FINNET 2.0 registration required for SEBI-registered debenture trustees to report suspicious transactions and comply with PML rules.
SEBI directs all registered debenture trustees to register or re register on FIU India's FINNET 2.0 platform; FIU India's guidance, including red flag indicators under the Prevention of Money Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005, requires migration from FINNET 1.0 and immediate registration by entities not yet registered in view of the FATF mutual evaluation. SEBI issues the advisory under its regulatory powers to protect investors and to regulate the securities market, and publishes the circular on its website.

Appointment of adjudicating authority centralises Chapter V Finance Act adjudication for specified show cause notices.
Pursuant to rule 3 of the Service Tax Rules, 1994 and clause (e) of sub section (2) of section 174 of the CGST Act, 2017, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs appoints the Principal Commissioner/Commissioner, CGST & Central Excise, Mumbai East Commissionerate as the Central Excise Officer to exercise Chapter V powers of the Finance Act, 1994 for adjudication of the listed show cause notices against M/s Shell India Markets Pvt. Ltd., thereby centralising adjudicatory competence in the named officer for the identified matters.

Fake GST registrations drive targets bogus invoicing, input tax credit fraud, and coordinated verification across tax administrations.
Special All-India drive against fake GST registrations is directed to identify suspicious or non-genuine GSTINs, verify their existence, and take remedial action to prevent revenue loss from bogus invoicing and fraudulent input tax credit. The guidelines provide for coordinated data sharing, nomination of nodal officers, time-bound field verification, and monitoring through a National Coordination Committee. Where a taxpayer is found non-existent and fictitious, registration may be suspended or cancelled, input tax credit may be blocked, and action may be taken against recipients who wrongly availed credit. Weekly reporting and GSTIN-wise feedback are required.

Currency denomination: fees on forex prepaid and travel cards must be settled in rupees, not foreign currency.
Fees and charges payable in India for international debit cards, prepaid/store value cards, travel cards and similar instruments must be denominated and settled in Rupees. Authorised Persons collecting such India-payable fees in foreign currency are directed to settle and denominate those charges only in rupees. The direction is issued under sections 10(4) and 11(1) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act and without prejudice to other statutory permissions.

Time-bar extension for GST scrutiny extended; officers must issue Section 73(9) orders within revised deadlines.
CBIC has extended the three year time limit under Section 73(10) for issuing orders under Section 73(9) for specified past years where tax was not paid or input tax credit was wrongly availed, excluding cases involving fraud or wilful misstatement. Scrutiny under Section 61 and Rule 99 typically takes several months; officers are directed to complete scrutiny and issue orders within the revised timelines.

Fake GST registrations: nationwide drive to detect, verify, suspend registrations and block wrongly passed input tax credit.
Field formations must undertake time bound verifications of GSTINs identified by GSTN or local analytics. If a taxpayer is found non existent, officers may suspend and cancel registration retrospectively, block input tax credit in the Electronic Credit Ledger under the applicable rule, identify recipients who received wrongly passed credit via FORM GSTR 1, initiate demand and recovery for recipients within their jurisdiction or forward details to other jurisdictions using Annexure B, and pursue recovery or provisional attachment of assets and bank accounts where required.

Testing framework requirement: MIIs must implement comprehensive IT system testing, validation, and governance before production deployment.
MIIs must establish a comprehensive testing framework requiring extensive pre deployment testing, validation and documentation; testing in a production like environment; automated testing and traceability matrices; policies for third party integrations; validation of core code and APIs; regression and white box testing; non functional tests including performance, stress and BCP testing; prompt tracking and remediation of defects with escalation of major issues to SCOT; documentation of all test results including UAT for audit review.

Transition bond disclosure: issuers must use GB-T denotation and disclose transition plan, progress and revisions.
Issuers of transition bonds must label instruments with the denotation GB-T and include a Transition Plan detailing interim targets with indicative emissions reductions, project implementation strategy, technology use, and an oversight mechanism for utilisation of proceeds. GB-T must be recorded in the Centralised Database and prefixed in instrument details by depositories. Issuers must disclose any revisions to the Transition Plan to stock exchanges and report implementation progress in the annual report; stock exchanges will monitor these disclosures. The requirements are effective immediately.

Wire transfer due diligence: strengthened originator and beneficiary information requirements and risk-based processing obligations for regulated entities.
The amendment requires cross-border wire transfers to carry accurate originator and beneficiary information-originator name, account or unique transaction reference, originator address or national identity/customer identification details, and beneficiary name and account-permits limited originator data for individual transfers within batch files provided the batch contains full traceable information, applies equivalent information rules to qualifying domestic transfers, mandates prompt availability of transfer information to law enforcement and FIU-IND on lawful request, and imposes defined ordering, intermediary and beneficiary regulated entity responsibilities including risk-based policies and suspicious transaction reporting.

Customs tariff changes: updated CTHs now required on all import and export declarations, triggering reassessment and amendments.
Changes to the Customs Tariff require filing customs declarations with the new CTHs; the customs IT system and amending notifications have been updated, Advance/Prior Bills pending regularization must be recalled and reassessed if affected, and shipping bills should be amended where export benefits are impacted.

