Deferred payment of Customs duty extended to authorized public undertakings, subject to eligibility, ICEGATE OTP authentication and monitoring.
Extension of the deferred payment of Customs import duty to Authorized Public Undertakings (APUs) is authorised from the Notification dated 19.08.2020 and governed by the Deferred Payment of Import Duty Rules, 2016 (as amended). Eligible APUs-Government companies, statutory corporations, departments or autonomous bodies with IEC and requisite governmental recommendation-must apply to the Principal Commissioner/Commissioner, DIC, CBIC for a two-year approval (renewable). Approved APUs must obtain ICEGATE login, authenticate deferred-payment intent via OTP, indicate flag "D" on Bills of Entry for clearance, and remit duty by the due dates prescribed in rule 5, with monitoring and potential revocation for non-compliance.

Virtual personal hearings mandated for customs, excise and GST proceedings, with prescribed video-conferencing procedure and records.
Personal hearings in proceedings under Customs, Central Excise, Chapter V of the Finance Act and the CGST/IGST Acts are mandated to be conducted via video conferencing. Authorities must notify parties by official email with joining links and officer contact details, require scanned authorization and photo ID, and conduct hearings from official facilities or approved platforms. Oral submissions will be reduced to a written "record of personal hearing" emailed within one day; parties have three days to sign or modify it. Documents filed during hearings must be self-attested and emailed within three days.

IFSC access expanded: entities based in India or abroad may provide financial services subject to Board-specified compliance.
Addition of Clause 8(3) permits entities based in India or in foreign jurisdictions to provide financial services in IFSC, provided they comply with the applicable regulatory framework and guidelines for such financial services as specified by the Board from time to time.

Accounting standards for IFSC debt issuers require IFRS/US GAAP/Ind AS compliance or a quantified reconciliation in disclosures.
Issuers listing debt securities in IFSC must prepare financial statements under IFRS, US GAAP or Ind AS or their home accounting standards. If not prepared under those frameworks, issuers must include a quantitative summary of significant differences between national standards and IFRS in disclosure documents; alternatively, for issues aimed at institutional investors a statement of differences plus a disclaimer that effects are not quantified is permissible.

Deferred payment of customs import duty extended to authorised public undertakings, subject to eligibility, ICEGATE authentication and monitoring.
Extension of the deferred payment of Customs import duty to Authorised Public Undertakings allows eligible government-owned or controlled companies, statutory corporations, departments or autonomous bodies with valid IEC and a prescribed recommendation to apply to the Principal Commissioner/Commissioner, DIC, CBIC for approval. Approved APUs will be registered in the Customs Automated System, appoint a nodal person for ICEGATE OTP authentication, mark Bills of Entry with flag "D" to indicate deferred payment, and must pay by the due dates under the Deferred Payment of Import Duty Rules, 2016; the Commissioner may monitor compliance and revoke approval for ineligibility or non-compliance.

Manufacturing in special warehouse requires special warehouse licence, integrated application, bonds, electronic records and GST/ex-bond compliance.
Manufacturing and other operations on specified warehoused goods require a special warehouse licence and permission under the Customs Act; applicants may seek both via an integrated application. Licensees must execute the prescribed bond and furnish bank-guarantee security, maintain electronic records with audit-trail and time-stamp, submit monthly returns, and demonstrate compliant software to customs. Exports require shipping bills; domestic clearances are taxable supplies under GST with ex-bond bill of entry for import-duty payment. Physical security, CCTV, customs examination space, and chargeable customs supervision are mandatory.

Disaster Recovery drill halts electronic customs filing and payment services during planned switch over to DR site.
A Disaster Recovery Drill will switch operations from the Primary Data Centre in Delhi to the DR site in Chennai, during which document filing at Service Centres and via the Remote EDI System (RES), online customs duty payments, and GSTN integration services will be unavailable in specified maintenance windows. All ICES activities by officers and service centres must be completed before the outage; trade associations should notify members and departmental officers must treat the instruction as a Standing Order. Difficulties should be reported to the Additional Commissioner (Technical) by email.

Udyam registration requirement: MSME classification uses written down value for plant and machinery and prior registrations temporarily recognized.
Udyam Registration Certificate is required for MSME classification and lenders may obtain it from entrepreneurs. Existing EM Part II and UAM registrations are temporarily valid and must be refiled on the Udyam portal by the transition deadline; self declaration Udyam certificates for entities exempt from turnover or income filings are temporarily valid. For classification, value of plant and machinery or equipment means Written Down Value at financial year end as defined in tax law, replacing cost of acquisition; earlier RBI guidance on investment valuation is superseded.

Virtual personal hearings now mandatory for specified indirect tax proceedings, with emailed records treated as statutory documents.
Mandatory implementation of virtual personal hearings is prescribed for proceedings under the Customs Act, Central Excise Act, Chapter V of the Finance Act and extended to CGST and IGST proceedings. Authorities must notify that hearings will be via video conference, provide official email contact and meeting link, require scanned authorization and photo ID, and reduce oral submissions to a record of personal hearing sent as a PDF within one day. Parties may amend and return the record within three days; the record is deemed a statutory document under Section 4 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Exceptions to virtual mode require written approval with reasons.

Verification of origin obligations require importers to provide origin evidence and enable country to country verification before preferential treatment.
CAROTAR and the statutory importer duty require importers to retain and provide minimum information proving compliance with Rules of Origin; where doubts about a Certificate of Origin's genuineness or the accuracy of origin claims persist after seeking information from the importer, customs may request verification from the exporting country via the Board's International Customs Division. Verification requests must be representative, complete, approved by the jurisdictional Principal Commissioner/Commissioner, include legible CoO, invoice and transport documents, and follow prescribed timelines; specimen signatures are stored on ICES to assist verification.

