corporate guarantee GST valuation depends on recipient's full ITC eligibility and prior CBIC circulars clarifying Rule 28(2).
When a corporate guarantee is furnished without consideration to a related person who is eligible for full input tax credit, valuation under Rule 28(2) CGST Rules must be applied and binding CBIC circulars clarifying that such transactions can have nil value (where no invoice is issued and conditions are met) are material. Assessing officers must expressly consider these circulars and the proviso to Rule 28(2) that treats invoice value as open market value for recipients eligible for full ITC; failure to do so requires reconsideration. (AI Summary)

Recovery of shares from IEPF requires filing the official claim form, submitting entitlement and KYC documents, and verification.
Recovery of shares transferred to the IEPF preserves ownership and is executed via a statutory, document-driven claim process: identify the transfer, obtain an entitlement letter from the company/RTA, file the prescribed electronic claim form with account and identity details, prepare and submit required physical documents to the company's nodal officer for verification, and obtain IEPF Authority approval for credit of shares to the claimant's demat account and transfer of dividends to the claimant's bank account. (AI Summary)

Export of brown basmati rice governed by FTP conditions, not FSSAI standards unless FTP explicitly requires them.
Exports of rice are regulated by the Foreign Trade Policy and extend domestic Food Safety and Standards requirements to exports only where the FTP or related notifications expressly incorporate those standards; absent such incorporation, reliance on FSSAI parameters cannot by itself justify customs confiscation, duty demands, or penalties when the exporter meets FTP registration and schedule criteria. (AI Summary)

Goods and Services Tax: courts apply substance over form, strict taxing interpretation, and limited substantial compliance.
Substance over form requires courts to prioritise the economic substance and parties' intention over labels and to read contracts as a whole; the business efficacy test is subordinate and cannot override clear express terms. Tax statutes, however, require strict construction: substantial compliance excuses only non material failures and cannot cure breach of mandatory evidentiary conditions for exemptions. Legislatures can validate past action by retrospective law but must remove the legal basis of judicial invalidity rather than merely displacing court decisions. (AI Summary)

Tobacco and pan masala tax overhaul: RSP-based GST valuation, higher GST and revived excise from Feb 1, 2026.
From 1 February 2026 Rule 31D establishes RSP/MRP-based valuation for pan masala, most tobacco products and nicotine inhalation products (excluding bidis), requiring taxable value to be extracted from declared RSP; GST rates are restructured to 18% total for bidis and 40% total for pan masala and most other tobacco products, Compensation Cess is withdrawn, and central excise is reintroduced with a machine-capacity-based levy on pouched chewing tobacco/jarda/gutkha and substantially higher specific excise on cigarettes and cigars. (AI Summary)

Advance rulings bind only the applicant; separate GST registrations are treated as distinct persons and require independent adjudication.
Advance rulings under the GST Act are binding only in personam on the applicant and the concerned officer in respect of that applicant; a separately registered establishment is a distinct person and thus an advance ruling for one registration does not bind another. Adjudicating authorities must independently examine replies to show cause notices and apply their minds rather than relying on an advance ruling issued in respect of a different registrant. (AI Summary)

Cinema ticket pricing: GST rate cuts must be passed to consumers despite state price caps and separate maintenance charges.
The Tribunal concluded that Section 171's commensurate reduction obligation requires cinema exhibitors to pass GST rate cuts to consumers; state-fixed maximum fares do not excuse non compliance, maintenance charges form part of taxable value, quantified profiteering may be returned or deposited with interest under Rule 133, and interest provisions were treated prospectively based on express effective dates. (AI Summary)