GST exemption for maritime training courses affirmed where courses yield statutory qualifications, subject to notification conditions.
Maritime training institutes and their Director General of Shipping-approved courses constitute educational institutions under GST because they provide education as part of a curriculum leading to qualifications recognised by law; consequently, services supplied by such institutes are exempt from GST subject to the conditions in the applicable exemption notification, with the position applying mutatis mutandis to corresponding IGST, UTGST and SGST entries.

GST liability on donor acknowledgements depends on absence of advertising and lack of quid pro quo.
Where a charitable organisation places a donor's name on its premises solely as an expression of gratitude or public recognition, without reference to the donor's business and without any obligation to provide a service in return, there is no supply for consideration and GST liability does not arise. The exclusion applies when the recipient is a charitable institution, the payment retains the character of a gift or donation, and the acknowledgement is philanthropic and not advertising.

Certificate of Origin authorization expanded: new agency authorised and regional chamber name updated, affecting Appendix listings.
Authorization is granted to a Delhi trade body to issue Certificate of Origin (Non Preferential) and is added to the Appendix list of authorised agencies. The public notice also amends the Appendix listings by changing a regional federation's recorded name from a combined state designation to a Telangana only designation, removing the prior entry and inserting the updated entry in the Handbook of Procedures.

Appellate Authority designation changes: modifications to specified appointments and removal of certain entries under state GST appellate table.
Modifies the roster of Appellate Authority appointments by corrigendum and substitutions to the Table of Order No. 05/WBGST/PRO. Corrigendum replaces "Joint Commissioner" with "Sr. Joint Commissioner" at serial 34. Substitutions record Sri Heera Lepcha as Sr. Joint Commissioner for Siliguri and Jalpaiguri Circles; Smt. Tshering Lamu Bhutia as Sr. Joint Commissioner for Raiganj Circle; and Smt. Utpala Gabur as Joint Commissioner for Siliguri Circle. Entries at serial numbers 17 and 19 are omitted. Amendments are effective immediately under the West Bengal GST Act.

GST on airport levies: airlines may collect PSF and UDF as pure agents while airport operators remain GST liable.
PSF and UDF are charges levied by airport operators as consideration for services to passengers and are subject to GST, with the airport operator liable to discharge GST. Airlines that collect these charges act as agents; if they satisfy the conditions of a pure agent, the amounts collected for PSF/UDF (and GST payable by the airport operator) must be separately invoiced and excluded from the value of the airline's supplies, and airlines shall not claim input tax credit on those amounts. Airport operators must remit GST on collections and may claim ITC on collection charges paid to airlines.

Exporters must update incorrect PAN or resolve duplicate IECs by the deadline or face suspension and deactivation.
IECs with incorrect PAN or where multiple IECs exist against the same PAN must be corrected by written application to the jurisdictional RA: incorrect PANs require a letter on IEC letterhead with a self certified PAN copy (changes not permitted via the online module); duplicate IECs require separate written requests to suspend/cancel other IECs, with RAs to take action after due diligence and to suspend multiple IECs if no holder request is received, permitting reactivation only on written request with required documents. Representations or personal hearings may be submitted if correction cannot be completed before the deadline.

Duty drawback on FOB allowed without deducting foreign bank charges, but deductions beyond allowed limit must be adjusted.
Duty drawback may be granted on the FOB value without deducting foreign bank charges; foreign bank service charges and agency commission are allowable only within an overall limit of 1.25% of the FOB value, and any amounts exceeding that limit must be deducted from the FOB value when granting duty drawback. Prior show cause notices and requests to regularise short realisation due to foreign bank charges, supported by documentary evidence, are to be considered on merit.

Margin collection requirements mandate upfront VaR and ELM from clients, with reporting obligations and disciplinary penalties for short-collection.
Trading Members and Clearing Members in the cash segment must collect VaR margins and Extreme Loss Margin (ELM) upfront from clients; other margins must be collected promptly within a short prescribed window. Institutional investor exemptions and an exception where adequate initial margins already cover potential losses are preserved. TMs/CMs must report actual short-collection or non-collection of client margins to the stock exchange within the prescribed reporting timeframe, and stock exchanges must apply disciplinary frameworks for short-collection and for false or incorrect reporting.

Post sale discounts tied to dealer obligations are consideration for services and attract GST, with corresponding input tax credit rules.
Explains GST treatment of post sales discounts: unconditional discounts relating to the original supply may be excluded from the supplier's value of supply if statutory conditions are met; conditional discounts requiring dealer promotional activity are consideration for services subject to GST by the dealer with ITC available to the supplier. Additional discounts paid to enable dealer reduced pricing must be added to the dealer's value of supply, and registered customers claim ITC only to the extent of tax paid. If statutory exclusion conditions fail, suppliers may issue financial/commercial credit notes but cannot reduce original tax liability; dealers need not reverse ITC where they adjust supply value after the credit note and pay original tax charged.

Input tax credit restriction: admissibility limited for invoices not uploaded by suppliers, balance claimable after supplier uploads.
Restriction limits ITC claimable for invoices not uploaded by suppliers; it applies to credits availed after the effective date and excludes supplies outside reporting obligations such as IGST on import, RCM and ISD credits. Taxpayers must self-assess admissible credit using GSTR 2A as on the suppliers' GSTR 1 due date. The cap is calculated on a consolidated basis against uploaded eligible credit and excludes invoices ineligible for ITC. Any balance ITC may be claimed in later months as suppliers upload details, with proportionate claims allowed until the uploaded-credit base permits full recovery.

