GST appeal procedure: pending appellate matters must be decided without waiting for tribunal constitution.
Appeals against orders of adjudicating authorities under the Uttar Pradesh GST law lie before the prescribed appellate authority, namely the Additional Commissioner (Appeals), within the statutory period. Further appeal against the appellate authority's order lies to the Appellate Tribunal under section 112, and the non-constitution of the tribunal does not justify keeping appeals pending. The time limit for filing before the tribunal is to be counted from the date the State President enters office, and pending appeals should be disposed of expeditiously.

Reverse charge mechanism on motor vehicle renting clarified for body corporate supplies, with GST liability tied to supplier billing choices.
Reverse charge mechanism for renting of motor vehicles applies only where the supplier is other than a body corporate, does not issue an invoice charging GST at 12%, and supplies the service to a body corporate. The clarification distinguishes the two available tax options for such services: 5% GST with limited input tax credit, or 12% GST with full input tax credit. If GST at 12% is charged by the supplier, the recipient is not liable under reverse charge; if not, the recipient is liable. The amendment is clarificatory and applies retrospectively.

Waiver of late filing charges for import bills due to COVID-19 permitting clearance without penalty until further orders.
Waiver of late filing charges for delayed bills of entry caused by COVID-19 restrictions: bills of entry pertaining to inward manifests filed on or after 20th March 2020, if filed late for clearance of import consignments, will not attract late fee charges for the time being and until further orders; the directions are to be treated as a standing order for officers and staff.

Late fee waiver for delayed bills of entry: import consignments may be cleared without late charges until further notice.
Bills of entry delayed due to coronavirus-related document or ICEGATE access disruptions and pertaining to inward general manifests filed on or after 20 March 2020 will not attract late fee charges for clearance of import consignments; this direction is to be treated as a standing order for officers and staff and stakeholders may report specific difficulties to the relevant Additional/Deputy Commissioner until further orders.

Late filing waiver for import Bills of Entry extended to cover consignments delayed by coronavirus outbreak.
Bills of Entry that relate to Import General Manifests filed on or after 21.03.2020 and on or before 17.04.2020 will not attract late fee charges, as an amendment to Public Notice No. 18/2020 to facilitate clearance of import consignments delayed due to the COVID-19 outbreak; other contents of the earlier notice remain unchanged.

Waiver of late fee for delayed bill of entry filings due to COVID-19 precautions, applicable to relevant import manifests.
A waiver of the late fee is granted for Bills of Entry filed belatedly due to precautionary measures related to nCOVID-19; the waiver covers Bills of Entry pertaining to Import General Manifests filed on or after 20th March, 2020 and remains effective until further orders, and the decision is to be treated as a standing order for officers and staff.

Late fee waiver for delayed import bill filings due to coronavirus enables temporary clearance without late charge penalties.
Temporary suspension of late fee charges for bills of entry related to Import General Manifests filed on or after the specified IGM date where late filing is due to coronavirus-related difficulty in obtaining or submitting documents; the waiver is issued despite the existing late fee provisions and shall remain until further orders, and this Public Notice functions as a standing order for officers with a procedure to report specific difficulties to Appraising Main (Import) NS-I officials.

Late fee waiver for delayed bills of entry enables clearance of import consignments affected by virus-related disruptions.
Bills of entry pertaining to inward general manifests delayed because of difficulty in obtaining documents or accessing ICEGATE/service centres due to the coronavirus outbreak will not attract late fee charges if filed late within the specified relief window, as a trade-facilitation measure under the Bill of Entry Amendment Regulations, 2018 and the proviso to Section 46(3) of the Customs Act.

Waiver of late fee for delayed bill of entry filings caused by health precautionary measures; relief applies until further notice.
Waiver of the late fee for belated Bills of Entry is authorised where such Bills correspond to Import General Manifests filed on or after the outbreak-related date; the waiver remains until further orders, is issued in the public interest, and is to be treated as a standing order for customs officers, with stakeholders asked to report specific difficulties to jurisdictional senior officers.

Compliance relief under Companies Act: moratorium on late filing fees and extensions for meetings and statutory filings.
The Ministry provided temporary compliance reliefs: waiver of additional fees for late MCA 21 filings from 1 April to 30 September; extension of board meeting interval to 180 days for the next two quarters; deferral of CARO 2020 applicability to FY 2020 21; non treating of missed Independent Director in camera meetings for FY 2019 20 as violations; extensions until 30 June 2020 for deposit repayment reserve and debenture investment compliances; additional 180 days to file Commencement of Business; and relaxation of director residency requirement for FY 2019 20.

