Special Deposit Scheme interest rate revised, deposits under non-government provident, superannuation and gratuity funds now bear the notified rate.
Revision of interest rate under the Special Deposit Scheme (SDS), 1975 requires that deposits by non government provident, superannuation and gratuity funds shall bear the newly notified rate; the Ministry of Finance notification directs deposit offices to implement the change and acknowledge receipt.

Regularization of export obligation defaults permits duty payment with interest capped at the duty, enabling closure of eligible cases.
Notification No. 46/2013-Customs permits authorization holders to regularize bona fide defaults in meeting export obligation by paying the applicable customs duty for the shortfall together with interest, provided the interest paid does not exceed the duty; cases with ongoing export obligation periods are excluded and payment must be completed by the prescribed cutoff.

e-KYC acceptance: UIDAI e-KYC now valid proof of identity and address for intermediaries, client authorization required.
SEBI requires regulated intermediaries to accept UIDAI's e-KYC as a valid KYC verification method, treating the information and photograph obtained through e-KYC as sufficient proof of identity and address, provided the client authorizes the intermediary to access their UIDAI data; this directive is issued under the powers of Section 11(1) to protect investors and regulate markets.

Specified restaurant service tax applies where any part of an establishment is air-conditioned; non AC demarcated outlets remain exempt.
Service tax applies to services rendered by a specified restaurant-one with any air conditioning or central air heating at any time in the year. Where a complex has clearly demarcated air conditioned and non air conditioned restaurants supplied from a common kitchen, only the specified restaurant's services are taxable while the non AC outlet's services remain exempt with Cenvat credit treatment under the Cenvat Credit Rules. Services by a specified restaurant in other hotel areas are taxable, and goods sold on fixed MRP must be excluded when determining the service value.

Mutual fund distributor access to stock exchange infrastructure enables direct purchase and redemption with direct clearing and demat settlement.
Allows Mutual Fund Distributors registered with AMFI, and permitted by the concerned recognised stock exchange, to use recognised stock exchanges' infrastructure to purchase and redeem mutual fund units directly from mutual funds/AMCs on behalf of clients; distributors shall not handle pay-in, pay-out or unit custody, with clearing corporations and depositories ensuring direct settlement to investor accounts and demat accounts, and exchanges shall prescribe permission criteria and operating guidelines.

Appointment of common adjudicating authority assigned adjudication of three show cause notices to a specified Additional Commissioner.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs assigns adjudication of three show cause notices against Divya Tourism Private Limited to Shri J. S. Negi, Additional Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Service Tax, Ahmedabad, and directs that the adjudication be answerable to the Additional Commissioner in that office, while identifying the originating service tax divisions for administrative linkage.

Adjudication assignment transfers responsibility for specific service tax show cause notices to a designated commissioner for resolution.
The adjudication of two specified service tax show cause notices issued to M.R.K.R Construction and Industries Private Ltd is assigned to the Commissioner of Central Excise Hyderabad II, with file references and notice dates recorded in the annexed table and reporting relationships to the Commissioners of Central Excise Guntur and Hyderabad III noted; the transfer is communicated to the Chief Commissioner and DGCEI for administrative routing.

Appointment of Common Adjudicating Authority assigns adjudication of numerous service tax show cause notices to a designated commissioner.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs, invoking statutory powers, assigns to Dr. Ram Niwas, Commissioner of Central Excise, Mumbai II, the adjudication of specified service tax show cause notices listed in the Table; entries 1-40 are answerable to Commissioner of Service Tax I Mumbai and entries 41-100 are answerable to Commissioner of Service Tax II Mumbai.

Suspension of SIONs under Foreign Trade Policy powers; specified SION entries suspended via Public Notice by trade authority.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade, invoking Paragraph 2.4 of the Foreign Trade Policy, 2009-2014 and Paragraph 1.1 of the Handbook of Procedures (Vol. I), issues a Public Notice suspending SION A1143, A1170, A3627 and K134, thereby removing those specified SIONs from operative effect pending further action.

Stock statement filing requirement amended; separate Stock 1 filing year corrected to 2011 12 in VAT circular.
The requirement for filing of the Stock 1 statement is amended: the year for separate filing in Circular No. 19 of 2013 14 should be read as 2011 12 instead of 2012 13, with all other contents of that circular remaining the same.

