Liquor import restriction for minors bars airport import or duty free purchase, with contraband subject to confiscation and penalties.
Persons below the age specified in the Kerala Abkari Act are ineligible to import alcoholic beverages as baggage or purchase them from Duty Free Shops at the international airport, and such imports are liable to confiscation; imports by eligible passengers beyond the baggage allowance attract applicable duties.

SION notification adds Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulphate export entry with specified input allowances under Foreign Trade Policy.
Notification establishes a new SION entry for Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulphate (Active Matter 69% min.) and specifies permitted input items and their authorized input-to-output quantities per kilogram of export product: Palm Kernel Fatty Acid Distillate, Copper Chromite Catalyst, Ethylene Oxide, Caustic Soda Flakes, and Sulphur, thereby incorporating the SION into the Chemicals and Allied Products Group under the Foreign Trade Policy and Handbook of Procedures.

Voluntary Compliance Scheme clarifies scope, eligibility, CENVAT treatment and audit initiation versus culmination for tax declarations.
Clarifies that VCES covers "tax dues" for Oct two thousand seven to Dec two thousand twelve, treats separate service tax registrations as distinct assessees for eligibility, and includes liabilities from wrongful CENVAT credit use. Communications requesting roving information without requisition of documents do not invoke section 106(2)(a). Declarations are permissible despite post cutoff inquiries unless the same issue is already the subject of proceedings for any covered period. The designated authority must follow natural justice in rejecting declarations, may allow amendments before the filing cutoff, and audit initiation and culmination are defined for eligibility determinations.

Customs Brokers Licensing Regulation modernizes broker licensing and compliance, introducing exams, bond requirements, and notification duties.
The notification replaces the Custom House Agents Licensing Regulations, 2004 with the Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations, 2013, renaming Custom House Agents as Customs Broker, instituting Form F and Form G examinations, prescribing educational qualifications, syllabus, licence grant, bond and security requirements, broker obligations, and procedures for suspension, revocation and penalties; it also mandates administrative changes to correspondence, issuance of new forms on renewal, and a one month duty to notify contact detail changes to the CBLR Section.

Status recognition certificate authority clarified: RA and DC roles defined; existing certificates retained and renewals governed by prescribed authority.
Clarifies issuing and renewal authorities: IECs with both DTA and SEZ units-RA issues and renews Status Recognition and Nominated Agency Certificates; SEZ/EOU-only IECs-DC issues and renews Status Recognition Certificates and are not eligible for Nominated Agency Certificates; DTA-only IECs-RA issues and renews both certificates. Existing certificates will not be withdrawn; renewals after expiry must follow the prescribed authority.

Action on Settlement Commission orders: departments must report acceptability and proposed remedial measures following commission orders.
Direction to compile and submit a retrospective report on action taken on Income Tax Settlement Commission orders received from 1.04.2012 onwards, in the prescribed format, including CsIT(DR) comments on order acceptability, whether departmental written and oral submissions were considered, suggested further action and any remedial measures (including possible filing of writ petitions), and to transmit a soft copy to the designated email by the stated deadline.

Reporting requirement for Settlement Commission cases: copies must also go to the jurisdictional Chief Commissioner.
The Board reiterates the monthly reporting obligation on cases before the Settlement Commission and work of the Commissioner of Income Tax (DR), directing that the monthly report referenced in its letter of 23.07.2013 be sent to all Commissioners of Income Tax (DR), ITSC and that a copy also be forwarded to the jurisdictional Chief Commissioner of Income Tax to extend oversight and monitoring.

Change of AIF category: procedural requirements and investor withdrawal rights during SEBI approval process clarified
Change of category for an Alternative Investment Fund is allowed only if no investments have been made under the original category and requires SEBI approval; applications must include updated Form A, supporting documents, rationale, and an application fee. If commitments were raised beforehand, investors must be offered penalty-free withdrawal with returned fees and possible partial withdrawal subject to minimum investment; the AIF may only invest in liquid funds or bank deposits pending approval and must circulate a revised placement memorandum after approval.

Examination without Delivery Order permitted; cargo released to importer only upon production of Delivery Order and Out of Charge.
Customs will permit examination of imported goods without insistence on the Delivery Order when goods are registered for examination after payment of duty and presented by Custodians at ICD Whitefield and associated CFSs on the basis of a self attested bill of lading; final delivery to the importer/CHA will be made only after production of the Delivery Order and issuance of the Customs Out of Charge.

XBRL-based NRD-CSR reporting required for non-resident deposit returns; banks must adopt RBI template or compatible tools and test.
Banks must migrate monthly NRD-CSR reporting to an XBRL-based platform using either the RBI NRD-CSR template from the Online Reporting Facility or compatible third-party/in-house XBRL tools to generate instance (.xml) documents. The revised NRD-CSR format, codes and validation checks are provided; banks must capture XBRL-compliant NRD-CSR data from October 1, 2013 and continue to submit returns by the 10th of the month following the reporting month. A test environment, credentials, manual, training and helpdesk support will be provided.

