Denial of composition option: tax authorities may make denial effective from the date of contravention, with recovery consequences.
A taxpayer's withdrawal from the composition scheme takes effect on the date indicated in FORM GST CMP-04, not earlier than the financial year's commencement. Where the tax authority denies the composition option, denial may be effective from a date including a retrospective date determined by the authority but not earlier than the date of contravention. Thereafter proceedings for tax, interest and penalty must be initiated for the period from the date of contravention to issuance of the FORM GST CMP-07 order, and the taxpayer is liable to pay tax as a normal taxpayer from the date of that order.

Taxability of government disposals clarified; government must register and pay GST when supplying used or seized goods to unregistered persons.
Supply of used vehicles, seized and confiscated goods, old and used goods, waste and scrap by government entities to unregistered persons is taxable and such departments must register and pay GST where recipients are unregistered. Penalty under section 73(11) applies only when section 73 proceedings are invoked; late GSTR 3B filing with tax and interest paid does not attract that penalty though section 125 may apply. Debit/credit notes under section 142(2) attract GST rates; TCS under Income Tax is includible in taxable value; owner for section 129(1) is consignor or consignee if invoice accompanies consignment, otherwise proper officer to decide.

Transshipment commercial invoice requirement: shipping lines must submit invoices when seeking transshipment approval under ICES or manual processing.
Shipping lines must submit a copy of the commercial invoice when seeking cargo transshipment approval; para 3(vi) of Public Notice No. 29/2018 is amended to require generation of a transshipment approval order with TP number and date in the ICES system similar to other ICD transshipment permits following Public Notice No. 06/2013, or to be done manually if ICES generation is not feasible. The amended procedure is effective from 15.02.2019 and other contents of the original notice remain unchanged.

Regional Advisory Committee meeting scheduled; notice to convene quarterly consultation and attendance requested by zonal chief.
Notice convening the Regional Advisory Committee meeting for the fourth quarter of F.Y. 2018-19: the zonal Principal Chief Commissioner has fixed the meeting date, time and venue and requests attendance by the Principal Commissioners/Commissioners of CGST divisions, noting that the meeting date and agenda points were previously communicated by email.

Denotification of Customs Area removes specified CFS parcel from customs handling and reclassifies operational coverage.
The Commissioner of Customs, exercising statutory authority, has denotified 8,682 square metres of the Container Freight Station at Virugambakkam (3,512 sqm covered-Shed No. XI-and 5,170 sqm open), removing that parcel from handling of Customs cargo. The Public Notice records the remaining Customs Area at the CFS and specifies the denotification's effective date.

Denotification under Section 8(b): leased land removed from the customs area, with effect from the announced date.
Denotification of a plot of 83,973.31 sq.ft at M/S Sanco Trans Ltd. Container Freight Station is effected under Section 8(b) of the Customs Act, 1962 due to expiry of the lease; all other Customs Area arrangements at the premises remain unchanged. The change is formalised by Public Notice No. 06/2019 and takes effect from 01/02/2019.

Customs area designation allocates specific areas for export LCL and FCL cargo handling under Customs Act authority.
The Commissioner of Customs, invoking authority to define a Customs Area, notifies that within the previously approved export cargo footprint at M/S APM Terminal India Pvt. Ltd. CFS, 1198 sq.mtr is allocated for handling Export LCL cargo and 185 sq.mtr is allocated for handling Export FCL cargo, effective from the stated commencement date, thereby formalising area-specific handling of export cargo at the premises.

Taxability of government disposals: government supplies to unregistered persons attract GST and require departmental registration and payment.
Supply of used vehicles, seized and confiscated goods, old and used goods, waste and scrap by government entities to unregistered persons is taxable and requires the supplying department to register and pay GST; reverse charge applies where the recipient is registered. Penalty under section 73(11) arises only on invocation of section 73; late filing with payment of tax and interest does not attract that penalty though general penalty provisions may apply. TCS is includible in taxable value and TDS applies only to government-controlled authorities with majority participation. Owner of goods is the consignor or consignee if documents accompany consignment, otherwise the proper officer decides.

Official Assignee status: treated as artificial juridical person, not representative assessee; each estate must file separate ITR.
Official Assignees do not qualify as Representative Assessee under section 160(1)(iii) because they do not manage property or receive income on behalf of the debtor after adjudication; instead they must be treated as an artificial juridical person under section 2(31)(vii), obtain a separate PAN for each insolvent estate, file the applicable ITR electronically for artificial juridical persons, and have the estate income taxed at rates applicable to such juridical persons.

Appointment of Transworld Terminals as custodian for container and break bulk cargo with bond, insurance and compliance obligations.
M/S. Transworld Terminals Private Limited is appointed Custodian for containerised, over-dimension and break-bulk cargo through Kolkata/Haldia Port under Section 45(1) of the Customs Act, 1962 and in a notified Customs Area. The Custodian must execute a bond (initially Rs. 70.94 crores), maintain insurance cover (Rs. 195.90 crores for one year), indemnify Customs for losses, and comply with operational, security, EDI and regulatory obligations under the Handling of Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations, 2009, subject to periodic review, termination rights of the Commissioner and prescribed custodianship terms.

