Reopening of past indirect tax assessments: not triggered solely by increased turnover from digital payments.
The instruction clarifies that, for purposes of indirect taxation, past assessments will not be reopened solely on the ground that turnover increased as a consequence of shifting transactions to digital payment methods; mere emergence of previously undisclosed receipts through digital channels is not a standalone basis for reopening historical indirect tax assessments.

Direct securities transfer to clearing corporation streamlines tender-offer settlements and enables direct payouts to shareholders.
Direct transfer of shares using the early pay-in mechanism requires shareholders' securities to be moved to the Clearing Corporation prior to bid placement; depositories must supply investor PAN, demat and bank details to the CC. The CC will apply such securities to settlement, return unaccepted shares directly to shareholders, and make direct funds payouts for accepted shares to shareholders' bank accounts, with rejected transfers routed to the seller broker's accounts for onward transfer.

Relaxation of time frame permits processing of past income tax returns with refund claims, subject to specified validations.
Relaxation under Section 119 permits processing of previously time barred returns containing a claim of refund where the return was validly filed and recomputation yields a refund; AST functionality is provided to assessing officers with specified eligibility validations and a defined retrieval and input procedure, supported by a user manual and ITBA helpdesk for technical assistance.

Custodian appointment: MIAL authorized to hold and manage export and bonded cargo under prescribed customs conditions.
M/S. Mumbai International Airport Limited is appointed as Custodian and approved as Customs Cargo Services Provider for the Export Heavy and Bonded Cargo Terminal at Air Cargo Complex, Sahar, Mumbai under Section 8(a) and 141(2) of the Customs Act, 1962 and Regulation 10 of the Handling of Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations, 2009, subject to compliance with statutory provisions, recordkeeping, security, procedural restrictions on removal and entry of goods, infrastructural and administrative obligations, cost-recovery for posted customs staff, publication of charges, monthly reporting of long-stored cargo, and an initial two-year term renewable or revocable for non-compliance.

Reopening assessments should not be based solely on increased turnover from digital payments; requires reason to believe escaped income.
Reopening an assessment under section 147 requires that the Assessing Officer has reason to believe that income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment; mere increase in turnover, including due to digital payments, cannot alone constitute that reason. Assessing Officers are directed not to reopen past assessments solely on the ground of increased current year turnover absent independent material indicating escaped income.

Line of Credit requirements mandate 75% India-sourced supply and specified LC/disbursement timelines under FEMA directions.
A Government of India supported Line of Credit to the Republic of Guinea finances hospital projects and mandates at least 75% of contract value be supplied from India with up to 25% import content. The LOC prescribes separate timelines for opening Letters of Credit and disbursement for project export and supply contracts, requires EDF/SDF shipment declarations, disallows agency commission under the LOC while permitting exporter-funded commissions under prevailing remittance rules, and directs AD Category-I banks to notify exporters; the directions are issued under FEMA provisions.

Customs Cargo Service Provider approval required for Shipping Lines, Freight Forwarders and NVOCCs under handling regulations.
Shipping Lines, Freight Forwarders and NVOCCs that receive, store, deliver, dispatch or otherwise handle imported or export goods in a customs area are Customs Cargo Service Provider under the Handling of Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations, 2009 and must obtain approval to act as such; registrations for manifest filing or continuity bonds do not substitute for that approval, although existing bonds may be accepted for Regulation 5 subject to an undertaking to comply with the Regulations.

Annual return requirement suspended for central excise and service tax pending GST implementation; future rules to follow.
The Board has suspended the requirement to file the combined Annual Return for Central Excise and Service Tax for 2015-16 in view of impending GST implementation; a future Annual Return may be required solely for non GST goods, with a final decision to follow after consultation with trade. Trade associations are requested to notify members accordingly.

Transfer of shares to investor protection fund: simplification and transfer-date extension under consideration; rules to be revised.
Clarification records stakeholder requests for simplification of the share-transfer process and extension of the deadline for transfer of shares to the Investor Education and Protection Fund under the 2016 Rules, states these matters are under consideration, and indicates the Rules are likely to be revised and will be notified in due course.

Relaxation of filing fees extends compliance deadline for Jammu and Kashmir companies until end of December.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs directed waiver of additional fees for companies with registered offices in Jammu and Kashmir for filings of e-Form MGT-7 and e-Forms AOC-4, AOC (CFS) and AOC-4 XBRL, allowing submission without additional fee up to the end of December due to civil disturbances, continuing relief from an earlier circular and issued with competent authority approval.

Administrative control of bonded warehouses transferred to Deputy/Asst Commissioner, ICD Bangalore for licensing, returns and refund administration.
Administrative control for filing periodical returns, receiving licence applications, processing requests to amend warehouse areas, and conducting verifications for public and private bonded warehouses within the Bangalore City Commissionerate is vested in the Deputy/Asst. Commissioner of Customs, ICD, Bangalore. The Deputy/Asst. Commissioner (Warehouse), ICD, Bangalore is the proper authority for raising demands and granting refunds arising from clearances through the erstwhile Customs Division and for refunding unutilised PLA balances held by warehouses.

