Excisability of industrial alcohol: State levies invalid prospectively, Collectorates to follow Supreme Court guidance.
The Supreme Court held that State imposts on industrial alcohol were unauthorised and invalid prospectively, distinguishing potable alcohol and legitimate fees; past collections are not to be refunded. The Board directs Collectorates outside Tamil Nadu to apply paras 88-89 of that judgment to past Central Excise demands for ethyl alcohol and related spirits prior to 1-3-1989, while Collectorates in Tamil Nadu must await the Division Bench decision referenced in para 90.

Maintenance of accounts under Section 44AA is mandatory; penalty proceedings must be initiated for noncompliance.
Compliance with the requirement to maintain books of account under Section 44AA is mandatory and failure to do so attracts penalty under section 271A. Assessing Officers are directed to initiate penalty proceedings where non compliance is noticed, and supervisory officers and the Internal Audit wing must verify compliance during inspections and audits.

Recovery of government dues: department may proceed absent an obtained stay, with a three month concession to seek stay.
The department may recover duties confirmed in an order unless the assessee obtains a stay; filing an appeal alone does not operate as a stay. As an administrative concession, a total of three months from communication of the order is allowed for filing the appeal and securing orders on a stay application (one month to file, two months to obtain stay orders). If an appellate authority rejects a stay application before three months elapse, recovery proceedings must be initiated immediately.

Custodian appointment for imported goods and containers-operators authorised to hold custody until clearance or handover.
Statutory approval designates Container Corporation of India Limited as custodian of imported goods and containers at the Inland Container Depot until transfer to Central Warehousing Corporation; Central Warehousing Corporation is designated custodian from receipt from CONCOR until goods are cleared for home consumption, warehousing, transhipment, and until containers are returned to CONCOR, effective immediately.

Inter-head set-off priority requires current-year losses to be adjusted before applying carried-forward losses.
Inter-head set-off under section 71 takes priority: where an assessment year shows income under one head and a loss under another, the contemporaneous loss must be set off against that income before carried forward losses under the income-bearing head are applied. This sequence is subject to Chapter VI exceptions that prohibit inter-head adjustments for certain losses, and departmental return formats have been aligned to reflect this method of computation.

Coordination of relief applications requires enquiry into parallel waiver or relief petitions and disclosure by applicant before disposal.
The Chief Commissioner/Commissioner must enquire whether parallel applications on the same issue-such as waiver of interest or other relief petitions-are pending before any other authority and must require the assessee to state categorically whether the relief sought has been claimed before any other forum; this requirement should be communicated to all officers to enable coordinated disposal of the application.

Power to settle tax cases is not vested in commissioners; settlement lies with Settlement Commission and penalties are waivable.
No power to settle cases is vested in Commissioners under the Income-tax Act; settlement is the remit of the Settlement Commission. Powers under section 273A permit waiver or reduction of penalties and interest only after statutory conditions and Board instructions are satisfied. Assessing officers must decide tax treatment and assessment year on the facts of the file. When evidence of evasion emerges in search or investigation, authorities should gather full material to levy concealment penalties and initiate prosecution under the tax penal provisions.

Authority to restrain disposal: officers lack power to direct non-removal of plant in notices; seizure or statutory order may be used.
The Board clarifies that there is no provision in the Central Excises & Salt Act, 1944 or its rules empowering an officer to direct an assessee not to alter or dispose of plant and machinery in a Show Cause Notice issued under Rule 233(A). The Department may instead seize the plant and machinery when confiscation is proposed or resort to the proviso to Section 110(1) of the Customs Act, 1962 as applied mutatis mutandis to serve an order preventing removal or dealing with the goods; Circular No. 29/89 is modified accordingly.

Prima facie adjustments to net wealth permit obvious allowance or disallowance of exemptions and arithmetical corrections.
Under the Wealth-tax Act the Assessing Officer may make prima facie adjustments to net wealth declared in returns: rectify arithmetical errors; allow exemptions or deductions prima facie admissible though unclaimed; and disallow exemptions or deductions prima facie inadmissible on the basis of the return and accompanying documents. Use the illustrative list addressing exemptions and the foreign property definition as ready reference and apply the same prima facie principles to valuation issues under Schedule III.

Exemption under section 10(23C) conditions clarified: strict verification, time limited notifications, audit evidence and no duplicate exemptions.
Amendments effective 1 April 1990 require applicants for exemption under section 10(23C)(iv) and (v) to submit prescribed Form No.56 with supporting documents, undergo verification of activities, apply income wholly and exclusively to stated objects with permitted investments, and maintain separate accounting for incidental business; investments outside prescribed specifications after 30 March 1990 disqualify entitlement. Notifications are time limited, conditions are cumulative, audited accounts should be examined (preferably three years), and recommendations must contain specific, reasoned findings signed by the Commissioner/Director.

