Extension of tax return due-date: applies to assessees required to file under clause (a) of Explanation 2 to section 139.
The circular clarifies that the previously issued extension of the income-tax return due-date applies to all assessees required to file their return by 30th September, 2016 under clause (a) of Explanation 2 to sub-section (1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, reiterating applicability of the orders dated 9th and 14th September, 2016 (F. No. 225/195/2016/ITA.II).

Income Declaration Scheme filing: system now allows uploading Form One declarations filed without PAN; officials must upload them.
The Income Declaration Scheme permits declarants without PAN to file manually by quoting their PAN application date and acknowledgment number; the ITD system now accepts uploading of such manually filed Form 1 declarations, and Principal Commissioners/Commissioners are directed to upload them using the new facility.

FPI investment limits increased for central and state government securities in two tranches; SEBI to issue guidelines.
Investment limits for FPIs in Central Government Securities and State Development Loans are increased in two scheduled tranches, raising aggregate caps for All FPIs and providing additional allocation for Long Term FPIs. Existing conditions continue: security-wise limits remain, coupons may be invested outside the limits, and investments are restricted to securities with a minimum residual maturity of three years. SEBI will issue operational allocation and monitoring guidelines; separate communication will address transfer of unutilised Long Term FPI allocation. Directions are issued under the Foreign Exchange Management Act without prejudice to other approvals.

GST Council minutes adopt revenue definition amendments, defer cross-empowerment, approve draft GST rules and incentive reimbursement.
The Council adopted amended minutes clarifying that compensable revenue includes all State taxes (including cesses) subsumed in GST and set a Committee of Officers to define "revenue" and examine whether ITC reversals form part of compensable revenue. It approved revised Rules of Procedure and the Draft GST Rules on registration, payment, return, refund and invoicing (allowing minor Chairperson-approved changes), and decided that existing tax-exempt entities will pay tax under GST with any continuations of incentives to be administered via state/central budgetary reimbursement mechanisms.

Power of arrest in service tax limited to deliberate collection and nonremittance cases where arrest may protect investigation and evidence.
The circular limits the power of arrest for Service Tax to cases where a person clearly collected amounts as service tax, failed to remit them to the Central Government beyond six months from the due date, and the amount exceeds rupees two crore, requiring file notings and documentary evidence (invoices, ST3 returns) establishing collection, non payment, the time lapse and the monetary threshold before arrest; arrest remains discretionary and depends on risks to investigation, evidence tampering or witness intimidation.

Government-supported line of credit: exporters must source majority of contract goods from India and comply with EDF/SDF declarations.
The Line of Credit finances renovation of a foreign power plant and mandates that at least 75% of the contract price for eligible goods, machinery, equipment and services (including consultancy) be supplied from India, with up to 25% procurable from outside India. Shipments must be declared on EDF/SDF forms per Reserve Bank instructions. Agency commission is not payable under the LOC, though exporters may remit commission from their own resources or Exchange Earners' Foreign Currency accounts after full realisation, subject to prevailing rules. Directions are issued under FEMA without prejudice to other legal permissions.

Classification of solar panels depends on whether fitted elements supply power to external loads; impacts tariff heading assignment.
Where fitted elements in a solar panel/module supply power to an external load (for example a motor or an electrolyser), classify the module under CTH 8501; where such elements do not supply power to an external load, classify the module under CTH 8541. Importers and customs brokers must apply this functional test for tariff classification and report any difficulties to the customs office.

Adjudication monetary limits revised to allocate show cause notices among officers by value based jurisdiction and transfer rules.
Revised adjudication monetary limits allocate Central Excise and Service Tax show-cause notices to specific officer ranks based on duty/tax/credit bands, exclude Superintendents from deciding issues of taxability, classification, valuation and extended limitation, and permit Deputy/Assistant Commissioners to adjudicate refunds without monetary limit. Cases raising the same issue must be decided by the authority competent for the highest amount. Service Tax pendency at Commissioner level may be addressed by earmarking or transferring cases across Central Excise and Audit Commissionerates, and Commissioners (Audit) have been vested with adjudication powers.

List of commodities notified under SCRA now governs commodity derivatives trading; exchanges must amend rules and notify members.
The Central Government, in consultation with SEBI, notified a Schedule of goods under clause (bc) of section 2 of the SCRA, bringing an extensive list of agricultural, industrial and energy commodities within SCRA coverage for commodity derivatives. Commodity derivatives traded on recognised exchanges shall be governed by the SCRA and associated rules. Exchanges must amend byelaws, notify members, publish on websites and report implementation status to SEBI.

Options in commodity derivatives permitted, subject to SEBI approval and exchange amendments and compliance with disclosure requirements.
Commodity Derivatives Exchanges are permitted to introduce trading in options as a new derivative class to develop the market. Exchanges must obtain prior SEBI approval, amend relevant bye-laws, notify members and publish provisions on their websites, and report implementation status to SEBI. The circular is effective immediately and issued under Section 11(1) of the SEBI Act to promote market development and protect investor interests.

