Proposal submission deadline for capital infrastructure projects requires departments to forward proposals to the Finance Department before committee consideration.
Departments must forward capital infrastructure project proposals to the Finance Department for placement before the Expenditure Finance Committee for consideration at its first meeting in the second week of September 2015; proposals must be received by the Finance Department by 31.8.2015 to permit agenda preparation and committee consideration.

Automatic exchange of financial account information: intermediaries must perform due diligence and report specified accounts under new tax rules.
India's accession to the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement and the FATCA agreement with the United States has led to amendments in tax law and the notification of rules and Form 61B obliging financial institutions to conduct due diligence and report specified information on reportable accounts to Indian tax authorities for exchange; intermediaries must ensure compliance and stock exchanges and depositories must notify and disseminate the requirements.

Extension of Letter of Permission allows Board discretion to consider existing EOUs' textile reprocessing continuations.
An enabling proviso to Appendix-6B maintains the prohibition on textile reprocessing activities for EOUs but empowers the Board of Approval to consider and decide extensions of the Letter of Permission for existing units engaged in such activities, allowing case-by-case continuation despite the general ban.

Jurisdictional selection for MEIS/SEIS claims requires filing at chosen RA or SEZ Development Commissioner, with TRA for manual ports.
Exporters must elect a single jurisdictional Regional Authority based on the IEC-endorsed address at the start of the financial year; IEC holders with SEZ/EOU units must apply to the concerned Development Commissioner, SEZ, for MEIS/SEIS benefits, while entities with both SEZ/EOU and DTA units must file DTA claims with the RA and SEZ claims with the DC. Duty credit scrips are issued with a single port of registration equal to the port of export and must be registered at that port before use; SEZs are non-EDI ports and require scrip registration at the SEZ port and TRA issuance by the DC for use at other ports.

Reward for informants: discretionary ex-gratia payments for credible tips that enable recovery of previously irrecoverable tax.
Guidelines create a discretionary ex-gratia reward scheme for informants who provide specific, credible information leading to recovery of taxes previously irrecoverable, applicable where jurisdictional authorities find recovery was not possible despite exhaustive efforts and where the informant's information directly produced recovery. Rewards are a percentage of tax directly attributable to the information, subject to a monetary ceiling and finalisation of assessments and litigation; authorities, procedural requirements, secrecy safeguards, exclusions for certain informants, and assessment criteria are prescribed, with supporting annexures detailing actionable information and a statement form.

Foreign direct investment reporting enabled online on the e Biz platform; banks to verify FCTRS filings for UIN processing.
Foreign direct investment reporting via FCTRS is enabled on the e-Biz portal: residents download, digitally sign and upload returns; Authorised Dealer Category I banks must download, verify, request further information if needed, and upload verified forms for RBI processing and allotment of the Unique Identification Number. The online facility is supplementary to existing manual reporting and requires AD access to the e-Biz portal through NIC provided VPN accounts.

Transfers and postings in senior Customs and Central Excise grades ordered, with mandatory joining and compliance reporting requirements.
Transfers and postings in the grades of Principal Commissioner and Principal Additional Director General of Customs & Central Excise are ordered with immediate effect, listing officers, new postings and additional charges; a subset of officers is retained until the Annual General Transfer exercise. Officers must join by the prescribed date and no pre-joining representations will be entertained; Chief Commissioners/Directors General must report joining compliance to the Board with a copy to ADG (HRM-II), DG HRD, and all prior representations stand disposed of.

Extra Duty Deposit payment now mandatory online through ICES; manual payments will not be accepted after implementation.
Integration of an online Extra Duty Deposit (EDD) payment module in ICES 1.5 mandates that the Appraising Officer generate an invoice level EDD challan, forward particulars to the bank for e payment, and block out of charge until the EDD is remitted; incorrect unpaid challans may be deleted and regenerated by the Appraiser, and manual EDD payments will not be accepted after implementation.

SEZ cargo electronic integration enables automated linking of shipping and customs filings, triggering transshipment approvals and release procedures.
Integration requires steamer agents to mark IGMs with the correct SEZ code and TP cargo nature so ICES forwards particulars to SEZ online. Importers/CBs will file Bills of Entry in SEZ online, which tags IGM data and sends goods-removal messages and authorised representative details to ICES; the Docks Section verifies particulars, ICES generates a transshipment approval and an online reference and Approval Order in triplicate, and those references govern release and custody transfer.

Authorized Economic Operator certificate validity extended to five years, subject to annual post certification review and DGICCE extension.
Validity of Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) certificates is normally extended to five years, replacing the prior three year term, while maintaining annual post certification review by the AEO Programme Manager; further extension may be granted by the DGICCE and the modification amends para 15.5 of the earlier Board Circular, eliminating the routine need for fresh applications and full re verification at the three year mark.

