FPI investment in municipal bonds permitted under SEBI regulations, enabling foreign portfolio access to municipal debt markets.
Permitting Foreign Portfolio Investors to invest in municipal bonds is authorized under the SEBI regulatory framework, extending market access to FPIs for municipal debt pursuant to the operative provision of the foreign portfolio investor regulations. Custodians are required to notify their FPI clients and the circular is published on the regulator's website to implement this investment permission.

One-time tax option for promoters to elect construction tax rate; failure to file annexure triggers default reduced tax treatment.
Promoters must submit the one-time option Form (Annexure-IV to Notification No. 3/2019 State Tax (Rate)) to the Jurisdictional Joint Commissioner to elect payment of tax on construction of apartments at the rates prescribed for item (ie) or item (if) against serial number 3 of the Table in Notification No. 11/2017; failure to submit the Form will result in the promoter being deemed to accept the alternative reduced tax treatment prescribed in Notification No. 3/2019.

Electronic filing migration: Excise and service tax filings move to an integrated CBIC portal with mandated password and registration procedures.
Migration of Central Excise and Service Tax electronic filing and arrears payment from the ACES application to an integrated CBIC-ACES-GST portal will disable ACES transactional menus during migration; taxpayers may still pay via E-payment or the EASIEST portal. Post-migration, existing users must authenticate with ACES credentials and change passwords to access filings, amendments and refunds; new users register through a TRN/OTP process that yields an ARN and, on approval, a registration number and temporary password. Departmental officers will use SSO access to an "ACESGST" icon to process transactions, with read-only legacy icons retained temporarily.

Import allocation process for peas and pulses: EFC to allocate quantities to eligible applicants and publish decisions.
Applications for import of specified peas and pulses will be scrutinised and verified against the specifications and eligibility criteria in Trade Notice No.06/2019-20. Thereafter the matter will be placed before the EFC, which will allocate import quantities to eligible applicants; the EFC's allocation decisions will be uploaded on the DGFT website and its meeting minutes made available on the stated weblink.

GST rate changes for real estate: promoters must choose between new no credit regime or old creditable regime, with specified compliance obligations.
Revisions to GST for real estate effective 1 April 2019 prescribe differentiated effective rates for residential construction after deduction of land, define affordable residential apartment by carpet area and price ceiling, and permit promoters of ongoing projects a one time, project wise option to remain under pre existing rates with input tax credit if exercised by the specified deadline. The FAQs set out the detailed definition of an ongoing project, procurement thresholds from registered suppliers with reverse charge for shortfalls, valuation abatement rules, timing and reverse charge obligations for TDR/FSI/long term leases, and compliance requirements including project wise accounting and invoice adjustment mechanisms; new projects commencing on or after 1 April 2019 must apply the new regime without option.

Casual and non-resident taxable persons must register, deposit estimated tax in advance, and comply with invoice and return rules.
CTP and NRTP must obtain registration at least five days before commencing business; registration is issued only after an advance deposit of tax equal to estimated liability appears in the electronic cash ledger. Certificates are valid for the applied period or ninety days, extendable once on payment of additional estimated tax. Long-running exhibitions over 180 days require normal registration without advance deposit. Tax invoices with applicable HSN requirements and prescribed returns apply; NRTPs file GSTR-5. Excess advance deposits are refundable only after furnishing all returns for the registration period.

MEIS claim entry limit increased for ANF 3D filings, allowing more shipping bill and airway bill entries per application.
Amendment increases the allowable number of shipping bill and airway bill entries that may be submitted in a single online ANF 3D application for claiming the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS), revising filing instructions so applicants can feed multiple consignments and related export document details in one application.

SEIS documentation requirements updated: local currency payment certification required and consolidated invoice-FIRC option permitted for specific services.
Applicants claiming SEIS benefits for payments in local currency must submit a CA/CWA/CS certificate certifying that such payments have been scrutinised and are approved under RBI guidelines as deemed to be received and earned in foreign exchange. For Medical and Dental Services, Hospital Services and Hotels and Restaurants (including catering), invoice-wise matching with FIRC/proof of payment is not required; a consolidated statement of invoices and FIRCs/proofs of payment may be submitted.

Registration verification under GST: post-registration visits and checklist-based inspections to confirm taxpayer genuineness and update particulars.
Verification under the SGST Act requires post-registration visits based on risk parameters to confirm taxpayer genuineness. Centrally generated lists of migrated and new taxpayers (including evasion-prone commodities, non-filers and nil filers) are allocated to district intelligence squads. Officers must verify back-end registration data, returns, uploaded documents, identify and inspect premises, interview responsible persons, take photographs, complete the prescribed checklist and upload findings into REG-30. Suspected non-genuine cases are to be red-flagged and reported for further action; taxpayers should be advised to update registration particulars.

