Optional annual return filing permits eligible taxpayers to forgo returns while voluntarily correcting tax and input credit discrepancies.
Eligible registered persons with aggregate turnover not exceeding two crore rupees may choose not to furnish annual returns for financial years 2017-18 and 2018-19, with an unfurnished return deemed furnished on its due date. Eligible composition taxpayers may file FORM GSTR-9A, and other eligible registered persons may file FORM GSTR-9, only before the applicable due date. Taxpayers identifying short-paid tax or ineligible input tax credit during account reconciliation may voluntarily self-assess and pay the liability through FORM GST DRC-03.

Interest relief on delayed GST filings during COVID-19 available subject to timely filing and cumulative ITC adjustment.
State GST notifications provide conditional filing extensions and conditional reliefs: composition scheme filers may file CMP-02 and associated statements by extended dates; Form GSTR-3B due dates remain unchanged but a NIL interest window for the first fifteen days and a reduced interest rate thereafter apply subject to payment and filing by specified dates, failing which standard interest and penalties apply; rule 36(4) input tax credit restrictions are suspended for February-August with cumulative adjustment in September; e-way bill validity and various statutory compliance deadlines are extended to a common revised date.

Refund claims across financial years can be clubbed; refunds now follow original payment modes and require invoice matching.
The circular removes the restriction on clubbing refund claims across financial years, clarifies that accumulated ITC from a rate reduction on the same goods is not refund able as inverted duty accumulation, mandates proportional refund payment in the original modes of payment with cash refunds and re crediting of ITC, restricts refund of accumulated ITC to invoices uploaded by suppliers and reflected in the applicant's GSTR 2A, and requires HSN/SAC codes in Annexure B for invoice statements uploaded with refund applications.

Moratorium on pre insolvency GST dues protects the corporate debtor; IRP/RP must register and file post appointment returns.
Pre CIRP GST dues are treated as operational debt and no coercive action may be taken; claims must be filed before the tribunal. The IRP/RP need not file pre CIRP returns but must obtain new GST registration(s), file the first return under section 40 for the post appointment period, and may, under the special procedure in Notification No.15/GST 2, avail input tax credit on invoices bearing the erstwhile GSTIN in the first return; cash ledger deposits by the IRP/RP during the transitional period are refundable to the erstwhile registration.

Apportionment of input tax credit: apply State-level asset-value ratio and transfer ITC based on GST ITC-02 filing date.
Clarification requires apportionment of unutilized input tax credit at the level of each distinct State registration using the value of entire assets specified in the demerger scheme for that State. The proviso's asset-value ratio applies to all partial business reorganisations transferring assets with liabilities and is to be applied to the total unutilized ITC (sum of CGST, SGST/UTGST, IGST and cess). The ITC balance considered is that on the date of filing Form GST ITC-02, while the asset ratio is taken as on the scheme's appointed date.

Appeal to Appellate Tribunal: time-limit runs from when the Tribunal's President takes office, appellate bodies should dispose pending appeals.
Appeals from adjudicating authorities must go to the prescribed appellate authority under section 107 and rule 109A; appeals from those appellate authorities lie to the Appellate Tribunal under section 112. As the Appellate Tribunal is not constituted, the Removal of Difficulties order provides that the time-limit to file appeals to the Tribunal is measured from the date the President or State President enters office. Appellate authorities should note this in the preamble of orders and dispose pending appeals expeditiously without awaiting Tribunal constitution.

Undertaking in lieu of bond extended to facilitate customs clearance during lockdown; bond submission deadline deferred.
Acceptance of an undertaking in lieu of a bond under Section 143AA is extended until 15.06.2020, with the deadline to submit the proper bond deferred until 30.06.2020; prior conditions from Circular No. 17/2020 remain in force and the Board will review the relaxation at the end of the lockdown period.

Bill of Entry amendment process made contactless and paperless with online filing, electronic fee payment, and tablet-based examination.
The Bill of Entry amendment process is now contactless: amendments may be filed online via the portal and remote filing software, queued to the proper officer with additions to supporting documents auto-approved while deletions/modifications require officer approval. A mandatory amendment-fee field in the approval form ensures fees (zero if none) are captured and, upon approval, automatically included in the duty challan for electronic payment; the system sends email notices to the importer or customs broker on approval/rejection and fee levying. Tablet-based tools enable paperless cargo examination, report submission, and photo uploads.

Brand Rate fixation: special drive to clear pending applications and expedite provisional and final rates for exporters.
A special administrative drive requires Customs to expedite disposal of pending applications for fixation of Brand Rate of duty drawback, prioritizing final fixation and provisional relief, minimizing physical contact by electronic submissions, offering provisional Brand Rate or AIR where appropriate, allowing eligible exporters to switch to the Revised Simplified Scheme for faster provisional decisions, accepting prior Central Excise verifications unless further inquiry is justified, and validating Brand Rate data on the designated portal.

Tariff Rate Quota allocation for sugar exports to USA expands, subject to free-export conditions and certification requirements.
An additional 3569 MT of raw cane sugar and refined sugar is allocated for export to the USA under the Tariff Rate Quota, increasing the total TRQ allocation to 12,738 MT for the fiscal period; exports under this TRQ are treated as Free subject to Notification No. 3/2015-20 restrictions, reporting to APEDA, and certification requirements including Certificates of Origin issued by the Additional Director General of Foreign Trade, Mumbai.