Appointment of Adjudicating Authority: Pr. Commissioner/Commissioner tasked with adjudicating a service tax SCN and reporting to Commissioner.
The Board appoints the Pr. Commissioner/Commissioner, CGST & CX, Varanasi as the Central Excise Officer to exercise Chapter V powers of the Finance Act, 1994 for adjudication of the Show Cause Notice issued to M/s A.K. Construction Co., specifying the SCN reference and date, and making that officer answerable to the Principal Commissioner/Commissioner, CGST & CX, Agartala to ensure administrative oversight of the adjudicatory process.

Appointment of Adjudicating Authority: Pr. Commissioner CGST & CX Patna-I empowered to adjudicate specified show-cause notices.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs appoints the Pr. Commissioner/Commissioner, CGST & CX, Patna-I as the Central Excise Officer empowered to exercise Chapter V powers of the Finance Act, 1994 for adjudication of specified show-cause notices issued to Shri Lalit Mohan Sharma (Hi-Tech Equipment Services), with the listed SCNs made answerable to the Additional Commissioner/Joint Commissioner, CGST & CX, Aizawl and to the Pr. Commissioner/Commissioner, CGST & CX, Patna-I respectively.

Adjudication appointment under Service Tax Rules assigns Central Excise Officer to adjudicate show cause notices for Subhash Earthmovers.
The order appoints the Additional Commissioner/Joint Commissioner, CGST & CX, Aizawl as the Central Excise Officer under rule 3 of the Service Tax Rules, 1994 read with clause (e) of sub section (2) of section 174 of the CGST Act, 2017 to adjudicate specified show cause notices issued to Shri Subhash Sharma (M/s Subash Earthmovers) and makes each notice answerable to the Additional Commissioner/Joint Commissioner named in the order's table.

Fake GST registrations: nationwide drive mandates data led identification, verification, suspension and blocking of fraudulent input tax credit.
A Special All India Drive (16 May-15 July 2023) directs GSTN to identify suspicious GSTINs through data analytics and share them with Central and State tax administrations; each jurisdiction must appoint a nodal officer to coordinate. Jurisdictional officers shall undertake time bound verification, suspend or cancel non existent registrations under section 29, block ITC under Rule 86A, identify recipients of fraudulent ITC and initiate demand/recovery or share details with other jurisdictions using Annexure B, and pursue recovery/attachment measures under section 83. Weekly reports (Annexure A) and GSTIN wise feedback (Annexure C) are required; a National Coordination Committee will monitor the drive.

U.S. TIN reporting codes permit FFIs to flag missing taxpayer IDs with specified codes, subject to compliance review.
Model 1 reporting Financial Institutions must report U.S. TINs for U.S. reportable accounts; where a TIN is unavailable, RFIs may populate the TIN field with specified IRS codes that correspond to defined account scenarios (preexisting/new accounts with U.S. place of birth or other U.S. indicia, dormant accounts, passive NFFE accounts without self certifications, and a residual code). The IRS updated these codes via Notice 2023-11, treats 2022 as a transition year with optional code sets, requires updated codes thereafter, and will issue error notifications with a cure period while assessing potential significant non compliance based on facts and procedures.

Reference Number for GST communications must be generated for offline notices and verifiable on the portal.
A facility has been introduced for electronic generation of a Reference Number (RFN) for GST communications that are not system-generated, with verification available on the GST Common Portal. System-generated documents already carrying a unique identifier such as DIN or ARN do not require a fresh RFN, but all other communications relating to GST administration must be issued with the RFN mentioned on the document and superscribed on offline communications.

Document Reference Number verification ensures search and inspection communications are authentic and provides taxpayer verification and complaint channels.
Officers must electronically generate and quote a Document Reference Number (RFN) on search and inspection communications and documents so recipients can verify authenticity via the GST portal's Verify RFN service; taxpayers encountering documents without a valid RFN may report the matter to the Department by the specified email or telephone, and the circular is procedural guidance only.

Legal Entity Identifier requirement for issuers mandates LEI reporting and ISIN mapping at issuance and for existing listings.
Introduction of Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) requirement mandates that issuers of listed non-convertible securities, securitised debt instruments and security receipts obtain and report LEI: outstanding issuers must report to the Centralized Database or Depositories by the compliance deadline, while issuers of new issues must report LEI at the time of ISIN allotment. Depositories must map LEI to existing ISINs within the prescribed window and link LEI to ISINs at activation for future issuances.

Electronic certificate of origin enables preferential tariff claims when issued in prescribed format and properly verified.
Electronic Certificates of Origin issued by the Sri Lankan Issuing Authority are acceptable for preferential tariff claims under the India-Sri Lanka FTA if issued in the prescribed format with authorized seals and signatures and meeting Notification No. 19/2000-Customs requirements. Verification will use specimen seals/signatures and the unique QR code; doubtful cases are to be referred to the FTA Cell. Importers must upload the e-CoO to e-Sanchit and accurately enter certificate particulars; a printed e-CoO may be used for defacement checks and the EDI system prevents reuse of CoO reference numbers.

Customs Tariff changes require filings with updated classification; pending entries must be recalled and reassessed.
Customs Tariff changes from the Finance Act 2023 are effective 01.05.2023; systems now accept only updated Commodity Tariff Headings (CTHs) and amended notifications. All Bills of Entry and Shipping Bills, including Ex-bond and advance entries pending regularization, must be filed or recalled and reassessed where affected by the new CTHs; Shipping Bills granting export benefits must be amended if those benefits are impacted. Stakeholders should manually verify CTHs, notification applicability, and Partner Government Agency clearances before filing.