Jurisdiction reorganisation in customs Chennai zone updates commissionerate responsibilities and prosecutorial listing.
Public Notice No. 04/2019 amends Annexure A of Public Notice No. 21/2018 by: replacing Airport Commissionerate point ix with "Warehouse and Disposal (to handle both Chennai and Chennai VI' cases)" and replacing Air Cargo Commissionerate point I(xii) with "Prosecution/ COFEPOSA." The amendments affect the recorded jurisdictional responsibilities of those Commissionerates and are effective from January 2019 until further orders.

Return-to-sender customs duty cancellation: FPOs must forward RTS parcel lists for verification and duty cancellation.
Undelivered articles and RTS parcels imported via the Foreign Post Office (Chennai Sea) must be returned to origin and the FPO must forward periodic lists of such parcels, including customs duty levied and reasons for non delivery, to the Commissioner of Customs (Imports), Chennai for verification and cancellation of the customs duty.

Custodianship extension for a Container Freight Station under Customs law, subject to cargo handling regulations and compliance.
Extension of custodianship of M/s SICAL Multimodal and Rail Transport Limited (SMART) Container Freight Station (CFS), Visakhapatnam, is granted for a ten-year renewal term, conditioned on compliance with the Handling of Cargo in Customs Area Regulations, 2009 as amended and on adherence to instructions and guidelines issued by the Board and the Custom House.

GST rate for micro irrigation clarified to include sprinkler systems and laterals, extending reduced GST coverage.
The circular clarifies that the term sprinklers in the schedule entry encompasses sprinkler irrigation systems; accordingly a sprinkler system consisting of nozzles, laterals and other components falls within that entry and attracts the GST rate recommended by the Council for micro irrigation systems including laterals.

GST classification clarifications: specified goods' HSN-based treatment determines applicable rates and scope of concessional entries.
Clarifies GST classification and rates: branded/packed pulse mixes attract higher rate while unbranded mixes under HSN 1106 are nil rated; prepared feeds and finished animal feeds under the feed entry differ from raw inputs such as fish meal and MBM in HSN 2301 which attract the separate notified rate; animal feed supplements are classified based on form and ordinary trade use, with chapter 23 covering ready-to-use feed supplements and chapter 29 covering general-use vitamin preparations. LPG for domestic use, identified at supply, qualifies for the domestic LPG notification; plastic PP bags with BOPP are HS 3923; wood logs are HS 4403; bagasse boards under chapter 44 get concessional rate; three-piece fabric packs remain fabrics for GST; waste-to-energy concessions apply only to goods in chapters 84,85,94 and require end-use documentation; turbochargers are HS 8414; interstate movement of plant on own account is not a taxable supply.

Refund procedure: electronic upload and ARN based filing ensures jurisdictional transfer and timing for refund processing.
Refund claims in FORM GST RFD-01A and supporting documents must be electronically uploaded on the common portal; ARN is generated only after complete filing and ledger debits where applicable, and applications are electronically transferred to the jurisdictional proper officer who will issue manual acknowledgement or deficiency memo. Net ITC for inverted duty refunds includes ITC on all inputs availed in the relevant period regardless of tax rate; reversed ITC is not eligible for refund, input services and capital goods are excluded from inverted duty refunds, and compensation cess refunds for exports under bond/LUT require recomputation for past periods where cess credit was availed later.

Export of services: outsourcing to foreign supplier treated as export and triggers reverse-charge IGST and ITC eligibility.
Where an Indian supplier outsources part of services to a foreign subcontractor, two supplies arise: the Indian supplier's supply to the foreign recipient for the full contract value and the import of services by the Indian supplier from the foreign subcontractor. The Indian supplier must pay IGST under the reverse charge on the imported portion and may claim input tax credit. The full contract value can still qualify as export of services if IGST is paid on the outsourced portion and RBI permits retention of part consideration outside India.

Denial of composition option may be effective retrospectively, with tax liability and recovery from date of contravention.
Withdrawal from the composition scheme takes effect from the date indicated in FORM GST CMP-04, not earlier than the commencement of the financial year in which the intimation is filed. Where the proper officer initiates denial, proceedings commence by issuing FORM GST CMP-05, the taxpayer may reply in FORM GST CMP-06, and the officer must issue FORM GST CMP-07 within thirty days accepting or denying the option; denial may be retrospective but not earlier than the date of contravention, with tax, interest and penalty determined for the period from contravention to issuance of FORM GST CMP-07.

Depository Participant classification: clearing corporations and certain directors/employees excluded; depositories must implement and report monthly.
Recognized clearing corporations are excluded from the definition of Depository Participant for Regulations 24(9) and 24(10), and directors and employees of entities listed in Regulation 24(10) are likewise not to be treated as Depository Participants or their associates. Depositories must amend bye-laws and systems, notify market participants, and report implementation status through monthly development reports.

Uniform trading and delivery lot sizes required for commodity derivatives, with exceptions subject to regulator approval and safeguards.
SEBI mandates uniform trading and delivery lot size for commodity derivatives contracts to prevent participant disadvantage or impediment to physical delivery; exceptions require exchanges to submit detailed rationale, stakeholder feedback and protective mechanisms for regulator approval. Exchanges must align existing contracts or propose exemptions within the prescribed timeframe, amend bye-laws and rules, notify brokers, publish the circular on their websites and report implementation status to the regulator under its statutory powers to protect investors and regulate the market.