CGST jurisdiction for Pune Zone and Goa reallocated, with PIN code jurisdictions and rules for new PINs effective 22 June 2017.
Territorial and organisational jurisdiction for Central Tax in the Pune Zone (including Goa) is reallocated effective 22 June 2017: specified Commissionerates (Pune I, Pune II, Kolhapur, Goa, Audit I Pune, Audit II Pune, Appeals I Pune, Appeals II Pune and Appeals Goa) with PIN code wise Division and Range assignments are set out in Annexure I; newly created PIN codes attach to the nearest jurisdiction or the Commissionerate with the largest share where overlap occurs; Audit and Appeals jurisdictions are separately linked to defined Commissionerates.

IGST on imports requires GSTIN on customs forms and electronic GSTN validation for credit and export refund claims.
Imports will attract IGST and applicable compensation cess in addition to customs duties; the value for these levies includes customs value plus customs duties but excludes the IGST and cess. Bills of Entry and Shipping Bills have been revised to require declaration of GSTIN (or PAN/state code for non registrants) and to capture item wise taxable values and IGST for electronic validation with GSTN. Customs EDI will reconcile import credits and validate export refunds or proof of export; non EDI locations must adopt digital upload utilities to enable electronic validation.

GST Council approves rules, rate fitments, lottery tax split, e Way Bill approach, return extensions and operational settlement measures.
The Council adopted amendments to prior Minutes, approved draft Rules and Forms for Advance Ruling, Appeals and Revision, Assessment and Audit, e Way Bill and Anti profiteering (with officer modifications), and authorised Law/Rules and search committees to finalise appointments and drafting. It fixed fitment/threshold decisions including composition levy limits for specified Special Category States, excluded certain goods from the Composition Scheme, allowed ITC on ships, set differentiated GST rates for State run (12%) and State authorised (28%) lotteries, approved Fund Settlement Rules and provisional bank authorisations, exempted small inward supplies ( Rs. 5,000/day) from reverse charge under Section 9(4), and agreed transitional return timelines with interim Form GSTR 3B and penalty waivers.

Jurisdiction of Chief Commissioner Guwahati reallocated under GST notifications covering northeastern commissionerates and combined appeals and audit jurisdictions.
The GST notification defines territorial competence for the Chief Commissioner, Central Excise & Service Tax, Guwahati by allocating specific districts and states to designated Commissionerates (Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Shillong, Itanagar, Dimapur, Imphal, Aizawl, Agartala), detailing divisional and range-level coverage in Annexures I-VIII and designating combined appellate and audit jurisdictions to the Guwahati Appeals Commissionerate and Shillong Audit Commissionerate respectively; the Trade Notice takes effect on a date to be notified.

Passing on GST benefit required to reduce prices; charging higher post-GST instalments may attract anti-profiteering action.
Builders must pass on the GST-related reduction in tax burden to buyers by reducing prices or instalments and must not charge higher tax on instalments payable after GST implementation; withholding such benefit or charging higher post-GST rates may be treated as anti-profiteering under Section 171 of the GST law.

GST rate reduction: specified goods categories identified as having lower tax incidence under the new GST regime after Council rates are set.
The circular states that GST rate fixation is a joint Central State responsibility subject to GST Council approval and notes that for many goods the GST incidence is lower than the present combined indirect tax rates. It supplies an itemised list of tariff headings and goods descriptions-spanning foodstuffs, edible oils, cereals, processed foods, water, cement, fuels, medical supplies, textiles, footwear, stationery, select machinery and household articles-where the GST incidence has been assessed as lower than the existing combined indirect tax burden.

