Corporate debt backstop fund requires mutual fund debt schemes and AMCs to contribute and enables purchases during market dislocation.
Creation of CDMDF as a close-ended backstop facility to purchase listed investment-grade corporate debt (including money market instruments) with residual maturity up to five years from specified debt-oriented mutual fund schemes during SEBI-declared market dislocation. Specified schemes must invest a fixed fraction of their AUM in CDMDF units with incremental top-ups as AUM grows; AMCs make a one-time contribution tied to their schemes' AUM. Sellers receive predominantly cash and a portion in units that bear first-loss risk. Contributions are locked-in, access is proportional to holdings, and CDMDF investments are excluded from certain risk and maturity calculations.

Corporate Debt Market Development Fund to buy investment-grade corporate debt as a backstop to support market liquidity during stress.
The circular creates the Corporate Debt Market Development Fund (CDMDF) as an AIF backstop facility to purchase investment-grade corporate debt during market stress, subject to the GSCD. CDMDF must hold specified low-risk instruments in normal times, follow a fair-pricing valuation framework for purchases, observe a defined fee schedule, publish NAVs by prescribed times, and implement operational arrangements for RFQ trading and settlement. A three-tier loss-waterfall allocates initial losses to A3 units, then A1/A2, with residual protection via Government Guarantee; A1/A2 NAVs are protected at opening NAV during dislocation and A3 bears excess losses until parity is restored.

Legal Entity Identifier requirement for non individual FPIs now mandatory; accounts blocked for purchase privileges on non compliance.
Mandates submission and maintenance of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) for all non individual FPIs as a condition for registration, renewal and purchase activity. Depositories must modify the Common Application Form and DDPs will collect LEI details; new registrations require LEI receipt. Existing FPIs must provide LEIs within 180 days or face account blocking for purchases. FPIs must keep LEIs active; expired or lapsed LEIs will result in blocking until renewal.

Recomputation of income for sugar co operatives enables allowance of sugarcane purchase deductions when prices match government fixed rates.
Recomputation permits a co-operative society in sugar manufacture to apply for recomputation where deductions for sugarcane purchase were disallowed for years on or before 1 April 2014; the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer shall allow the deduction to the extent the expenditure was incurred at prices equal to or less than government-fixed or government-approved prices, apply rectification provisions analogous to the rectification procedure, and issue an order within six months of the month in which the application is received, with recomputations permissible only until 31 March 2027.

Standing arrangements requirement: trustees must confirm arrangements in half yearly reports for special purpose audits and legal advice, effective immediately.
Trustees must maintain standing arrangements with independent firms for special purpose audits and legal advice, and must confirm continuous compliance with this requirement in the Half Yearly Trustee Reports, which are amended to include a specific entry for this confirmation and an additional item for other trustee matters; the requirement is effective immediately.

Treaty Qualified Retirement Fund classification clarified for CRS reporting, distinguishing FATCA and non US reportable account treatment.
Clarification explains that a Treaty Qualified Retirement Fund, while non-reporting under FATCA, is not non-reporting under the CRS and therefore must not be treated as non-reporting for non U.S. reportable accounts; a non-public fund of the armed forces is an active non-financial entity under the CRS and not a financial institution for non U.S. reportable accounts; and gratuity funds may be passive NFEs or reporting financial institutions depending on management, with certain accounts qualifying as excluded accounts if they meet retirement or conditional withdrawal conditions and monetary limits.

Condonation of delay for deduction claims where statutory audit delays caused late filing, subject to verification and hearing.
The Board delegates to Chief Commissioners/Directors General authority to admit and decide applications for condonation of delay in filing returns claiming deduction for cooperative societies where delay resulted from circumstances beyond the assessee's control, including delays in obtaining statutory audits under State law; decision-makers must verify documentary evidence of audit delay vis-a -vis the return due date, check for signs of tax avoidance or evasion requiring further action, and afford the applicant an opportunity to be heard, preferably disposing applications within a three-month target.

Scrutiny of returns: portal based discrepancy notices, taxpayer reply mechanism and prescribed timelines for assessment action.
The circular prescribes a structured online procedure for scrutiny of returns via the GST BO Portal: Head Office issues risk based lists while proper officers may take suo motu cases; officers must issue Form GST ASMT 10 specifying parameter wise discrepancies, consider payments made via Form DRC 03, receive replies in Form GST ASMT 11, and conclude by Form GST ASMT 12 if satisfied, or initiate determination proceedings, audit or investigation otherwise. Time bound timelines, reporting on MIS and oversight by zonal commissioners are mandated, and an indicative list of selection parameters is provided.

Input-tax credit allocation: HO may use ISD registration or invoicing to enable BOs to claim ITC, subject to valuation rules.
For services between distinct persons, HO may either distribute ITC through the ISD mechanism (requiring ISD registration) or issue tax invoices under section 31 so BOs can avail ITC; ISD distribution is allowed only if services are attributable to or actually provided to BOs. Invoice value for internally generated supplies is governed by rule 28 read with section 15(4): if the recipient BO is eligible for full ITC, the invoice value is deemed open market value irrespective of included cost components, and HO need not include employee salary costs in taxable value where recipient is not eligible for full ITC.

E-invoicing applicability: suppliers must issue e-invoices for supplies to government entities registered solely for TDS deduction.
E-invoicing is required for supplies by registered persons whose turnover exceeds the prescribed threshold when supplies are made to Government Departments, establishments, agencies, local authorities, or PSUs that are registered solely for deduction of tax at source; such entities are treated as registered persons under GST law and transactions with them fall within the e-invoicing regime, and implementation issues should be reported to the Department.