Cargo dwell time publication required monthly by CFSs; data must be posted online and submitted to customs.
CFSs must compute and publish monthly cargo dwell time separately for export and import-average difference between "gate in time" and "gate out time" for normal clearances-in the prescribed format, update it on their website, and communicate the data to Customs by the 5th of the succeeding month for display on JNCH by the 10th. Non-submission will be shown as "Not Submitted." CFSs must also email monthly details of consignments not cleared within 24 hours of OOC; best-performing CFSs will be publicly benchmarked and awarded Certificates of Recognition, and non-compliance will be pursued through ADC/JC (PG).

SMTP issuance for rail-bound ICD cargo enables early transfer and automated transmission despite vessel discharge status.
SMTPs for cargo bound to ICDs by rail may be issued before full vessel discharge to expedite transfer and must be strictly complied with by all officers. Where the online system errs, the Boarding Section is authorised, alongside the Import Noting Section, to approve the IGM number so SMTPs are automated and transmitted to shipping lines, terminals and ICD customs without waiting for full discharge, including on weekends and holidays; operational issues should be reported to the Additional/Joint Commissioner.

Rotation Number procedure: email prescribed spreadsheet; customs will record in ICES and return the allotted rotation number promptly.
Prescribes a simplified administrative procedure for obtaining a Rotation Number for outbound vessels: shipping lines must email the prescribed Annexure A spreadsheet to the designated customs address; customs will record entries in the ICES system, generate and annotate the Rotation Number on the same form, and return the completed form. Electronic submissions should originate from the shipping line domain or include a scanned signed application if that is not possible; a contact is provided for technical difficulties and a calendar-year-wise numbering and file-naming convention is prescribed.

Online generation of IEPF challans mandatory; file Form IEPF I with SRN or offline challans will be rejected after deadline.
Companies remitting amounts to the Investor Education & Protection Fund must generate challans online only via the MCA21 portal and file Form IEPF I citing the SRN of the online challan; challans not generated on the MCA21 portal will not be accepted after the specified cutoff, and companies and nodal officers must follow the online generation and SRN based filing procedure for transfers to the Fund.

GST Council approves Chapters I-IX with amendments: 20% rate cap, composition rules, reverse charge and deferred cross-empowerment decision.
The Council approved Chapters I-IX (Sections 1-46) of the Draft Model GST Law with specified amendments: exclude Jammu & Kashmir from Section 1(2); revise the definition of agriculture and merge agriculturist definitions; raise the statutory rate cap to 20% (CGST and SGST); allow composition by intimation with turnover cap not less than Rs. 50 lakh and set composition rates at 1% for traders and 2% for manufacturers; apply reverse charge on supplies from unregistered persons; extend the payment period for input tax credit reversal from three to six months; set TDS threshold at Rs. 2.5 lakh; defer decisions on ITC for capital goods and cross-empowerment.

Spread margin withdrawal must occur by the start of tender period or expiry day, tightening risk management timing.
Withdrawal of spread margin benefit for spread positions must occur no later than the start of the tender period or the start of the expiry day, whichever is earlier, replacing the prior deadline that permitted withdrawal by an earlier expiry related day; exchanges must update risk management norms and notify members and publish the change on their websites.

Benami property prohibition: investigators must gather specified evidence and refer suspected benami assets for attachment and action.
Investigating officers under the Income tax Act must collect evidence relevant to the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, focusing on identification of legal/apparent and beneficial owners, whether property is held for another's benefit, source of funds, transactions in fictitious names, denial of ownership, and untraceable consideration providers. If there is prima facie belief a property is benami, after controlling officer approval the information must be forwarded to the Initiating Officer within 60 days to enable attachment and other action under the Act.

Outsourcing by authorised couriers: prior intimation suffices for pick up, local delivery, official transport and housekeeping.
The Board relaxed the requirement under Regulation 13(j) so that for pick up or local delivery of courier packages, transportation for officials, and housekeeping activities, authorised couriers need only provide prior intimation to Customs rather than obtain written permission; this applies to functions before entry inwards/after clearance of imports and before carting in/after 'Let Export' of exports. The authorised courier must exercise due diligence before outsourcing, while permission remains necessary for other core activities to protect supply chain integrity and revenue.

Express Cargo Clearance System rollout enables automated courier clearance under electronic declaration regulations, governed by CBEC systems oversight.
Rollout of the Express Cargo Clearance System (ECCS) as a pilot at CSI Airport, Mumbai enables automated assessment and clearance under the Courier Imports and Exports (Electronic Declaration and Processing) Regulations, 2010. ECCS is provided on a public-private partnership turnkey basis, will interoperate with ICES/ICEGATE, operate under jurisdictional customs control, and vests all ECCS intellectual property, including source code and documentation, in the Central Board of Excise and Customs. Operational governance, security, change management, continuity and training requirements will be specified by the Directorate of Systems & Data Management.