GST refund and adjustment procedures clarified: credit notes, refund vouchers, LUT extension, and return deposit compliance guidance.
Suppliers who paid GST on advances or on supplies later cancelled or returned must issue credit notes where invoices were issued and declare them in the return for the month of issuance to adjust tax liability; if no output liability exists, claims may be filed as "excess payment of tax" via Form GST RFD-01. Where advances had no invoice, suppliers must issue a refund voucher and may claim refund by Form GST RFD-01. Continuity of LUT for zero-rated supplies is preserved subject to furnishing Form GST RFD-11 within the extended timeline, and timelines for TDS deposit (GSTR-7) and refund application filing are correspondingly extended.

Unit quantity codes in Bills of Entry and Shipping Bills standardized; only Annexure codes allowed from 20.08.2020.
Prescribed Statistical Unit Quantity Codes (SQCs) must be declared for every item in Bills of Entry and Shipping Bills in addition to invoice commercial units, and from 20.08.2020 only commercial UQCs listed in the Annexure will be accepted; any other commercial UQC declarations will be rejected. Stakeholders must follow the standardized UQCs when filing and report implementation difficulties to the Additional/Joint Commissioner. This Public Notice functions as a standing order for officers and staff.

Unit Quantity Codes in Bills of Entry and Shipping Bills must use prescribed Annexure codes; others will be rejected.
From 20.08.2020, commercial Unit Quantity Codes declared in Bills of Entry and Shipping Bills must be limited to the specific codes listed in the Annexure; any other UQC will not be accepted. Statistical Unit Quantity Codes prescribed under the Tariff Act remain mandatory in addition to commercial units, and the notice is to be treated as a standing order with trade associations and brokers required to publicize the change.

Securities lending for consideration is taxable as a service, with borrower liability applying under reverse charge from the prescribed date.
Lending of securities under the Securities Lending Scheme, 1997 is a taxable GST service because temporary lending for a fee does not involve disposal of securities. The lender's fee is consideration, while intermediary services facilitating lending and borrowing for commission or fees are separately taxable. For the earlier period, the lender was liable under forward charge; from 1 October 2019, the borrower is liable to pay IGST under the reverse charge mechanism.

Deferred payment of customs duty extended to authorised public undertakings, subject to eligibility, ICEGATE authentication and monitoring.
Extension permits deferred payment of Customs import duty to eligible Authorised Public Undertakings, governed by the Deferred Payment of Import Duty Rules, 2016. APUs must meet specified eligibility criteria including government ownership/control, valid IEC, senior-government recommendation, compliance undertakings and AEO-related legal-compliance conditions. Applications go to the Principal Commissioner/Commissioner, DIC, CBIC; approvals are for two years renewable. Approved APUs must obtain ICEGATE access for a nodal person to authenticate deferred-payment flags on Bills of Entry; payment due dates follow rule five of the Deferred Payment Rules and approvals may be revoked on ineligibility.

Grievance redressal committees for GST ensure structured resolution and escalation of taxpayer grievances to policy and IT wings.
Constitution of a State-level Grievance Redressal Committee for GST designates Co-Chairs, nodal officers and secretaries, prescribes member nomination and attendance rules, limits representation, and mandates quarterly meetings. The Committee will examine and resolve taxpayer procedural and IT grievances, refer policy matters to the CBIC Policy Wing and GST Council Secretariat, and refer portal issues to GSTN for time-bound resolution. The Secretary must submit quarterly reports to the GST Council Secretariat and CBIC; GSTN will develop a public portal for recording and displaying grievances and their disposal, with Co-Chairs and nodal officers responsible for timely updates.

Record preservation requirement updated to an eight-year minimum for depositories and depository participants, aligning regulations and circulars.
Preservation of records requirement for depositories and depository participants is revised to mandate a minimum retention period of eight years, replacing Section 4.6(i) of the Master Circular and updating the footnote to reference the earlier circular and Regulations 54 and 66 of the D&P Regulations, 2018; depositories must amend bye-laws, effect system changes, publish the provision on their websites and report implementation status to SEBI.

Unit Quantity Codes standardization limits permissible commercial codes in customs declarations to improve EDI data quality and compliance.
The notice mandates use of prescribed commercial unit quantity codes from the Annexure for Bills of Entry and Shipping Bills, requires declaration of Statistical Unit Quantity Codes alongside commercial invoice units captured in the Single Window table, and directs that only Annexure-listed UQCs will be accepted while deviations must be reported to the designated Joint Commissioner; the directions operate as a standing order for officers.

Audit assessment compliance under Assam VAT is accelerated through strict timelines, reporting duties, and disposal norms for assessing officers.
Audit assessment under the Assam Value Added Tax framework is expedited to secure timely revenue realisation and ensure compliance by dealers. Case selection under Rule 22, completion timelines for pending and future assessments, monthly disposal reporting, minimum disposal norms, and performance monitoring are prescribed. Officers are required to meet fixed deadlines for audit assessment work, and deviation or laxity may invite disciplinary action. The circular supersedes earlier instructions on the subject.

e-Office adoption: electronic communications encouraged to improve transparency and receive diary acknowledgement for future reference.
Launch of e-Office in the Kolkata South CGST & CX Commissionerate transitions office work to a paperless electronic application; taxpayers are encouraged to send communications in searchable PDF format, provide mobile and email for immediate mail/SMS acknowledgement, and will receive a Diary Number to reference future correspondence.