Swachh Bharat Cess applies to taxable services, charged on service value, excluded from cenvat credit and invoiced separately.
Swachh Bharat Cess is a separate cess levied on the value of taxable services from 15 November 2015, additional to service tax and not a cess on tax. It applies to all taxable services except those fully exempt or in the negative list, must be invoiced and accounted for separately under a distinct accounting code, follows existing service tax valuation, abatement and reverse charge rules, and is not eligible for Cenvat credit.

Taxpayer service centre provides a single-window mechanism for trade queries, complaints and grievances with tracked acknowledgement and monitored disposal.
The Tax Payer Service Centre functions as a single-window facility for importers, exporters, customs brokers and other trade members to submit taxpayer queries, complaints and grievances. Each submission receives an immediate unique acknowledgement number for future reference and tracking. Disposal of submitted matters is monitored to secure prompt and effective handling. The facility operates in addition to the Centralised Receipt Section as a trade-facilitation and taxpayer-service measure.

Investor grievance redressal strengthening mandates commodity exchanges to set ISCs and standardize arbitration mechanisms nationwide.
Mandates strengthening investor redressal and arbitration frameworks at national commodity derivatives exchanges by requiring establishment of Investor Service Centres, constitution of Investor Grievances Redressal Committees, maintenance of a panel of arbitrators with a code of conduct, application of prescribed arbitration fees, implementation of awards for clients, creation of a common pool of arbitrators with automatic selection, monthly reporting on implementation, and necessary bye law amendments and investor awareness measures.

Business Continuity Plan and Disaster Recovery obligations require exchanges to establish DR sites and report audit compliance to regulator.
Exchanges must conduct an Annual System Audit following the prescribed audit framework and communicate the Systems Audit Report and compliance status to the regulator. Exchanges must implement and document a Business Continuity Plan and Disaster Recovery arrangements-including Disaster Recovery and Near Site configuration, DR drills and testing-and submit the BCP/DR policy with a detailed implementation plan to the regulator. Exchanges should amend relevant bye-laws and report implementation status to ensure regulatory compliance.

Delivery of goods: importers may de-stuff RMS facilitated containers at Dock or CFS premises and take delivery.
Where Bills of Entry are facilitated under RMS, containers are not normally opened by Dock Officers and delivery ordinarily follows matching container numbers with declarations; importers may either take loaded containers away to de stuff at their premises or de stuff at Dock/CFS premises. Importers are expressly permitted to de stuff RMS facilitated containers at Dock or CFS premises and take delivery of the de stuffed goods, and any implementation difficulties should be reported to the office.

Extension of return filing deadline for quarterly VAT returns; payments continue under statutory payment obligations.
An extension is granted for filing second-quarter VAT returns in the prescribed DVAT forms for online or hard-copy submission; tax payment obligations remain unchanged under the statute. Dealers filing with a digital signature are not required to submit a physical hard copy of the return or the acknowledgement form and must follow the digital-submission procedure.

Duty drawback AIR revision updates composite and customs rates and clarifies brand-rate provisional payment and shipping-bill declarations.
Revision of the All Industry Rates (AIR) updates composite and customs drawback rates, adds and rewords tariff entries, aligns legacy items with residuary rates, and introduces or adjusts drawback caps. Amendments to Drawback Rules permit provisional payment of the Customs component for brand-rate claims where exporters declare a new shipping-bill identifier and tariff item; Central Excise fixation of brand rate later determines final entitlement, with EDI and transitional procedures specified. Authorities must ensure due diligence to prevent misuse and provide public guidance.

Swachh Bharat Cess levy on taxable services; accounting codes and subheads assigned and public notices directed.
Swachh Bharat Cess is imposed on taxable services except those fully exempt or otherwise not liable; the Controller General of Accounts has allocated a new Minor Head and specific sub heads for tax collection, interest, penalties and deduction of refunds, and the circular directs acknowledgement, issuance of trade and public notices, and wide publicity for administrative implementation.

Taxpayer Service Centre established to handle importer/exporter queries with on the spot acknowledgements and Commissioner level monitoring to improve ease of doing business.
A Taxpayer Service Centre for the Bangalore Air Customs Commissionerate is established as a single window system for accepting and handling importers', exporters', customs brokers' and other trade stakeholders' queries, complaints and grievances, with on the spot generation of a unique acknowledgement number and Commissioner level monitoring of disposal; the Centre is operational immediately and specific officers have been nominated to attend its functions.

ASBA facility mandatory for public issues, expanding collection points and ensuring coordinated listing within six working days.
The circular mandates exclusive use of the ASBA facility for public issue applications and broadens authorised application collection points to include RTAs and DPs alongside SCSBs, syndicate members and registered brokers. Intermediaries must upload bid details to the electronic bidding system, acknowledge receipt, coordinate blocking of funds with SCSBs, and comply with specified timelines to ensure listing and commencement of trading within six working days from issue closure. Stock exchanges will validate bids, permit daily modifications, and provide application and allotment status alerts to investors.