SEZ contiguity compliance: Development Commissioners must certify contiguity after joint physical inspection with revenue authorities.
Development Commissioners must explicitly certify SEZ land contiguity when forwarding notification or de-notification proposals, record that physical inspection was conducted in the presence of State revenue/land authority with names and designations of officials, and attach required documents from prescribed checklists (inspection report, developer certificate, legal possession and non-encumbrance certificates, certified maps and land details). De-notification requires State NOC, compliance with land-use guidelines, possible refund of benefits, and assurance that remaining SEZ land remains contiguous and meets minimum sectoral area criteria.

License fee for alcoholic liquor treated as neither supply of goods nor services, therefore not taxable under GST.
License fees and application fees charged by State Governments for granting alcoholic liquor licences are treated as neither a supply of goods nor a supply of services for GST purposes and thus not taxable. This follows GST Council recommendations and implementing notifications, and the exclusion is limited to State grants of liquor licences and does not apply to other fee-based licences or privileges where GST remains payable.

Securities lending fees are taxable under GST; lender paid initially, borrower liable under reverse charge from October 2019.
The lending fee charged by the lender for temporarily lending securities under the Securities Lending Scheme, 1997 is taxable as a service under GST (heading 997119) at 18%. Intermediary facilitation services are separately taxable. From 01.07.2017 to 30.09.2019 GST was payable by the lender under forward charge (IGST); from 01.10.2019 the borrower is liable under reverse charge (IGST).

Support services classification: explanatory notes determine whether exploration, drilling and related activities are professional or extraction support services.
Clarification distinguishes operational support activities and professional/technical consulting for exploration, mining or drilling of petroleum crude or natural gas, directing that classification and tax treatment be governed by the Scheme of Classification of Services' Explanatory Notes: geological and geophysical consulting and mineral exploration fall under professional services, while well-related work, derrick services, test drilling tied to extraction and operation of extraction units fall under support services; activities outside these entries must be classified and taxed under their proper headings.

Input tax credit restriction links unreported supplier invoices to uploaded eligible credits and permits deferred claims after reporting.
Input tax credit on invoices or debit notes not uploaded by suppliers is restricted and must be claimed through taxpayer self-assessment. The restriction is calculated on a consolidated basis, not supplier-wise, and unuploaded credit cannot exceed 20 percent of otherwise eligible credit relating to uploaded invoices or debit notes. The relevant uploaded details are determined from Form GSTR-2A on the due date for suppliers' outward-supply reporting. Restricted balance credit may be claimed in later months as suppliers upload the requisite details.

Electronic refund process via FORM GST RFD-01 enables end-to-end online filing and single disbursement across tax heads.
A fully electronic refund mechanism via FORM GST RFD-01 requires specified documentary uploads and online undertakings, with ARN generation only after complete filing; applications are electronically routed to jurisdictional officers, who must issue acknowledgements or deficiency memos within statutory timelines counted from ARN. Provisionally sanctioned refunds may be paid subject to later adjudication and recovery procedures; sanctioned refunds are disbursed as a single payment across tax heads through PFMS after bank-account validation, and re-crediting or recovery entries in electronic ledgers are governed by set procedural safeguards.

Optional annual return filing for small taxpayers; portal accepts filings only before the due date, voluntary payment permitted.
Optional annual return filing is permitted for small taxpayers for FY 2017-18 and 2018-19: composition taxpayers may optionally file FORM GSTR-9A and other eligible registered persons may optionally file FORM GSTR-9, but such filings must be done on or before the due date since the common portal will not permit filing for those periods after the due date. Taxpayers discovering short payment or ineligible input tax credit may voluntarily self-ascertain and pay via FORM GST DRC-03.

Restriction on input tax credit under rule 36 directed to be followed for uniform implementation across field formations.
The State directs adherence to the central GST policy wing's clarification on restriction in availment of input tax credit under sub rule (4) of rule 36 of the CGST Rules, 2017; subordinate tax officers are instructed, under the State's administrative powers, to follow that clarificatory Circular to ensure uniform implementation across field formations in respect of invoice matching, treatment of discrepancies, and procedural application of the rule's restriction.

UCC-demat mapping: exchanges must share UCC data with depositories to detect securities diversion and enable reconciliation.
Stock exchanges must share UCC data (including PAN, segment, TM/CM code and UCC) with depositories, which shall map UCCs to clients' demat accounts using PAN and validate any addition with the stock exchange or client; clients may request de-linking or addition of UCCs through their depository participants, and exchanges and depositories must maintain complaint-resolution mechanisms and controls to prevent misuse of inactive or non-operational UCCs.

Import sample testing mandates designated laboratory testing for specified goods while external laboratories continue testing all other goods.
External laboratory testing of import samples continues for goods other than those falling under Chapter 27, through 31 December 2019. Bombay Test House Pvt. Ltd. and Paralab Pvt. Ltd. may test those non-Chapter 27 goods, while all Chapter 27 goods must undergo compulsory testing at the DYCC JNCH laboratory from 18 November 2019.