GST clarification: central circular on specified issues to be circulated to trade and public for compliance awareness.
The Principal Commissioner, Central Goods & Services Tax, Raipur, notifies that a central GST policy circular containing clarifications on specified GST issues has been issued and directs trade associations and the public to be informed of the circular's contents to promote awareness and compliance.

Pre GST assessment audit: deadlines imposed for completion and mandatory verification of statutory forms and TDS claims.
Dealers registered under repealed state tax enactments remain subject to scrutiny and assessment for periods up to 30 June 2017; all pending scrutiny, assessment and audit assessment must be completed by 30 September 2018. Assessors must apply Value Added Tax assessment provisions to Central Sales Tax dealers where concessional inter state sales were claimed on statutory forms, verify the authenticity and correct utilisation of those forms, and verify TDS claims with challans. Audit assessments are directed for CST dealers with significant inter state turnover and for dealers with substantial TDS claims or imports for works contracts.

IGST short payment compliance required for refund release; submit proof or CA certificate and lodge forms with jurisdictional office.
Extension of the special refund processing drive to 16.06.2018 requires exporters with refunds withheld for IGST short payment to remit the shortfall and follow the referenced circular; small exporters within the prescribed aggregate refund threshold may submit self certified proof of payment to the port Customs office while others must provide a Chartered Accountant's certificate and proof. Refund applicants with submissions on or before 30.04.2018 should approach their jurisdictional tax office, and FORM GST RFD 01A will not be processed without a physical copy and supporting documents submitted to that office; claimants should register on ICEGATE to check status.

IGST refund compliance extended drive allows exporters to regularise short payments and submit documents for refund processing.
Special refund period extended to allow exporters to regularise pending IGST refunds. Claimants with refunds held for IGST short payment must pay an amount equal to the short payment and follow circular instructions; small exporters may submit self certified proof of payment at the port of export while others must provide a Chartered Accountant's certificate and proof of payment. FORM GST RFD-01A will not be processed unless a copy with all supporting documents is submitted to the jurisdictional tax office, and claimants are encouraged to register on ICEGATE to check refund status.

ICES application migration suspends declaration filing and Section 48 approvals during scheduled system downtime; users await further advisory and helpdesk support.
ICES application migration to a new Solaris platform will cause planned unavailability of the application during the migration and subsequent user testing. The filing of declarations (Bill of Entry, Shipping Bill, Import General Manifest and Export General Manifest) must be halted before the migration window and consignments cleared by the prescribed cutoff; Section 48 approvals are to be stopped prior to outage. Users should coordinate via their system managers, await post migration testing, and contact the helpdesk for clarifications.

Postal Bill of Export use permitted for multiple low value e commerce shipments, clarifying export procedure and documentation.
The Board permits use of the Postal Bill of Export II for e commerce exports comprising multiple low value small shipments sent through post where a single payment is received by the exporter from an e commerce portal; paragraph 4.3 of the earlier circular is modified to this extent to clarify export procedure and documentation for such consignments.

Adjudication powers clarified: circular revising monetary limits withdrawn and SCN framework restored to prevent adjudication delays.
Because implementing the circular imposing monetary limits would require corrigenda to existing show-cause notices and risk delaying adjudication, the Board has decided to withdraw those instructions so adjudication under Chapter XIV remains answerable to Principal Commissioner/Commissioner/Joint Commissioner without value limits and to avoid delay in proceedings.

Mobile Squads for GST enforcement enable interception, inspection and seizure of goods in transit under prescribed procedures.
Establishes Mobile Squads empowered to intercept conveyances, verify prescribed documents and goods, and conduct inspection, search and seizure under sections 67 and 68 and rules 138-138C of the Assam GST Act and Rules. Squads are constituted at Apex and Zonal levels with specified officer composition and territorial limits; residential searches require Commissioner-issued warrants; irregularities attract tax and penalties under applicable GST provisions. Mobile Squads must follow statutory procedures, submit prompt preliminary and final reports, limit vehicle checks to minimise disruption, and apply VAT rules for excluded non-GST items.

Nomination of nodal officer to coordinate and monitor export refund claims and consolidate district refund data.
With the GSTN refund module incomplete, district officers must collect date-wise refund data for consolidation at headquarters and entry into the GSTIN web tool to ensure prompt facilitation of refund requests. Sri. Mansur M.I., Assistant Commissioner of State Tax, Internal Audit, is nominated as the Nodal Officer at headquarters to clarify export refund issues to districts, consolidate data, ensure web-tool entries, and monitor disposal progress.

Tax recovery: enforce assessments where objection periods lapsed using recovery certificates, writs of demand and attachments.
Where the statutory period for filing objections against assessment demands has expired and dealers have neither paid nor challenged those demands, ward authorities are directed to pursue recovery by issuing a recovery certificate, initiating a writ of demand and proceeding to attachment proceedings to protect government revenue; this administrative instruction is issued with the prior approval of the Commissioner.

Interception of goods in transit: verification, detention, payment or bond release, and confiscation procedure with electronic reporting.
Designated proper officers may intercept conveyances to verify documents and e way bills; if documents are missing or discrepancies arise the officer records a statement in FORM GST MOV 01, issues FORM GST MOV 02 directing physical verification (report Part A of FORM GST EWB 03 within 24 hours) and completes inspection within three working days (extensions by FORM GST MOV 03). Post inspection reports (FORM GST MOV 04 and Part B of FORM GST EWB 03) lead to either release (FORM GST MOV 05) or detention (FORM GST MOV 06 and notice FORM GST MOV 07) with quantified demands in FORM GST MOV 09, provisional release on bond and bank guarantee (FORM GST MOV 08) or confiscation proceedings under section 130 with notices (FORM GST MOV 10) and orders (FORM GST MOV 11); all demands and releases are recorded on the common portal and electronic liability register.