Stock statement filing: separate online Stock I withdrawn; file stock statement in annexure with quarterly return.
The department withdraws the need for separate online filing of the Stock I statement for 2013-14 by requiring the stock statement to be filed in the designated annexure with the second quarter VAT return, while the separate Stock I filing requirement for 2012-13 remains in force.

Rebate claim settlement timeframe urged to be shortened, with prompt processing and monitoring to reduce delay and interest exposure.
Field formations are directed to ensure rebate claims that are complete in all respects are disposed of within thirty days of receipt, except those requiring preaudit, which should be processed expeditiously; Chief Commissioners must put in place a monitoring mechanism to ensure compliance and to minimize delays that could lead to interest becoming payable under the statutory outer limit.

Export Outstanding Statement online submission: bank wide reporting with nodal branch designation and FEMA based compliance.
XOS reporting will move from branch wise to an online, bank wide submission; AD Category I banks must designate a Nodal Branch to upload consolidated XOS data in CSV format to the RBI server using allotted User IDs and passwords. Banks should implement required infrastructure, test uploads by sending sample test data for RBI feedback, and follow the Bank User Manual. The directions are issued under sections 10(4) and 11(1) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.

Interest-free period for warehoused goods begins on deposit, with interest accruing after the statutory period.
The 90-day interest-free period for warehoused goods begins on the date of deposit of goods in the warehouse; interest is chargeable only if goods remain beyond that period and accrues from the expiry of those ninety days until payment of duty under section 15, and implementation difficulties may be reported to the Board.

Import item description amendment replaces monomer term with polymer term, clarifying coating material and keeping quantities unchanged.
Import Item No. 2(b) description is amended to replace "Aqueous Dispersion of Vinylidene Chloride (Total solid content 60+/-1%)" with "Aqueous Dispersion of Polyvinylidene Chloride (Total solid content 60+/-1%)", reflecting that the polymer, not the monomer, is used for coating; export product descriptions, other import items and permitted import quantities are unchanged.

Extension of online VAT return filing: new deadlines set for DVAT-16/DVAT-17 and DVAT-56; payment rules unchanged.
The Commissioner, under Rule 49A of the Delhi VAT Rules, 2005, extends the last dates for online filing of second-quarter returns in Form DVAT-16 and DVAT-17 with required annexures and for submission of hard-copy acknowledgement Form DVAT-56, prescribing distinct deadlines by gross turnover bands for 2012-13; tax remains payable as per the payment provisions of the Delhi Value Added Tax Act, 2004.

Extension of office hours to facilitate manual filing of Report of Audit and taxpayer compliance with filing instructions.
All Income Tax Offices were ordered to remain open until 8:00 p.m. on 30 September 2013 to enable taxpayers to manually file the Report of Audit for assessment year 2013-2014, as a facilitative administrative directive implementing the CBDT's earlier instruction.

Due date extension for income tax returns in Gujarat under Section 119 after floods, allowing affected assessees additional time to comply.
Order under Section 119 extends the due date for filing returns of income for assessees in the State of Gujarat affected by heavy rains and floods; the extension applies to those liable to file by the original due date and departmental publicity and circulation to tax offices and professional bodies are directed to facilitate compliance under the adjusted timeline.

VAT payment portal required: notified banks must accept VAT dues only through the department's online challan system.
All notified banks designated as appropriate government treasuries must accept Value Added Tax dues exclusively through the Department of Trade and Taxes' online portal using the department's challan module; banks must discontinue receipt of VAT payments via their own websites or other modes and comply with the Department's directive issued by the Joint Commissioner (Collection).

Trading suspension procedure: fines as first resort, suspension on consecutive defaults and freezing of promoter shareholding.
Recognised stock exchanges must impose fines as the first remedy for specified listing-condition breaches and reserve suspension of trading for subsequent or consecutive defaults, adopt a uniform fine schedule and SOP in their bye-laws, and coordinate with depositories to freeze or unfreeze promoter and promoter-group shareholdings upon exchange intimation; exchanges must monitor compliance, publish enforcement actions, create a trade-for-trade category for repeated defaults, and follow specified notice, cure and revocation timelines.