Permanent Account Number and IEC filing mandated for Delhi VAT dealers; Form DVAT 52 due by 30/05/2013.
Registered dealers must furnish Permanent Account Number and, if applicable, Importer Exporter Code in Form DVAT 52; the form was notified on 30/03/2013 and must be filed with requisite details on or before 30/05/2013 to satisfy the amended filing obligation. Rule 18 now mandates the declaration in Form DVAT 52 and related rule amendments adjust tax period, recordkeeping, audit reporting for dealers above the specified turnover threshold, TDS certificate procedures in Form DVAT 43, and add IEC/Aadhaar/mobile fields to registration forms.

Extension of filing date for service tax returns grants assessees additional time due to reported filing difficulties.
The Central Board of Excise & Customs, exercising powers under sub rule (4) of rule 7 of the Service Tax Rules, 1994, extends the submission deadline for Form ST-3 for the quarter 1 July-30 September 2012 from 15 April to 30 April 2013 to accommodate assessees facing difficulties in filing returns and to avoid delay and inconvenience.

Quality assessments review requires compilation and submission of selected scrutiny cases highlighting substantive tax issues and resulting revenue impact.
Directs CCsIT/DGsIT to compile at least fifty quality scrutiny assessments using the annexure format, showing officer, assessment section, selection criteria, significant issues, concealment/disallowance amounts, penalty/prosecution status, and CCIT/DGIT comments; consolidated compilations with orders are to be routed via CCIT(CCA) to the Zonal Member and a copy sent to Member (IT), with submissions also provided to Appraisal Committees for inclusion in 'Let us Share'. Exclusion and inclusion criteria and caution against routine or summary additions are specified.

Appeal form revisions require expanded appellant identifiers and a standardized alphanumeric order code to improve case processing.
Revised Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax appeal forms, effective 1 June 2013 (old forms permitted until 31 August 2013), require expanded appellant identifiers (Assessee Code/PAN/UID, Location Code, contact details), Customs-specific IEC and Port Code, Service Tax Premises Code, separate entries for duty/fine/penalty/interest, subject codes for bunching, and a mandatory 21-character alphanumeric order identifier encoding Commissionerate, officer type, serial number, financial year and order date for Commissionerate wise indexing.

Service tax registration: new service providers must register in designated ranges under restored pre negative list coding.
The notice restores pre Trade Notice registration status and accounting codes for listed services while assigning services outside the negative list to selected service tax ranges; new service providers must register in the designated ranges, existing assessees remain in their current ranges, and registered providers seeking to add new taxable services may do so through their existing jurisdictional range officer.

Octagonal steel lamp columns classified as steel structures under tariff heading 73.08, subheading 73089090 for outdoor lighting.
Octagonal steel columns for lamp posts presented unassembled with brackets, anchor bolts and assembly accessories but without lanterns or electrical fittings are more specifically described by heading 73.08 and therefore classify as steel structures under subheading 7308.90 by application of GRI 1 and 6; flange plates, inspection doors or earthing lugs do not render them parts of lamps under heading 94.05.

Extension of filing deadline: reconciliation returns and original declaration forms permitted until 10 May for 2011-12 quarters.
An extension of time is granted until 10 May 2013 for furnishing the reconciliation return in Form DVAT 51 under the Delhi VAT Rules and corresponding Central Sales Tax provisions, and for submission of the 'original' portions of Declaration Forms C, E I, E II, F, I, J and H for the first through fourth quarters of 2011-12, with directions for departmental dissemination and online filing alignment with Form CD 1.

Exemption from cost recovery charges requires meeting facility-specific staffing and performance norms, with prospective waivers and no outstanding charges.
The Circular prescribes facility-specific staffing matrices for Sea Ports, Air Cargo Complexes, Courier Terminals, Diamond Plazas and Class-based Airports to be sanctioned on cost recovery basis, and sets dual performance benchmarks (cargo/value and document counts, or flights and passengers for airports) whose satisfaction in the preceding two financial years makes a facility eligible for consideration of exemption from payment of cost recovery charges, subject to prospective effect and absence of outstanding charges.

Corrigendum corrects product terminology and standard reference in a customs circular, amending sheet description and IS standard.
Corrigendum corrects the circular's product description by replacing the phrase "Electro Galvanized sheets and Galvanized sheets/strips," with "Electro Galvanized sheets and Galvaneeled sheets/strips" in the cited sub paragraph, and directs that every occurrence of the reference "IS:227" in the circular should read as "IS:277", thereby amending the cited Indian Standard throughout the circular.

Relaxation of additional fee extended filing deadline to mid-April; waiver applies to forms filed on or after 17 January.
The Ministry extended the filing deadline and relaxation of additional fees until 15 April 2013; filers will not incur additional fees during the extended period. Forms filed on or before 16 January 2013 remain payable with additional fee, whereas waiver of additional fees will be considered only for forms filed on or after 17 January 2013. All other terms of General Circular No. 03/2013 remain unchanged.