Import deadline extension for urad applications extends filing period due to COVID-19 disruptions and amended trade notice.
The Trade Notice modifies Trade Notice No. 57/2019-2020 by extending the application receipt period for Urad imports for fiscal year 2020-2021 due to COVID-19; applications in response to the earlier notice will be accepted until the revised deadline, and the amendment is issued with administrative approval.

Essential customs operations to continue with skeletal staff under supervisory delegation to ensure cargo clearance and stakeholder availability.
Directs selected customs sections to operate with a skeletal staff under AC/DC supervision, assisted by designated officers, to maintain essential cargo clearance functions; requires other staff to remain locally available by telephone/electronic means and to attend on exigency, allows revision of arrangements per government instructions, and directs reporting of difficulties to the Commissioner of Customs.

Risk-reduction mode triggered when broker collateral is substantially exhausted; exchanges must update systems, rules and notify members.
The circular withdraws the prior lower collateral-utilization trigger and requires stock exchanges and clearing corporations to apply the pre-existing Risk Reduction Mode criteria from the 2012 circular; brokers must be mandatorily placed into risk-reduction mode when their collateral available for adjustment against margins becomes substantially exhausted by trades under the margining system. Exchanges and clearing corporations must implement systems, amend bye-laws, notify members, publish the provisions, and report implementation status to the regulator.

Regulatory relaxation for mutual funds extends NFO validity and delays compliance and implementation deadlines to ease operational burdens.
Temporary regulatory relief permits a one year validity for NFO observation letters and extends filing timelines for half yearly unaudited results, distributor commission disclosures, and annual investor complaint reports; implementation dates for specified mutual fund policy initiatives are postponed by about one month, and AMC dealing room access controls are temporarily relaxed subject to electronic confirmations with audit trails.

Relaxation of SEBI compliance timelines for debt and money market issuers extends filing and issuance deadlines to ease COVID 19 disruptions.
SEBI temporarily relaxes compliance timelines for issuers of NCDs, NCRPS, CPs and Municipal Debt Securities, permitting reliance on audited financials as of the specified cutoff or filing unaudited financials with limited review for stub periods, and extends due dates for periodic LODR filings (including Large Corporate disclosures and Regulation 52 financial results) and ILDM prescribed filings; these extensions are effective immediately and stock exchanges must disseminate the circular.

Encumbrance on REIT units requires re-designation of sponsor before invocation and mandates prompt exchange disclosure.
Encumbrance on REIT units may be created during the mandatory sponsor holding period but agreements must include the circular's creation and invocation conditions. Invocation during the mandatory period is permitted only if the invoker causes itself or its nominee to be re-designated as sponsor (unless already in sponsor group) and the re-designated sponsor fulfils sponsor obligations. Sponsors must notify the REIT manager of encumbrance creation within two working days and report any subsequent changes; the REIT must disclose these details to listed exchanges within two working days. The unit holding pattern disclosure is modified to capture mandatory holdings and encumbered units.

Encumbrance on InvIT sponsor units: creation allowed but invocation barred during mandatory holding; prompt disclosure required.
Sponsors may create encumbrance on units they are required to hold, provided the encumbrance agreement includes the circular's creation and invocation conditions and the encumbrance is not invoked during the mandatory holding period. Sponsors must notify the InvIT's investment manager of creation, release, invocation or other changes within two working days; thereafter the InvIT must disclose the information to stock exchanges within two working days. The unit holding pattern disclosure is amended to record sponsor encumbrance details, and Annexure I specifies required fields.

Compliance deadline extension for REITs and InvITs relaxing regulatory filing timelines in view of the pandemic.
Extension of regulatory filing timelines for REITs and InvITs by one month for compliances due for the period ending March 31, 2020, as a temporary relaxation in view of the COVID 19 pandemic; the circular takes immediate effect and requires stock exchanges to notify and disseminate the extension to affected entities.

GST appellate procedure requires first appeals to proceed despite tribunal non-constitution, with tribunal limitation deferred until leadership assumes office.
Appeals against adjudicating authority orders must be filed before the prescribed Appellate Authority within three months. Orders of Deputy Commissioners, Assistant Commissioners and State Tax Officers lie to the Joint Commissioner (Appeals), while Joint Commissioner orders lie to the Additional Commissioner (Appeals). Non-constitution of the Appellate Tribunal does not justify keeping first appeals pending. Tribunal appeal limitation runs from the later of communication of the appellate order or the date the Tribunal President or State President enters office.

Extension of due date for filing income-tax returns and tax audit reports, with late filings deemed timely.
Extension of the due-date for filing income-tax returns and tax audit reports for all categories of assessees in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh is extended to 31st March 2020 under powers conferred by the Income-tax Act. Returns and tax audit reports filed after 31st January 2020 until issuance of the order are deemed to have been filed within the due date specified under section 139(1) read with earlier CBDT orders.