Insolvency professionals must file specified electronic forms for CIRP monitoring within set timelines; historic filings due by 30 Sep 2019.
The IBBI requires insolvency professionals to electronically file Forms IP 1 and CIRP 1-6 on an IBBI platform using DSC/e signature for monitoring CIRP stages and IP performance; historic filings due by 30 September 2019 and ongoing filings due within the stage specific timelines (generally within seven days of the event).

Presumptive taxation under section 44AE: calculation based on gross vehicle weight for goods carriages, unladen weight for tractors and road-rollers.
Computation under section 44AE must follow Motor Vehicles Act definitions: a heavy goods vehicle is a goods carriage whose gross vehicle weight exceeds 12,000 kilograms; tractors or road-rollers are assessed by unladen weight. Presumptive income is Rs. 1000 per ton of gross vehicle weight per month for heavy goods vehicles, and Rs. 1000 per ton of unladen weight per month for tractors and road-rollers where gross vehicle weight does not apply.

Composition scheme option allows eligible small taxpayers to opt in and file specified GST forms for simplified tax compliance.
A registered person opting to pay State tax under the notification must file intimation in FORM GST CMP-02 selecting "Any other supplier eligible for composition levy" and furnish FORM GST ITC-03; new applicants may indicate the option in FORM GST REG-01 at registration. The option for any place of business on a PAN applies to all places of business under that PAN and is effective from the start of the financial year or from the date of registration for new registrations. Chapter II of the rules applies mutatis mutandis subject to the stated exceptions.

Advance authorization norms exclude specified items listed in a new appendix, preventing repeat authorisations for those goods.
Para 4.12(vi) of the Handbook of Procedures 2015-20 is amended to provide that norms ratified by Norms Committees remain valid for repeat Advance Authorizations except that this para does not apply to authorisations for items listed in newly added Appendix 4P. Appendix 4P specifies excluded categories: cashew in any form, restricted/prohibited import items, items under para 4.11 of the Foreign Trade Policy, and items subject to pre-import conditions under Appendix 4J.

Document Identification Number requirement mandatory for tax communications; manual exceptions require prior approval and timely regularisation.
No income-tax communication may be issued on or after 1 October 2019 without a computer-generated Document Identification Number (DIN) quoted in the body; limited exceptions allow manual issuance only with written reasons and prior written approval of the Chief Commissioner/Director General, and manual communications must state the absence of a DIN. Non-conforming communications are invalid. Manual communications under specified exceptions must be regularised within 15 working days by uploading to the system, generating and communicating the DIN; a seven-day intimation is required to the Systems authority for functional unavailability, and pending manual notices must be uploaded by 31 October 2019.

No-incentive certificate requirement: importers must produce proof before clearance to enable recovery of export incentives.
Customs must ensure production of a no-incentive certificate from the Regional Authority of DGFT before clearance of re-imported goods, placing the onus on the importer to prove that export incentive or duty-credit benefits have been refunded or adjusted; field formations must review past re-imports, coordinate with DGFT to recover inadmissible incentives, issue standing orders and trade notices, and report compliance to the Drawback Division.

Registered valuer requirement: only IBBI-registered valuers may perform insolvency valuations; payments to unregistered valuers excluded.
Only valuers registered with the Board under the Companies (Registered Valuers and Valuation) Rules, 2017 are authorised to conduct valuations required under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code; appointment of unregistered valuers after 1 February 2019 is illegal, and payments to such persons shall not form part of insolvency resolution process costs or liquidation costs.

Zero-rated supply: sending goods abroad for exhibition alone does not qualify; invoice arises on sale or on expiry of the prescribed return period.
Sending specified goods abroad for exhibition or on consignment without consideration does not constitute a supply and therefore is not a zero rated supply; such movements are treated as sale on approval, require maintenance of prescribed records and accompaniment by a delivery challan, and do not require bond or LUT. Tax invoices must be issued for quantities sold abroad at the time of sale and for unsold/ unreturned quantities on expiry of the stipulated period; refunds of input tax credit may be claimed only after issuance of the tax invoice and if otherwise eligible under the refund provisions.