Insolvency resolution process costs must be reasonable, necessary to CIRP, disclosed and CoC approved when required.
Insolvency professionals must ensure fees and expenses in CIRP are reasonable, necessary to the process, and determined at arm's length; maintain contemporaneous records and supporting documentation for at least three years; obtain CoC approval where required; disclose itemised IRPC in prescribed Forms; and ensure only costs permitted under the Code and regulations are included in insolvency resolution process costs, with Insolvency Professional Agencies required to publish and monitor disclosures and report non-compliance to the Board.

Moulds and dies provided free to component manufacturers are not treated as supply and need no ITC reversal.
Moulds and dies owned by an OEM provided free of cost to an unrelated component manufacturer do not constitute a supply and the OEM is not required to reverse input tax credit; if the contract treats moulds/dies as belonging to the component manufacturer but the OEM supplies them FOC, the amortised cost must be added to component value and the OEM must reverse credit. An e-way bill is required when goods transit through another State even if origin and destination are in the same State, with specified exemptions for certain DTA-SEZ movements.

MEIS eligibility for Indian Mackerel: restricted to specified HS codes for post July exports; prior shipments retain transitional coverage.
Indian Mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta) is incorporated into Table 2 of Appendix 3B with two serial entries and added to the Annexure to Public Notice 62; MEIS benefits will be granted only if the Shipping Bill description matches the Table 2 description. Prior to the July 2018 implementation, Indian Mackerel exported under any Chapter 03 HS code qualified for transitional MEIS coverage for earlier export periods. Post implementation MEIS entitlement is confined to the newly listed Table 2 serial numbers.

Recovery of unpaid tax demands: authorities instructed to issue recovery certificates and pursue attachment proceedings to protect revenue.
Where the statutory period for filing objection has expired and assessed demands remain unpaid and unchallenged, ward authorities are directed to initiate recovery by issuing a recovery certificate, serving a writ of demand and pursuing attachment proceedings to protect Government revenue.

Supply characterization: free provision of moulds/dies not a supply, affecting GST valuation and input tax credit treatment.
Provision of moulds and dies by an OEM to an unrelated component manufacturer on free of cost basis is not a supply and does not require reversal of input tax credit; moulds/dies need not be added to the component's transaction value unless the contract treats the moulds/dies as belonging to the component manufacturer, in which case amortised cost is includible and credit reversal by the OEM is required. Railways shall not deliver goods without production of the e way bill, and an e way bill is required where movement transits through another State; DTA-SEZ movements in the same State are exempt under rule 133(14)(d).

Refund eligibility for GST claims: specified returns suffice and special rules govern zero rated supplies and cess credit refunds.
An ISD, composition taxpayer or non resident taxable person may claim refund of electronic ledger balances without filing FORM GSTR 1 or FORM GSTR 3B; their respective statutory returns (FORM GSTR 6, FORM GSTR 4, FORM GSTR 5) suffice. Exporters who misclassified zero rated supplies in FORM GSTR 3B for specified tax periods may file refunds if claimed integrated tax/cess does not exceed the aggregate of columns 3.1(a)-3.1(c) of the filed FORM GSTR 3B. Refund of unutilized compensation cess credit is allowed for zero rated supplies under bond or LUT but not where zero rating is by payment of integrated tax. Bond/LUT is not required for export of exempted or non GST goods for refund claims. Rule 96(10) restriction applies only to exporters directly receiving supplies from suppliers availing specified notifications.

Deliverable supply-driven position limits required; exchanges must disclose supply data and revise limits per prescribed annual timeline.
Exchanges must jointly determine deliverable supply, classify agricultural commodities, and compute client and market position limits annually tied to deliverable supply, revising numerical limits only when changes are at least 5%. Exchanges shall publish five year average and current year deliverable supply, data sources, classification and numerical limits in the prescribed annexure format, notify SEBI in advance, complete notification by 31 July (unless extended) and make revised limits applicable to all running contracts from 1 September. Members must be informed, bye laws amended as needed, and implementation status communicated to the regulator.

Transhipment procedure: Krishnapatnam Port must certify intact container seals and provide digital photos for gateway transhipments.
Transhipment at Krishnapatnam requires M/S KSPL to inspect and certify intact seals on containers, submit digital photographs of seals, and provide an undertaking that containers will arrive at destination ports with seals intact; destination ports must verify seals and M/S KSPL will be held responsible for tampering or missing cargo absent cogent evidence against destination port authorities, upon which Customs may permit transhipment based on KSPL's certificate.

Sea Cargo Manifest and Transhipment Regulations require registration and compliance by parties delivering vessel manifests.
The Sea Cargo Manifest and Transhipment Regulations, 2018 consolidate and supersede earlier rules on delivery of sea cargo manifests, require steamer agents, importers, customs brokers and consolidators to register with the jurisdictional Commissioner of Customs under Regulation 3, and mandate compliance with the Regulations from the stated commencement date; stakeholders are directed to seek implementation guidance from the Assistant Commissioner of Imports & Exports.