Secondment taxability: determine GST exposure by contract and factual matrix; extended limitation requires evidence of fraud or concealment.
Secondment may constitute a taxable manpower supply service, but taxability under GST must be determined by a nuanced, fact-specific examination of the contract and working arrangements between the overseas company and the Indian entity. Extended limitation for assessment or recovery may be invoked only where investigations produce material evidence of fraud, wilful misstatement, or suppression of facts to evade tax; mere non-payment is insufficient and such evidence should be included in any show cause notice.

Electronic service of notice summaries required; officers must upload DRC 01 and DRC 07 on portal for compliance.
Proper officers must serve notice summaries electronically on the GST portal in FORM GST DRC-01 and upload order summaries in FORM GST DRC-07, as required by rule 142 of the CGST Rules. Notices concerning demand, recovery, incorrect input tax credit, erroneous refunds, interest or penalties, and orders specifying tax, interest and penalty, must be made available electronically to enable recordkeeping, tracking of proceedings, appeals and recovery. Field formations relying on manual issuance are directed to comply and supervisory officers must ensure adherence; implementation issues should be reported to the Board.

GST on composite supply and pure agent treatment clarified; principal supply governs rate and specific exclusions affirmed.
Clarifies that input tax credit for the "same line of business" covers passenger transport and renting with operator but excludes leasing without operator; electricity bundled with rent or maintenance is a composite supply taxed at the principal supply rate, while electricity supplied and charged as a pure agent is excluded from value; job work converting barley into malt is treated as job work in relation to food products and attracts the food-product job work rate; District Mineral Foundations Trusts are Governmental Authorities eligible for government exemptions; horticulture services to CPWD with goods not exceeding 25% value qualify for notification-based exemption.

GST rate on imitation zari thread clarified: metallised polyester/plastic film yarn falls under reduced GST; no inversion refunds.
Metallised polyester film or plastic film converted into yarn or combined with textile yarns falls within the HS description of yarn combined with or covered by metal and is to be treated as imitation zari thread or yarn under Schedule I, thereby attracting the concessional GST rate recommended by the Council; additionally, no refund shall be permitted on metallised polyester/plastic film on account of inversion, and the position has been given effect through amendment of the Central Tax (Rate) notification.

Supply of service between related persons: guarantees are taxable and valuation follows Rule 28, with specified exceptions for personal guarantees.
The circular treats personal guarantees by directors as a supply of service between related persons and directs valuation under Rule 28; where RBI mandates no consideration for such personal guarantees, open market value may be treated as zero, yielding nil taxable value unless remuneration is actually paid. Corporate guarantees provided by related companies or by a holding company for its subsidiary are also supplies of service, with taxable value to be determined pursuant to Rule 28(2) as inserted by Notification No. 52/2023, irrespective of input tax credit availability. Rule 28(2) does not apply to personal guarantees.

Place of supply rules: default location of recipient governs transport, advertising space and colocation service classifications.
Where supplier or recipient is outside India, place of supply for transportation of goods (including mail/courier) follows the default rule: location of recipient if available, otherwise supplier. Advertising: sale or grant of rights to use hoarding is supply related to immovable property and place of supply is the location of the hoarding; mere display services by a vendor are advertising services and follow the default rule. Co-location services are generally Hosting and IT Infrastructure Provisioning and follow the default rule (location of recipient), except where only physical space and basic infrastructure are rented, in which case immovable-property rules apply.

Payment in INR via Special Vostro accounts qualifies as export of services payment under IGST, subject to RBI and FTP conditions.
Receipt of export proceeds in INR from balances in designated Special Rupee Vostro Accounts of correspondent banks, opened by AD banks under the RBI Vostro framework and Foreign Exchange Regulations, satisfies the payment requirement of sub clause (iv) of clause (6) of the IGST Act for export of services, subject to conditions and restrictions in the Foreign Trade Policy and applicable RBI circulars and without prejudice to other statutory permissions.

E invoicing mandate: eligible taxpayers must issue e invoices or declare exemptions, or face invalidation and penalties.
E-invoicing is mandatory for notified taxpayers exceeding the aggregate turnover threshold for B2B and export supplies; taxpayers exempted by notification must declare their exempt category on the portal, otherwise invoices not issued via the prescribed e invoicing mechanism will not be treated as valid and penal provisions may be invoked. Field formations will be provided lists of non compliant taxpayers to investigate reasons, nudge compliance, initiate penalties for continued non issuance, and report systemic issues to portal administrators.

GST Council updates cover tribunal appointments, guarantee valuation rules, ISD credit distribution, appeal condonation, ENA and rate changes.
The Council approved amendments aligning GST Appellate Tribunal appointments with Tribunal Reforms, clarified taxability and valuation for personal and corporate guarantees (treating gratuitous personal guarantees as zero value unless remuneration is paid and deeming corporate guarantee value at 1% of guaranteed amount or actual consideration), established a one time condonation procedure for delayed appeals subject to pre deposit, mandated mandatory ISD registration and detailed distribution rules for input tax credit (including RCM service credits), issued place of supply and export receipt clarifications (including Vostro INR receipts) and prospectively narrowed inverted duty refund restriction to constructions intended for sale; multiple Fitment Committee rate and procedural changes were also approved.

Provisional attachment cessation requires commissioner to notify banks and taxpayer of statutory release and restoration.
Although provisional attachment under section 83(2) ceases automatically after the statutory period, the Board directs Commissioners to issue an intimation to the relevant bank or authority referencing the original attachment order and statutory cessation and indicating release/restoration of the property or account, with a copy to the person concerned; a prescribed release form is being considered and the procedure applies immediately, including to pending cases.