GST Council raises composition threshold to Rs.75 lakh, approves targeted GST rate changes and notifications to operationalise GST rules.
The GST Council adopted corrections to earlier minutes, approved amended Accounts and Records Rules (including electronic access and limited logging), authorised bank-based authentication subject to IT Act conformity, raised the Composition Scheme threshold to Rs.75 lakh with a negative list for manufacturers, approved multiple item-specific GST rate adjustments (including insulin at a reduced rate, exemption for children's colouring books, bamboo furniture at a lower rate, and concessional treatment for certain job-work services), approved specified service exemptions where government bears full cost, maintained reverse charge for legal and sponsorship services while exempting individuals from registration, and directed staged notification of multiple CGST and IGST sections to operationalise the Rules and exempt fully reverse-charge suppliers from registration.

Permanent Account Number requirement for GST migration: PAN mandatory for all registrants including government entities to obtain GSTIN.
Migration to the GST framework requires a Permanent Account Number issued under the Income Tax Act for eligibility to register; only PAN-based and PAN-validated Central Excise and Service Tax registrations can be migrated. Government departments, PSUs and local bodies lacking PAN-based CE/ST registrations must obtain PAN and convert their registrations to PAN-based status to receive a Provisional ID/GSTIN from the GST network.

GST Council finalises tax rates and procedural rules for GST rollout, IT readiness, anti-profiteering and e-way bills.
The GST Council confirmed and amended prior minutes, reviewed GSTN IT preparedness and timelines, approved amended Transition and Return Rules (including deemed ITC percentages, extended filing periods, auto-populated returns, summary HSN reporting and GST Practitioner transitional provisions), finalized GST rates and concessions for numerous goods (notably exemptions, differentiated rates for textiles, footwear, machinery, gold, bidi/tendu leaves, CSD concessions), endorsed a complaint-screening and investigation framework to implement Section 171 anti-profiteering rules, and directed notification of key CGST/IGST provisions including Section 10 for Composition levy effective 19 June while deferring an all-India e-Way Bill roll-out decision.

GST implementation: Council approved interest rates, portal, TCS, committees and fitment of goods/services rates, plus rules amendments and exemptions.
The Council fixed statutory simple interest rates for delayed tax payments and refunds (18%, 24%, and 6-9%), approved TCS by e commerce operators (0.5% CGST/SGST, 1% IGST proviso), notified www.gst.gov.in as the Common GST Electronic Portal, constituted a three tier project management framework with Standing Committees and Sectoral Groups, nominated the Additional Secretary as ex officio GSTN Director, approved targeted amendments to Registration/Payment/Refund/Invoice/ITC/Valuation/Composition Rules, and authorised fitment of goods and services into Nil/5/12/18/28% slabs with specified modifications, Compensation Cess measures and IGST exemptions.

GST migration: provisional enrolment window re-opened; unused provisional IDs cancelled and replacements available via jurisdictional officer.
Reopening of the GST enrolment window permits Central Excise and Service Tax assessees to migrate by using provisional IDs; unused provisional IDs issued up to 31.01.2017 have been cancelled while IDs issued in February-March 2017 and those restored after State VAT cancellation remain active. To obtain a provisional ID taxpayers must contact their jurisdictional Central Excise/Service Tax officer or GST Seva Kendra and send an email from their registered ACES email to the designated helpdesk with the subject requesting a provisional ID and include their Central Excise/Service Tax registration numbers and details of any earlier enrolment issues.

GST enrollment requirement: complete portal registration to preserve carryforward of tax credits and enable return filing.
Enrollment on the GST portal is required to carry forward existing duty and tax credits and to file returns; provisional IDs from ACES must be used to enroll, and enrolled taxpayers must record their GST portal user name in ACES. Taxpayers not enrolling must confirm non migration in ACES, otherwise provisional IDs may be cancelled and credit entitlement during migration may be jeopardized.

GST Council approves draft rules on input tax credit, valuation, transitional provisions and composition; circulated for public comment.
The Council approved in principle four draft Rules-Input Tax Credit, Valuation, Transitional Provisions and Composition-and adopted amendments to five existing Rules on Registration, Return, Payment, Refund and Invoice/Debit Credit Note. These drafts and amended Rules will be circulated to States and placed in the public domain for comments; final versions will be returned to the Council after public consultation. Officers may make minor drafting changes; lottery valuation Rule for tickets to be deleted with taxation on face value; rate fitment proposals to be discussed only at Council meetings.