Scrutiny notices under section 143(2) must be issued before time barring for PANs selected in CASS.
Generation of scrutiny notices under section 143(2) is required for PANs selected by CASS-2016 and must be completed before the time-bar date; 991 selected PAN cases had not received notices, including cases tied to inactive or old/defunct AO codes and AO codes lacking employee numbers, and authorities are directed to migrate PANs to correct active jurisdictions and review AO assignments so notices can be issued on time.

Discontinuation of manual debits on physical Advance Authorizations; EDI debits must be verified and Advice Letter process used.
Manual debits on physical copies of Advance Authorizations registered at Customs EDI locations shall be discontinued; examining officers granting Out of Charge must verify that the authorization debit is recorded in the EDI system. For domestic sourcing or ARO/invalidation requests post discontinuation, holders must obtain an Advice Letter from the Group DC/AC (issued and updated same day), which will be emailed to the Regional Authority to enable issuance of AROs. Commissioners must designate monitoring officers, apply safeguards for manual clearance during EDI breakdowns with subsequent EDI debit entry, and circulate Public Notices and Standing Orders; TRA use for non EDI ports remains unaffected.

Regional office inclusion changes territorial jurisdiction, reallocating district coverage and adjusting administrative authority under Foreign Trade Policy.
The Director General of Foreign Trade includes a new Regional Office of DGFT at Belagavi in Appendix - 1A of the Foreign Trade Policy and assigns it territorial jurisdiction over Belagavi, Bagalkot, Dharwad, Uttara Kannada and Bijapur. Consequentially, the territorial jurisdiction of the Regional Authority, Bangalore, is reallocated to cover the rest of Karnataka excluding the districts allocated to the Belagavi Regional Office.

Export obligation period clarified for fabrics under Special Advance Authorization Scheme; obligation counted from issue of authorisation.
The public notice corrects a reference date in an earlier notice and amends Appendix 4J to state that the export obligation period for fabrics (including interlining) under the Special Advance Authorization Scheme is to be measured from the date of issue of the authorisation, not from the date of import clearance, and that further extensions are governed by the extension provisions of the Handbook of Procedures.

CXL quota export allocation: preferential sugar exports permitted with Certificate of Origin, duty conditions and reporting obligations under export policy.
Allocation permits preferential sugar exports to the EU under the CXL concession subject to the Foreign Trade Policy conditions and applicable export duty; release for free circulation requires a Certificate of Origin issued by the Additional Director General of Foreign Trade, Mumbai, with the EUR form endorsed by Customs at the port, and exporters must comply with existing reporting and procedural requirements.

PAN requirement: manual declarations accepted with PAN application details, Form-2 issued after PAN allotment, time limit reset.
Assessees without PAN may file manual declarations before the jurisdictional Principal Commissioner/Commissioner by quoting the date and acknowledgment number of their PAN application; such declarations must be accepted, but Form-2 will be issued only after PAN allotment and the time limit for issuance runs from the allotment date. Declarations are invalid if PAN is not allotted due to the declarant's non compliance.

Authorized Economic Operator programme expands facilitation: direct port clearance, deferred duty payment, paperless trade benefits.
The Accredited Client Programme is merged into a three tier Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) programme expanding eligibility to small and medium entities and adding operational facilitation: Direct Port Delivery and Direct Port Entry, request based on site inspections, acceptance of self certified origin documents, paperless declarations, deferred payment of duties, faster drawback and refund processing, and pursuit of Mutual Recognition Agreements with other customs administrations.

Algorithmic trading rules: exchanges must enforce system capacity, risk controls, order-to-trade penalties, audits and reporting.
Algorithmic trading-orders generated by automated execution logic-is subject to operational, risk-management and surveillance requirements. Exchanges must ensure system capacity and upgrades, classify and route algorithmic orders through member servers, prohibit strategies and access that harm price discovery or disadvantage members, and impose multi-layered order-level risk controls including limits on order types, price, size and position. Members need prior exchange approval, real-time monitoring, audit trails, empanelled system audits and unique order identifiers; exchanges must limit order rates, apply economic disincentives for excessive order-to-trade activity, detect dysfunctional algorithms and report metrics and incidents to the regulator.

Position limits for commodity derivatives mandate client/member caps, clubbing rules, monitoring and value based penalties to protect market integrity.
Establishes position limits for commodity derivatives at client, member and exchange levels, with client numerical limits per commodity and member limits set as multiples of client limits or proportions of market wide open interest; prescribes aggregation and netting rules differing for agricultural and non agricultural contracts, near month limits for agricultural contracts, mandatory clubbing of linked positions subject to limited exemptions, real time monitoring, a value and duration based monetary penalty regime, exchange authority to square off excess positions and suspend persistent violators, and requirements for exchanges to amend rules, notify members and report implementation.

Warehousing norms revised: enhanced accreditation, financial security and inspection standards to secure good delivery in commodity derivatives markets.
SEBI prescribes minimum exchange-level standards to ensure guarantee for settlement of trades including good delivery by accrediting WSPs, warehouses and assayers through transparent selection and renewal; imposing paid-up capital and net worth criteria, refundable security deposits and tiered Financial Security Deposits with prescribed asset forms and concentration limits; mandating insurance on replacement value; requiring SOPs, KYD, PAN disclosures, staff training and prohibition on trading by WSP management; and establishing periodic independent inspections, audit disclosure, cancellation and continuity procedures.