Assessable value inclusion of fitted accessories determines tractor excise valuation and requires adding such accessories at factory gate.
Accessories fitted to tractors at the time of clearance must be included in the assessable value for central excise because goods are assessed in the form in which they are delivered for sale at the factory gate; therefore the cost of such fitted accessories is added to the tractor's taxable value.

Condonation of delays in claiming refunds requires substantive scrutiny of source income and avoidance of routine approvals.
Exercise of discretion under Section 119(2)(b) must follow prior circular conditions and involve factual scrutiny of source of income, consistency of reporting, maintenance of books, and risk of account manipulation; only genuine hardship cases should be condoned and routine or mechanically approved delay condonations must be avoided.

Residency test for seafarers affects which earnings are taxable in India and guides employers' tax withholding.
Members of the crew of foreign going Indian ships who are non resident are taxable in India only on income received in India or earnings for periods worked in Indian waters; foreign earned income received outside India is not chargeable.

Collection of tax at source now applies to purchase price including excise and issue price, widening TCS base.
Collection of income-tax at source applies to profits and gains from trading in specified goods, with purchase price construed to include any amount paid or payable by the buyer (excluding auction bid amounts) so that excise duty and analogous charges, including the issue price or "Nirgam Mulya", form part of the purchase price. Persons defined as sellers, including governments, local authorities, corporations and co-operative societies, must collect tax at source at prescribed rates based on this inclusive purchase price. The amendments apply from the assessment year 1991-92 and cover collections made during the financial year 1990-91.

Drawal of samples clarified: category-based sampling frequencies and documentary reliance reduce routine chemical testing of exports.
Drawal of samples for chemical testing to determine drawback duties follows category-specific frequencies: annual sampling for branded exports with brand rates; six monthly sampling for generic goods with individual brand rates; consignment-level sampling for specification-based items unless acceptable certificates allow six monthly sampling; reliance on manufacturer's certificates, shipping bill declarations, literature and AR-4 for generic all industry rates with sampling only on doubt; AR-4 accepted and verified by Central Excise dispenses with sampling to that extent; sampling is percentage based and may be adjusted for surprise.

Soya milk classification: flavoured soya milk beverages treated as preparations, therefore ineligible for exemption under relevant notifications.
The manufacturing process yields soya milk at the initial grinding stage, but subsequent addition of sugar, juices, flavours and other ingredients produces flavoured soya milk beverages that laboratory analysis and ingredient labelling identify as beverages or preparations rather than plain soya milk; only the unadulterated soya milk from the first stage is within the exemption notifications' scope, while flavoured preparations are not eligible.

Classification of blended yarn: predominance by weight governs heading choice, allowing presence of non specified fibres.
Classification of acrylic predominant blended yarns manufactured by garnetting depends on the predominance of a single textile material by weight and the wording of headings; Section Note 2(A) directs classification as if the article wholly consisted of the predominant material, and Note 2(B)(ii) requires choosing the heading within the chapter disregarding materials not classified in that chapter. Where sub headings do not expressly exclude other textile materials, acrylic blends containing fibres such as viscose or natural fibres remain classifiable under the acrylic/modacrylic sub headings, and the earlier Board circular is modified accordingly.

Classification of laminated textile products: adhesive-coated cotton with removable paper treated as textile suitable for industrial use.
The Board applied the essential characteristic test and Explanatory Notes to determine that adhesive-coated cotton fabric, produced with a removable paper carrier and used as raw material for shoe-uppers, is not impregnated paper nor an identifiable footwear part; its essential character is imparted by the fabric and it should be treated as a laminated textile product suitable for industrial use under the heading for other textile fabrics.

Classification of perfumery: Javadhu treated as perfume while flower dust treated as other perfumery for excise purposes.
Javadhu Powder, comprising sandalwood powders, sandalwood oil and floral perfume and applied to the human body for fragrance, is classifiable under Heading No. 33.03 as Perfumes; Flower Dust, a blend of fragrant plant parts and sandalwood powder intended to scent clothing, is classifiable under sub-heading 3307.90 as Other Perfumery, and neither product is treated as deodorant/antiperspirant or as a raw material for industry.

Classification of cold rolled structural sections under sub-heading 7308.90 clarified per HSN explanatory notes and tariff scheme.
Cold roll formed sections prepared for use in structurals are classifiable under sub-heading 7308.90. The Board found that Heading 7308 covers plates, rods, angles, shapes and sections prepared for use in structurals and that Heading 7216 excludes articles prepared for structural use; therefore, with effect from 1-3-1988 such cold roll formed sections should be classified under sub-heading 7308.90.