Refund of accumulated input-tax credit now rests on GSTR-2B reflection, affecting eligibility for GST credit refunds.
Refund of accumulated input-tax credit under section 54(3) is restricted, from January 1, 2022, to credit reflected in Form GSTR-2B for the relevant or any prior tax period on which credit is available; prior circulars limiting refunds to GSTR-1/GSTR-2A are modified. The Form RFD-01 undertaking is retained but revised to reference only clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 16, with references to section 42 and GSTR-2/GSTR-3 removed. Adjusted total turnover must include exports as determined by the Explanation in sub-rule (4) of rule 89. Exporters who paid IGST under rule 96A may claim refund of the tax (not interest) once export/payment occurs, filing under "Any Other" if portal options are unavailable.

Taxability of shareholding: holding shares in a subsidiary is not a supply under GST without a section 7 supply.
The Circular explains that securities, including shares, are neither goods nor services under GST definitions and that mere purchase, sale or holding of shares does not constitute a supply; therefore holding shares of a subsidiary by a parent company, by itself, cannot be treated as a supply of services and is not taxable under GST unless there is an actual supply as defined in law.

Warranty replacement GST treatment: no GST or input tax credit reversal when replacements/repairs are free under original warranty.
Where the original supply's value includes warranty, replacements or repairs provided during warranty without separate consideration attract no additional GST and the manufacturer need not reverse input tax credit; if additional consideration is charged, GST applies on that additional consideration.

TCS collection responsibility falls on the ECO releasing payment; if supplier is also an ECO, buyer side ECO collects.
Where multiple e commerce operators are involved and the supplier side ECO is not the supplier, the supplier side ECO who finally releases payment to the supplier must collect TCS and perform related compliances; if the supplier itself is an ECO, the buyer side ECO must collect TCS when making payment to that supplier.

Input-tax credit reconciliation: limits excess ITC claims under rule 36 for specified 2019-2021 periods.
Clarification resolves ITC mismatches between Form GSTR-3B and Form GSTR-2A for April 1, 2019 to December 31, 2021 by applying Circular No.183/15 procedures where rule 36 was not in force, and by enforcing rule 36 ceilings and the payment-by-supplier condition for periods when rule 36 applied; cumulative adjustment provisions for specified month-blocks must be observed, certificates required under the prior circular remain necessary for admitted excess up to the rule specified cap, and from January 1, 2022 ITC is admissible only if reported by suppliers and communicated in the purchaser's automated statement.

Interest on wrongly availed IGST credit hinges on the total ITC pool, not the IGST head alone.
For interest calculations on wrongly availed IGST credit, the combined input-tax credit balance across IGST, CGST and SGST heads must be considered. If the combined ITC balance never falls below the wrongly availed amount between availment and reversal, no interest is attracted; if it does fall below, the shortfall equals the extent of utilisation and attracts interest. Compensation cess credit is excluded from this computation because it may only be used for compensation cess liabilities.

Reference Number requirement: communications must quote an RFN or be invalid; limited exceptions and post facto regularization allowed.
Officers must quote a computer generated Reference Number (RFN) on all communications to taxpayers under the Model 2 back office; RFNs are generated via the officer login and verifiable by taxpayers. Limited exceptions allow issuance without an RFN for technical failures or urgent field situations if reasons are recorded and the message declares lack of RFN. Non exempt communications without an electronic RFN are invalid and deemed never issued. Exempt communications must be regularized within fifteen working days by obtaining post facto supervisory approval, generating the RFN, printing the pro forma with RFN, and filing it.

Taxability of securities: holding shares in a subsidiary is not a taxable GST supply absent a statutory supply requirement.
The CBIC clarifies that securities, including shares, are neither goods nor services; mere purchase, sale or holding of shares by a holding company does not constitute a taxable supply. A SAC classification alone does not create a service-GST applies only where the transaction satisfies the statutory definition of supply under section 7. Accordingly, holding shares of a subsidiary by the parent company per se is not a supply of services and is not taxable under GST; the circular is applied mutatis mutandis to the Maharashtra SGST framework and field formations are to publicize the position.

Input tax credit on warranty replacements not reversed where replacements or repairs are provided without additional consideration.
Replacements of parts and repair services provided during the warranty period without separate consideration are covered by the value of the original taxable supply and attract no additional GST; manufacturers are not required to reverse ITC for such warranty work. Distributors providing warranty services without charging customers do not incur GST, but inter-party transactions vary: taxable invoiced supplies from distributor to manufacturer permit ITC, manufacturer-supplied parts for warranty without consideration attract no GST and no ITC reversal, and credit-note adjustments require prior reversal of ITC by the distributor. Repair services charged by a distributor to a manufacturer are taxable and ITC-eligible. Extended warranty sold with original supply is part of the composite supply; if sold later it is a separate taxable supply.

TCS on e commerce transactions: supplier-side ECO collects unless supplier is an ECO, then buyer-side ECO collects.
Where multiple ECOs participate and the supplier-side ECO is not the supplier, the supplier-side ECO that ultimately releases payment to the supplier must collect TCS, deposit it to the government and perform related compliances; the buyer-side ECO that only forwards consideration after deducting its fees is not required to collect TCS for that supply. If the supplier-side ECO is itself the supplier, the buyer-side ECO that collects payment from the buyer must collect and remit TCS and complete applicable compliances.