GST amendments: taxable "specified actionable claims" in casinos and online money gaming, valuation on amounts paid or payable.
Amendments amend Entry 6 Schedule III and insert definitions in Section 2 to classify "specified actionable claim", "online gaming", "online money gaming" and "virtual digital assets"; deem organisers and platform operators to be suppliers; amend Notification No.66/2017 CT to make tax payable on receipt for specified actionable claims; insert Section 14A in IGST Act to tax cross border online money gaming with single registration and blocking powers; and insert Rules 31B and 31C to value online gaming and casino actionable claims as the total amount paid or payable (including virtual assets), with an Explanation and provisos on refunds.

Reverse Charge Mechanism: director's personal rentals excluded; only director-capacity services attract reverse charge.
Services supplied by a director to the company attract tax under Reverse Charge Mechanism only when rendered in the capacity of director; personal-capacity supplies such as renting immovable property are excluded. Supply of food or beverages at cinema premises is taxable as restaurant service where supplied as a service and independently of the exhibition service; bundled supplies passing the composite supply test are taxed according to the principal supply.

GST rate reclassification for specified goods alters applicable tax treatment and regularises past interpretational doubts on an as is basis.
The circular implements GST Council recommendations by reclassifying certain goods and adjusting applicable GST rates, while regularising interpretational doubts for past periods on an "as is" basis. It specifies re rating and classification changes for uncooked extruded snack pellets, fish soluble paste, desiccated coconut, biomass briquettes, imitation zari thread or yarn, raw cotton supplies from agriculturists to cooperatives (subject to reverse charge), areca leaf tableware, and trauma/arthroplasty implants, and states that no refunds will be granted where higher GST has already been paid.

State coordination committee for GST authorities to coordinate data sharing, anti-evasion action and unified administrative responses.
Creation of a State Co-ordination Committee of State and Central GST authorities, co-chaired by Central and State Chief Commissioners with rotational convenership, constituted on a perpetual basis and meeting quarterly. Its mandate covers data and knowledge sharing on evasion and audit matters, preventing fake input tax credit, exchanging audit findings, maintaining field contact details, referring reforms to the GST Council Secretariat and policy wings, coordinating taxpayer facilitation and grievances, adopting a uniform litigation position, avoiding duplicate investigations, and conducting local coordinated verification drives.

Inter-office service taxation: clarifies ITC distribution options and valuation where offices are distinct persons.
Head office and branch offices that are treated as distinct persons may either distribute input tax credit (ITC) through the Input Service Distributor (ISD) mechanism (requiring ISD registration) or the head office may issue tax invoices to branches so branches can claim ITC; ISD distribution or invoicing is permitted only if services are attributable to or actually provided to the recipient. Where the recipient branch is eligible for full ITC, the invoice value shall be deemed the open market value, and salary costs need not be mandatorily included in taxable value where full ITC is unavailable.

E-invoicing applicability: suppliers above threshold must issue e-invoices to TDS-registered government entities.
Supplies by a registered person whose turnover exceeds the e-invoicing threshold to Government Departments, agencies, local authorities or PSUs that are registered solely for tax deduction at source must be invoiced using the e-invoicing mechanism because those entities are treated as registered persons under GST law; the supplier is therefore required to issue e-invoices under the relevant e-invoice rule.

Refund of accumulated input tax credit restricted to ITC reflected in GSTR 2B; circular clarifies undertaking, turnover and export refund rules
Refund of accumulated Input Tax Credit under section 54(3) is restricted to ITC reflected in FORM GSTR 2B for the relevant tax period or earlier periods on which credit is available; this applies to refund claims for periods from January 2022 onwards. The undertaking in FORM RFD 01 is amended to remove references to section 42 and GSTR 2/GSTR 3, relating the undertaking solely to compliance with clause (c) of sub section (2) of section 16. Export related refunds and calculation of adjusted total turnover are clarified, and procedural amendments to Annexure A and portal categories are provided.

Taxability of shareholding: mere holding of subsidiary shares is not a taxable supply under GST.
Securities, including shares, are neither goods nor services and mere purchase, sale or holding of shares does not constitute a supply. A transaction is taxable as a service only if it meets the statutory definition of supply; classification entries describing holding company activities do not convert passive shareholding into a taxable supply. Therefore, mere holding of subsidiary shares by a parent company is not a supply of services and is not subject to GST.

Warranty replacements and repairs: no additional GST where covered in original supply; GST applies to any additional consideration.
Where a manufacturer's original supply includes the expected cost of warranty replacements and repairs, replacements or repairs provided during the warranty without separate consideration attract no further GST and do not require reversal of input tax credit. If additional consideration is charged, GST applies to that consideration. Distributor actions are taxable only when they constitute a supply invoiced to the manufacturer; manufacturer-provided parts to distributors for warranty replacement without consideration do not attract GST or ITC reversal. Repair services charged by a distributor to the manufacturer are taxable and the manufacturer may claim ITC. Extended warranty at sale is part of the composite supply; post-sale extended warranty is a separate taxable contract.

TCS liability where multiple e commerce operators are involved: the ECO releasing payment must collect and remit TCS.
Where multiple ECOs are involved and the supplier side ECO is not the supplier, the supplier side ECO who ultimately releases payment to the supplier must collect and remit TCS and perform Section 52 compliances. If the supplier side ECO is itself the supplier, the buyer side ECO collecting payment must collect and remit TCS and comply with Section 52 when making payment to that supplier/ECO.