Composition scheme opt-in deadline clarified: works contract dealers must file Form WC01 within thirty days from financial year start.
Eligible works contract dealers who paid tax under the general tax provision in the preceding year, and dealers under the earlier composition arrangement, may opt into the new composition scheme by filing an application in Form WC 01 within thirty days from the first day of the financial year for which composition is opted.

All-in-cost ceiling for trade credits remains in place and is continued subject to review; trade credit policy unchanged.
The circular continues the all-in-cost ceiling for trade credits for imports into India, keeping the previously prescribed ceiling in effect until June 30, 2013 and subject to review, while stating that all other aspects of the trade credit policy remain unchanged and directing Authorized Dealer Category I banks to inform their constituents; the directions are issued as statutory instructions under the foreign exchange law and without prejudice to other permissions or approvals.

Line of Credit requiring majority Indian sourcing for financed contracts, compliance with RBI shipment declarations and FEMA directions.
A Line of Credit of USD 76.50 million to Malawi finances eligible goods, services, machinery, equipment and consultancy for specified projects, requiring at least 75 per cent of contract value to be supplied from India and permitting up to 25 per cent procurement abroad. The Credit Agreement is effective March 13, 2013; LC and disbursement timelines are 48 months for project exports and 72 months for supply contracts. Shipments must be declared on GR/SDF forms. No agency commission is payable under the LOC, though exporters may remit commission from their own funds or EEFC balances subject to AD Category-I bank compliance. Directions issued under FEMA.

Dematerialisation requirement: securities may move from Trade-for-Trade to Rolling Settlement if majority non-promoter holdings are dematerialised.
Companies connected to both depositories may be moved from Trade-for-Trade to Normal Rolling Settlement if at least half of other-than-promoter holdings are in dematerialised form, evidenced by a certificate from the Registrar and Transfer Agent or, if no RTA exists, from a practicing Company Secretary or Chartered Accountant, and provided there are no other grounds for continuation of TFTS; stock exchanges must report actions taken in Monthly/Quarterly Development Reports.

Import of pets as baggage restricted for residence transferees after prolonged foreign stay, subject to health certificate and quarantine examination.
Import of pet animals as baggage is limited to two animals for persons transferring residence after two years abroad under the Baggage Rules, subject to production of the required health certificate from the country of origin and examination by the Quarantine Officer; general animal imports continue to follow the foreign trade policy.

Transhipment bond registration enables automated container movement approvals and system-generated bond numbers for IGM processing.
Implementation of the ICES Version 1.5 Transhipment Module requires registration of continuity bonds-Transhipment Bond (TP), Transit Bond (TR), and Container Bond (CO)-and opening a PLA account in ICES 1.5. Bond verification by the ITP cell and acceptance by AC/DC (Transhipment) yields a system-generated ten-digit bond number to be quoted in the IGM. The SMTP portion of the IGM serves as the transhipment/CFS movement request, the system auto-generates approvals and messages, and manual approval via the ICES TP module is provided where automatic processing fails due to parameter, bond, or PLA deficiencies.

Customs container freight procedures require custodial bonding, segregated storage, sealing and Customs-supervised movement of import-export cargo.
Notification sets procedures for CICFS as customs-area custodian: duty to maintain bond, segregated storage for FCL/LCL/empty/seized/hazardous cargo, detailed registers and weekly/monthly reconciliations, and Customs-supervised de-stuffing, stuffing and sealing. Movement into and out of CICFS requires valid triplicate/transshipment permits, gate pass controls, seal verification, timely transit with condonation protocols for delays, separate handling of seized/detained goods, and statutory action for uncleared consignments. Export stuffing requires Shipping Bills, stacking endorsement, customs supervision for sealing, and export gate reconciliation.

Sale of Indian rupees against international cards allowed for authorised money changers, reimbursement via banking channels required.
Authorised Money Changers may sell Indian rupees to foreign tourists and visitors against International Credit Cards and International Debit Cards, provided they take prompt steps to obtain reimbursement through normal banking channels; all other instructions of the earlier related circular remain unchanged and the directions are issued under Sections 10(4) and 11(1) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.

Bar-coding requirement on primary packaging deferred; implementation postponed to a later effective date under amended trade notice.
Deferment of the implementation date for mandatory bar-coding on Primary Level packaging for export consignments of pharmaceuticals and drugs. The DGFT, under Paragraph 2.4 of the Foreign Trade Policy, amends earlier public notices to postpone the effective commencement of the bar-coding requirement previously prescribed, thereby deferring the obligation on exporters to affix barcodes on primary packaging for tracing and tracking purposes.

Tariff rate quota allocation permits export of raw cane sugar to USA through designated exporter.
The Director General of Foreign Trade allocates a specified quantity of raw cane sugar from the non levy quota for export to the USA under the Tariff Rate Quota, designating M/s. Indian Sugar Exim Corporation Ltd as the exporter and maintaining existing procedural requirements for GSP and other certification for sugar exports to the USA.