Container clearance procedures require CFS verification of Out of Charge status and specified documents before gate release.
CFS clearance requires verification of Out of Charge status through periodic authenticated lists from Shed Appraising Officers or via ICEGATE; CFS authorized persons must confirm original Bill of Entry, Out of Charge copy and original duty payment challan and ensure collectors hold valid customs passes before issuing gate passes. Where EDI is non-functional or a Bill of Entry is not updated, clearance is allowed only after DC/AC (EDI) approval communicated by official email, copied to AC (Docks). CFSs must monitor and report suspicious movements to DC/AC (Docks).

Refund of CENVAT credit: provisional major portion paid promptly to service exporters under rule five, subject to verification.
Scheme for refund of accumulated CENVAT credit to exporters of services under rule 5: eligible pending claims filed by the cutoff date that are not finally adjudicated must be accompanied by an auditor's certificate and a claimant undertaking. Upon receipt, the jurisdictional Deputy/Assistant Commissioner will acknowledge and make a provisional payment of a substantial portion of the claim within five working days by a prescribed letter; this payment is administrative and subject to verification, potential show cause notices, recovery of inadmissible amounts, and monthly MIS reporting.

Consumption register requirement amended: importers must maintain specified registers for authorised and actual-user imports under the handbook change.
Importers must maintain a Consumption Register for items imported under an Authorisation and separately for items imported under actual user condition, recording their consumption; the register is to be retained for the period specified and scheme-specific retention periods apply. Appendix-4G is replaced by Appendix-4H.

Enlistment procedure for appendix applications centralized; submissions must now go to the central authority instead of regional offices.
The Public Notice amends Para 2.90(d) of the Handbook of Procedures 2015-2020 to require that agencies seeking enlistment in Appendix 2I submit their applications as per Annexure I to Appendix 2I to the Director General of Foreign Trade instead of to the concerned Regional Authority, thereby centralizing the application filing process.

Local committees for taxpayer grievances expedite review of high pitched scrutiny assessments and recommend administrative action to curb unreasonable additions.
Local Committees of senior field officers are to be constituted in each Pr. CCIT region to examine taxpayer grievances from high pitched scrutiny assessments, acknowledge petitions, maintain records and dispose of petitions within a short prescribed timeframe. Committees will determine if additions reflect unreasonable assessments, non application of mind, gross negligence or breaches of principles of natural justice, and will report findings to the Pr. CCIT/CCIT for possible administrative action and for presentation before appellate authorities to limit litigation.

Administrative redrafting of excise supplementary instructions updates regulatory guidance with zonal chapter allocation and standardized drafting rules.
Redrafting of CBEC's Supplementary Instructions requires zones to review and redraft allocated chapters to update Central Excise procedures. Zones must produce lucid, exhaustive drafts, add topics as needed, incorporate relevant notifications and circulars at the end of each topic, submit tracked-change versions alongside clean copies, and forward drafts to designated email channels. Coordination arrangements include consolidated compilation of multipart chapters and vetting of enforcement-related drafts by the enforcement directorate.

Time limit for registration orders under section 12AA must be met; monitoring and administrative action required for noncompliance.
Orders granting or refusing registration under Section 12AA must be passed before the expiry of six months from the end of the month in which the application was received; the Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions) must adhere to this limit and the Chief Commissioner (Exemptions) is tasked with monitoring compliance and initiating administrative action for any laxity.

Advance Authorization registration clarified: bond and BG conditions, one-time bond option, and EDI registration requirements for importers.
Registration at the DEEC Monitoring Cell requires physical submission of the Advance Authorization and documents; the DMC examines prior pendency and enters accepted authorisations in the EDI system. The notice permits a one-time bond per authorization for future imports at the port with joint liability for co-licensees, two-copy execution with debit sheets, system entry and debits at clearance, and production of the debited bond copy at out-of-charge. For pre-export authorisations, Bond/BG scrutiny and EDI acceptance jobs are generated, and BG exemptions are decided expeditiously by supervisory officers.

Hedging of foreign currency borrowings permitted with MFIs/IFIs under back-to-back FCY-INR swaps, subject to reporting and safeguards.
Permits residents with long-term foreign currency borrowings to enter into FCY-INR swaps with MFIs/IFIs in which the Government of India is a shareholder, provided swaps are undertaken on a back-to-back basis with AD Category-I banks, limited to such MFIs/IFIs, comply with existing FCY-INR swap operational guidelines, have a minimum tenor of three years, require the MFI/IFI to bring foreign currency funds in event of borrower default, and mandate AD Category-I banks to report transactions and borrower details on the CCIL reporting platform.

SOFTEX filing liberalisation permits all software exporters to file single and bulk electronic SOFTEX forms for certification.
All software exporters may generate and file single and bulk SOFTEX forms in Excel for certification; STPI/SEZ retain one certified copy and return the duplicate to the exporter. Exporters must obtain SOFTEX numbers via the RBI website, submit certified forms to the competent authority and then to the Authorised Dealer, and comply with transmission and certification procedures under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.