GST migration assistance set up to help excise and service tax assessees transition to the GST network.
A GST migration assistance centre (Seva Kendra) is established at the Commissioner's office to assist Central Excise and Service Tax assessees in migrating to the GSTN, operating on weekends during the migration period. The notice lists designated officers and contact numbers as nominated points of contact for resolving migration-related problems and urges trade to avail the service and cooperate with the migration process.

GST Council approves SGST/UTGST models, IGST changes to zero-rate SEZ supplies, and a compensation cess schedule.
The Council approved the Model SGST and UTGST Laws with state-specific transitional and procedural changes, authorised minor editorial corrections, amended the IGST Law to treat supplies to SEZs as zero rated like physical exports (with consequential CGST refund timing changes), removed "taxable" to allow refunds for certain non-GST exports, adopted a Schedule of ceiling cess rates in the Compensation Bill, and constituted a Task Force for seamless freight movement while deferring some policy items for later consideration.

GST Council approved amended CGST and IGST drafts, cross empowerment, refund interest rules, e way bill and tribunal provisions.
The GST Council approved revised drafts of the CGST and IGST Laws with targeted amendments and authorised the Law Committee to make minor corrections. It directed reformulation of cross empowerment to ensure SGST officers are empowered under the CGST Act and that a single authoritative order addresses disputes involving both CGST and SGST. The Council set appellate and tribunal provisions including single member benches, fixed differential interest rates for delayed refunds (6% generally, 9% after final adjudication), capped tax collection at source for e commerce up to 1%, and approved GSTN's e Way Bill module with costs borne by Central and State Governments.

GST Council approves amended minutes, compensation law details, and Model GST Law changes on tribunal, allocations, and definitions.
The Council adopted amended Minutes of its 9th meeting with textual corrections and revised taxpayer allocation rules: new registrants to be initially split one each between Centre and State, with year-end redistribution using a 90% State/10% Centre formula for turnover below Rs. 1.5 crore and 50:50 for turnover above; deletion of the clause permitting States to unilaterally consult the Centre to vary division; and refinement of cross-empowerment under IGST reserving place-of-supply adjudication to the Central authority while referring specified export/import issues to the Law Committee. The Council approved the drafted Compensation Law with defined Fund mechanics and approved multiple Model GST Law amendments including tribunal composition, penalty-waiver power, Schedule II/III/IV changes, dropping the CAG provision, and a focused definition of 'agriculturist'.

GST migration assistance via Seva Kendra helps central excise and service taxpayers complete GSTN registration, filings and document uploads.
Establishes a GST Seva Kendra to assist migration of Central Excise and Service Tax assessees to the GSTN, providing infrastructure and in person help to complete GSTN registration, fill required online details, and scan/upload supporting documents; names designated officers and invites trade members to use the service in accordance with prior procedural guidance.

GST migration requires provisional ID from GSTN via ACES, completion on GSTN portal, ARN issuance and provisional certificate.
GSTN will generate provisional IDs for assessees with a valid PAN and send them to CBEC; CBEC will publish the provisional ID and password on the ACES portal. Assessees must use these credentials to log into the GSTN portal, complete details, upload documents, receive an ARN, and on the GST roll out date be migrated and issued a Provisional Certificate. Registrations without a valid PAN must update PAN on ACES before migration; certain fields will be non editable and submitted data will be verified by tax authorities.

Migration of Central Excise and Service Tax assessees to GST regime: provisional registration for PAN holders with guidance support.
Every Central Excise and Service Tax assessee with a valid PAN will be granted provisional GST registration under the draft CGST Act and draft GST Registration Rules; assessees are to use prescribed stepwise guidance on the government GST migration web pages and may contact nominated nodal officers listed in the annexure for assistance and clarifications.