Waiver of late filing charges withdrawn; limited relief only for Bill of Entry tied to earlier inwards dates, with cessation.
The general waiver of late filing charges for delayed Bills of Entry is withdrawn: it will not apply to Bills of Entry for IGMs with entry inwards dates after 31.05.2020; for IGMs with entry inwards dates up to 31.05.2020 the waiver will cease for Bills of Entry filed after 08.06.2020. The withdrawal is issued as a standing order for officers and staff and affected stakeholders may raise specific difficulties to the Deputy/Additional Commissioner, Appraising Main (IMPORT) via the provided email.

Bank account validation: Exporters must reconcile PFMS bank details to enable disbursal of drawback and IGST refunds.
Mismatch between exporters' bank details and Public Financial Management System (PFMS) records is preventing PFMS validation of accounts and blocking disbursal of drawback and IGST refund claims. Exporters listed must submit a request letter to the Deputy Commissioner (Drawback/Statistics/EDI), a bank certification of account details, IEC copy, and PAN, either by post or by designated email addresses; the list of affected IECs is posted on the customs office website and stakeholders should take immediate remedial action.

GST compliance relief extends insolvency registration, merchant-export export and job-work reporting deadlines during COVID-19 disruption.
GST compliance relief extends the separate-registration deadline for an IRP/RP to 30 days from appointment or 30 June 2020, whichever is later. No separate registration is required where the corporate debtor furnished all pre-appointment FORM GSTR-1 statements and FORM GSTR-3B returns. A change of IRP/RP is treated as a change of authorised signatory. Merchant-exporter export deadlines and FORM GST ITC-04 filing for the quarter ending March 2020 are extended to 30 June 2020 where applicable.

GST compliance relief permits credit-note adjustments, refund-voucher claims, and extended deadlines for LUT, TDS returns and refund applications.
GST paid on cancelled service advances or returned invoiced goods is generally adjusted through a credit note and the relevant return; a refund claim for excess tax payment may be made where no output liability exists for adjustment. Where no invoice was issued for a cancelled advance, a refund voucher is required and refund may be claimed through FORM GST RFD-01. The clarification also extended the time for furnishing LUT, filing the TDS return and depositing deducted tax, and filing refund applications falling within the specified relief period.

COVID-19 GST compliance relief conditionally waives late fees, reduces interest, extends filings, and defers input tax credit reconciliation.
COVID-19 GST compliance relief conditionally reduces or waives interest and late fees while retaining GSTR-3B due dates for February, March and April 2020. Higher-turnover registered persons must file by 24 June 2020 to receive nil interest for the initial delay period and reduced interest thereafter; other eligible persons receive nil interest if they file within prescribed dates. GSTR-1 late fee is waived if filed by 30 June 2020. Rule 36(4) input tax credit compliance applies cumulatively for February to August 2020 in the September return, and specified statutory compliance deadlines are extended to 30 June 2020.

Delivery centre selection guidelines standardize location criteria for commodity derivatives, requiring infrastructure, liquidity, value chain participation and stakeholder review.
Stock exchanges must apply uniform criteria when identifying delivery centres for physically delivered commodity derivatives, assessing demand-supply dynamics, production catchment, contract liquidity, value chain participation, and infrastructure such as warehouses (with WDRA registration where applicable), transport links, assaying facilities and processing plants; they must obtain stakeholder feedback, review existing and potential centres, report assessments to Product Advisory Committees, and submit relevant information to the regulator for contract approvals and renewals.

Contactless Bill of Entry amendments enable online filing and electronic fee payment, streamlining customs amendment processing.
Enables a contactless Bill of Entry amendment process by permitting online filing via ICEGATE, queuing amendments for officer approval, auto-approving additions to supporting documents, requiring officer approval for deletions/modifications, and incorporating a mandatory amendment-fee field whose approved fees are automatically included in the electronic duty challan; the System sends email notifications of approval/rejection and fees. ICETAB deployment enables paperless examinations with PDF reference, report entry, and photo upload.

Appellate tribunal nonconstitution delays tribunal appeals; time limit runs from the date the Tribunal President assumes office.
Clarifies that appeals from adjudicating authorities must be filed to the prescribed Appellate Authority (Joint Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner (Appeals) as applicable) while appeals from those appellate authorities to the Appellate Tribunal will have their limitation period counted from the date the President or State President of the Tribunal enters office under the Ninth Removal of Difficulties Order; appellate authorities should dispose pending appeals expeditiously and taxpayers may submit Annexure-I within fifteen days to indicate intent to appeal to the Tribunal to delay recovery.

Margin pledge requirements clarified; implementation deferred and client confirmation limited to initial pledge and repledging.
Implementation of pledge/re-pledge margin obligations in the depository system is deferred to allow system readiness; trading and clearing members must close existing demat accounts tagged as Client Margin/Collateral within the extended transition period. A Power of Attorney held by a member is not equivalent to collection of margin, effective immediately. Client confirmation by OTP or verifiable mechanism is required only once at initial creation of the pledge; subsequent re-pledging by the member does not require further confirmation.

Preferential Certificate of Origin restored to physical issuance for exports to Thailand and Vietnam under ASEAN India FTA.
Preferential Certificate of Origin issuance for exports to Thailand and Vietnam under the ASEAN India FTA is restored to physical paper format; exporters must submit manual applications to the designated issuing agencies (Export Inspection Agency, MPEDA, Textile Committee). The DGFT e platform will not accept applications for those two destinations but will continue to process CoO applications for other countries under the FTA. This arrangement remains in place until further notice.