Tax filing requirement: newly registered dealers must deposit due tax and file first-quarter return within seven days.
Newly registered dealers issued fresh Tax Identification Numbers after a validation problem must immediately deposit due tax and file their first-quarter return within seven days from the date of grant of the TINs, in compliance with the Value Added Tax rules.

Reimbursement of Duty (RoD) now requires supplier certification of CENVAT credit before developer reimbursement.
Amendment requires a Disclaimer Certificate from the DTA supplier on letterhead stating no CENVAT credit on raw material has been availed; if CENVAT credit on inputs has been availed, the supplier must furnish a certificate indicating the exact amount claimed. The Developer may claim Reimbursement of Duty (RoD) after adjusting the CENVAT credit already availed as certified by the supplier.

Purchase order as contract: qualifying purchase orders can serve as the deed of contract under Project Import Regulations.
A purchase order that contains the essential ingredients of a valid contract-free consent of competent parties, lawful consideration, lawful object, and not being void under statute-shall be treated as a deed of contract for the purpose of Regulation 5 of the Project Import Regulations, 1986; importers must apply for registration at the port and furnish the original deed along with a true copy, and pending cases should be finalized accordingly.

Filing deadline extension for quarterly VAT returns: online and hard-copy submission timelines extended for dealers including composition dealers.
The circular, issued under Rule 49A of the DVAT Rules, 2005, extends the last date for electronic filing of the quarterly VAT return (excluding Annexure 2C and Annexure 2D) and provides a brief additional period for submission of the hard copy; the extension applies to all dealers including composition dealers and leaves other provisions of the earlier circular unchanged.

Extension of DVAT return deadline grants taxpayers additional time to file online returns and submit hard copy documents.
The department, invoking Rule 49A of the DVAT Rules, extends the last date for online filing of DVAT-48 for the specified quarter and establishes a later date for filing the hard copy DVAT-48 together with Form DVAT-43; other provisions of the earlier circular remain unchanged.

Form DP amendment rights allow dealers to add purchase and sale commodities before the prescribed deadline.
Dealers who submitted the pre-revised Form DP-1 without listing purchased commodities may amend the form to add purchased commodities and edit commodities for sale; if unchanged, the previously submitted commodity list will be treated as the list of commodities for sale. A final deadline for these edits is prescribed and the circular was issued with the Commissioner's prior approval.

Debit of duty foregone in B-17 bond for EOUs replaces provisional extra duty deposit, with certificate and final adjustment.
Where additional duty would otherwise be required on provisional assessment of imports by 100% EOUs, EOUs shall provisionally debit the duty foregone in a B-17 bond, produce a certificate from the jurisdictional Superintendent of EOU confirming the debit on the bills of entry provisionally assessed, and effect final adjustment of the duty foregone upon final assessment.

Compulsory tax scrutiny: manual selection prioritises high-value transfer pricing, recurring substantial additions, search/seizure and survey-linked assessments.
Compulsory manual selection requires scrutiny of returns with significant transfer pricing exposure, confirmed or pending appellate additions on transfer pricing or recurring substantive issues, survey-linked cases with impounded records or fresh disclosures, assessments arising from search and seizure, responses to reassessment notices, claims of exemption impacted by the trusts definition, entities receiving substantial foreign donations under foreign contribution regulation, and cases flagged by other government authorities; supervisory approval and mandated use of assessment software apply, with monitoring by CCIT/DGIT and reporting to higher authorities.

Provisional release of export goods: ensure prompt release on bond and security to prevent undue detention.
Provisional release of export goods detained for verification or suspected mis-declaration must be given, where permissible by law, on execution of bond and suitable security to cover redemption fine and penalty, with continued detention beyond a short period brought to the notice of the Commissioner of Customs. Commissioners must ensure strict compliance, issue Public Notices and Standing Orders, and avoid undue delays or hold ups except where goods are prohibited under law or policy.

Exports by post under reward schemes permitted - pilot allows postal exports to claim Chapter 3 incentives subject to PBE and customs checks.
Pilot permits exports by post from the Foreign Post Office, New Delhi to claim Chapter 3 reward schemes for exporters with valid IEC codes; duty credit scrips issued by DGFT must be registered at Delhi Airport and are not usable for imports by post. Exporters must file a manual Postal Bill of Export (PBE) in triplicate, comply with Customs Act documentation and postal CN23 requirements, and present consignments to FPO for postal tracking and custody. Customs will process PBEs like shipping bills with a noting section, perform specific package level examination, conduct sampling and testing as required, issue LET EXPORT endorsements, and require proof of export (Form CN38) from Postal Authorities within 48 hours for DGFT submission.