Out of Charge procedure revised: endorsement waived while gate verification of marks, seals and weight remains mandatory.
Turant Customs removes the requirement to present Bills of Entry to OOC Officers for endorsement; OOC stamping is waived. Preventive Officers at CFS and port gates will continue mandatory verification of marks and numbers, container number, seal number and weight prior to delivery of all cargo, except DPDCFS cargo. Trade may report difficulties to the Joint Commissioner of Customs (RMSFC) at the provided contact.

Empanelment deadline extension for Chartered Engineers allows later applications for valuation of secondhand imported machinery and equipment.
Extension of the empanelment application deadline for Chartered Engineers to value secondhand and used imported machinery, equipment and parts; applications originally invited under Public Notice No.01/2019 (cutoff 01.02.2019) may now be submitted until 10.05.2019 up to 1600 hours, with no consideration of late submissions. Trade stakeholders are asked to publicise the corrigendum and the public notice and proforma are available on the Pune Customs website.

GST exemption on upfront lease premium applies even if payable in installments, when the amount is determined upfront.
GST exemption applies to the upfront amount (premium, salami, cost, price, development charges or by any other name) for long term leases (thirty years or more) of industrial or financial infrastructure plots by State Government Industrial Development Corporations or similarly government owned entities. The exemption remains admissible whether the determined upfront amount is paid in one payment or in multiple installments, provided the amount is fixed upfront.

GST on seed certification tags: tags supplied as part of seed testing and certification are exempt, standalone supply taxed.
Supply of seed tags by Seed Certification Agencies to seed producers is part of the composite, multi stage seed testing and certification service and is exempt under the government testing/certification exemption. By contrast, tags supplied to State Governments/Agencies by external manufacturers or departments are taxable supplies of goods, with classification determined by the tags' predominant material. The circular is clarificatory and effective from 30 April 2019.

BRC data non-receipt: exporters must clear EDPMS pendency within one month or face IEC alert and adjudication.
Exporters must verify BRC integration via ICEGATE and coordinate with AD Banks to upload or regularise BRC entries in the RBI EDPMS module within one month; where foreign exchange is not realized and pendency remains uncleared, the shipping bills will be treated as not realized, triggering an IEC alert in ICES, issuance of a SCN, and initiation of adjudication proceedings, while exporters can alternatively remit drawback with interest to regularise cases.

Simplification of payment procedure: manual challans accepted without officer signatures, streamlining customs duty and fee payments.
No customs officer signature is required on manual challans for payment of customs duty, interest, amendment fees or other government dues; the Cash Section will accept such payments from importers or Customs Brokers and the payer shall submit the receipted copy of the manual challan to the concerned Group or Section. The exception for surrender of MEIS benefits persists under the procedure in Public Notice No.07/2019.

MEIS benefit repayment procedure clarified for obtaining No Incentive Certificate; assessment groups to verify and generate EDD challans.
Only when MEIS scrips were issued and utilized for payment of duty must the importer deposit proportionate MEIS benefits with interest; where MEIS was not applied for or scrips were issued but not utilized, no deposit is required but a DGFT No Incentive Certificate must be produced. Importers may submit supporting documents to the Assessment Group, whose Appraiser will verify amounts and generate an Extra Duty Demand (EDD) Challan in the system the same day, or accept payment via Manual Challan where system generation is not possible.

Temporary surrender of professional membership: IPAs should generally refuse surrender when IPs have active insolvency or empanelled regulatory roles.
The circular directs that IPAs should not ordinarily accept temporary surrender where an IP has pending assignments under the Code, represents creditor classes, or is empanelled for roles such as IRP, Liquidator or SEBI Administrator. It requires IPAs to verify declarations on absence of assignments and disciplinary proceedings, residency, employment status, Code of Conduct compliance, fee payment and cooperation obligations. Six standard forms (Form A-F) are prescribed for application, IPA acceptance and intimation to the Board, and for revival and reinstatement upon verified eligibility.

GST exemption on upfront amount remains available where amount is determined upfront even if paid in instalments for long-term leases.
The GST exemption applies to the upfront amount (called premium, salami, cost, price, development charges or by any other name) for long term leases of industrial plots or plots for development of infrastructure for financial business by the State Government, State Industrial Development Corporations or entities with majority government ownership; the exemption is admissible irrespective of whether such upfront amount is paid in one or more instalments, provided the amount is determined upfront.

GST on seed certification tags: agency supplied tags part of exempt composite service; tags sold to agencies are taxable goods.
Supply of certification tags by State Seed Certification Agencies to seed producers is an element of the integrated supply of seed testing and certification and is covered by the exemption for testing/certification services provided by Central/State Governments relating to public safety and consumer protection. Conversely, where tags are supplied to the Agencies by other departments or manufacturers, those supplies are taxable goods, and their classification depends on the tags' predominant material.

Tax Collected at Source excluded from GST valuation; interim income levy not includible in taxable value.
The Commissioner clarifies that Tax Collected at Source (TCS) under the Income Tax Act is an interim levy on potential income and not a tax on goods; therefore TCS is not includible in the value of supply for GST valuation despite prior guidance referencing inclusion of taxes and charges.