Additional security requirement for high-turnover new dealers may be mandated when tax deposits are disproportionately low.
The department proposes requiring additional security, to be furnished under rule 23 of the DVAT Rules, 2005, from dealers registered within the last three years whose quantified turnover exceeded the specified threshold in any year and who deposited tax below the departmental benchmark proportion; security would equal the prescribed percentage of the maximum quantified turnover in any of the last three financial years.

CVD exemption clarified: manufacturer must satisfy non availment condition, preserving domestic concessional excise treatment.
The Board amended relevant notifications to clarify that the non availment condition for excise duty exemption must be met by the manufacturer (not the importer), and added explanations that "appropriate duty" includes nil or concessional duty or tax whether or not read with existing exemption notifications; domestically manufactured goods covered by these entries therefore continue to be exempt or subject to concessional excise treatment as before the amendments.

Show Cause Notice waiver permits oral notice and payment to obtain closure of proceedings without penalty in non-fraud cases.
An assessee may waive a written Show Cause Notice by written request and payment of tax/duty, interest and the reduced penalty, allowing oral notice and representation; the statutory payment window runs from department's receipt of the waiver letter, payments made before receipt are permitted, and in non-fraud cases payment of tax and interest before or within the prescribed period leads to no penalty and deemed conclusion of proceedings, which may be approved by an officer of rank equal to the adjudicating authority.

Extension of filing deadline for first-quarter VAT returns; payment obligations remain unchanged and digital signatures waive hard-copy filing.
The Commissioner extended the last date for filing online or hard-copy first-quarter returns in Forms DVAT-16, DVAT-17 and DVAT-48 with required annexures to 25/08/2015; tax must be paid in the usual manner and dealers filing with digital signatures need not submit a hard copy or Form DVAT-56.

Approval under section 10(23C)(vi): threshold is existence for educational non profit purposes; conditions enforced through monitoring.
The prescribed authority must be satisfied that an applicant exists as an educational institution operating solely for educational purposes and not for profit; compliance with Provisos need not be proven at the grant stage where compliance depends on future events, though approval may be made subject to terms and monitored with withdrawal for breaches. Registration under the separate charitable registration regime is not mandatory for approval; surplus accumulation and reasonable student fees do not by themselves indicate profit making; trustee appointment/removal alone is not a ground for denial.

Import of second hand electronics requires prior environmental permission or a trade licence; non compliance triggers customs penalties.
Imports of second hand and used electrical and electronic assemblies are regulated as hazardous waste and allowed only with prior environmental permission or a requisite trade licence; this requirement applies to all modes of importation, including courier and personal imports. Non compliance attracts action and penalties under the Customs Act, and authorised couriers must advise clients on compliance and report breaches to customs authorities.

SEZ online integrates with ICES 1.5 for electronic IGM, Bills of Entry, transshipment approvals and re-warehousing messaging.
Pilot integration of SEZ online with ICES 1.5 at Bengaluru requires IGMs to include the correct SEZ code and "TI" designation so ICES can transmit particulars to SEZ online for filing Bills of Entry; SEZ online will tag IGMs, send removal and re-warehousing messages via ICEGATE, and ICES will generate transshipment approvals and closure of IGM lines (subject to physical verification and a 45-day re-warehousing window). Manual endorsement, registers and physical verification procedures continue concurrently during the pilot, and export Shipping Bills, LEO and EGM data are likewise exchanged in real time.

Representation before Authority of Advance Rulings: require senior officer representation and timely submission of briefing materials.
Officers below the level of Addl. CIT/JCIT should not be nominated to represent before the Authority of Advance Rulings; important cases may be represented by Pr. CIT/CIT. Where represented by CIT (DR), that officer must be briefed well in advance. Updated reports and paper books must be sent to the Secretary AAR, with a copy to CIT (DR), at least ten days before the application is taken up for hearing, and regional officers must be instructed for strict compliance.

Import controls on secondhand electronics now require environmental permission or trade licence; non-compliance risks customs penalties.
Secondhand and used electrical and electronic assemblies are treated as hazardous waste and may be imported only with prior environmental permission or a required trade licence. This restriction applies regardless of import mode, including courier shipments and personal imports; non-compliance exposes consignments and importers to customs enforcement and penal action. Authorised couriers must advise clients about compliance and report breaches to customs authorities.

Service tax on food delivery depends on whether the transaction's dominant character is sale or includes a service element.
Transactions involving pick-up or home delivery of food are characterised as a sale, not a service, where no on-site service elements (ambience, entertainment, air conditioning, personalized hospitality) are offered; Service Tax applies only if a service element exists, and where delivery is provided free the transaction is not liable to Service Tax.