Intermediary status: suppliers providing ITeS on own account are not intermediaries, facilitation-only providers are intermediaries.
The circular clarifies that a person who supplies ITeS services on his own account is not an intermediary, while a person whose role is limited to arranging or facilitating another's supply (pre delivery, delivery and post delivery support) is an intermediary. Where both own account ITeS services and facilitation services are supplied together, classification depends on facts and which service is the principal supply. A supplier not treated as an intermediary may qualify as export of services if statutory location, place of supply and convertible foreign exchange payment criteria are satisfied and the parties are not merely distinct establishments of the same person.

Airport retail outlets can claim refunds of taxes on indigenous goods sold tax-free to outgoing international tourists.
Retail outlets beyond immigration counters at international airports may claim refund of taxes paid on inward supplies of indigenous goods when those goods are supplied tax-free to eligible passengers against foreign exchange. Refunds are invoice-based, not input-service refunds, and require GST registration, electronic records with an audit trail, passenger identification and declaration, and submission of FORM GST RFD-10B with supporting GSTR-3B/GSTR-2A and invoices. Jurisdictional officers will validate returns, issue a single deficiency memo if needed, and sanction refunds by tax head with inter-authority disbursal procedures.

Post-sale discounts: distinguish price adjustment from consideration for dealer services to determine GST liability and ITC entitlement.
Where a supplier gives a post-sale discount without imposing further obligations, that discount may be excluded from the supplier's taxable value if subsection (3) of section 15 of the BGST Act is met. If the discount incentivises promotional services by the dealer, it is consideration for services and the dealer must charge GST while the supplier may claim input tax credit. If the supplier pays the dealer to reduce customer prices, that amount is added to the dealer's consideration for determining value of supply.

Jurisdictional processing of GST refund applications: incorrectly mapped filings must be processed by the receiving authority and portal mapping corrected.
Where the common portal forwards a FORM GST RFD-01A refund application to a tax authority because of incorrect mapping and electronic reassignment is not available, the authority receiving the application should process the refund without delay and subsequently inform the common portal of the incorrect mapping and request an update so future applications route to the correct jurisdiction.

Place of supply rules: port cargo handling and processing of temporarily imported goods governed by contractual location or export status.
Port activities related to cargo handling are ancillary and not services related to immovable property; their place of supply is determined under the IGST destination-based provisions applicable to services, depending on contractual terms between supplier and recipient. Services performed on goods temporarily imported into India for treatment or processing and exported without being put to any other use are governed by the special rule for services on temporarily imported goods, and their place of supply is determined accordingly rather than by the general performance-location rule.

GST on penal interest: penal interest charged by a seller is taxable, while financier charged interest on loans is exempt.
Clarifies GST treatment of penal interest on delayed EMIs: penal interest charged by the goods seller is included in the value of the taxable supply and is taxable, whereas penal interest charged by a financier in connection with a loan qualifies as interest for loan services and is exempt; non interest service fees or other charges relating to loan facilitation are not exempt.

GST exemption on upfront lease amount applies where the long term lease amount is determined upfront even if paid in installments.
GST exemption applies to the upfront amount for long term leases of industrial or financial infrastructure plots where the amount is determined upfront; the exemption remains admissible even if that determined upfront amount is paid or payable in one or more installments.

GST exemption on seed testing and certification: seed tags supplied by agencies form part of an exempt composite service.
Seed testing and certification constitute a multi stage integrated supply; fees collected at registration, inspection, processing, sampling and issuance of certification tags form a composite supply exempt under Notification No. 12/2017 State Tax (Rate) Sl. No. 47 covering government services by way of testing/certification. Supply of seed tags by seed certification agencies to producers is part of that exempt service. However, tags procured by those agencies from other departments or manufacturers are taxable supplies of goods, classified according to the tags' predominant material.

Revocation of cancelled registration: applications permitted only after filing outstanding returns and completing interim returns within thirty days.
A Removal of Difficulty Order granted a one time opportunity to apply for revocation of registration cancellations; rule 23 provisos require that returns due up to the cancellation date be filed and amounts paid before filing an application, and that all returns for the period between cancellation and revocation must be furnished within thirty days of the revocation order; a further proviso allows applications despite portal restrictions for retrospective cancellations provided returns for the intervening period are filed within thirty days of revocation.

Input tax credit utilization: Integrated tax credit must be exhausted before using central or state tax credits under new guidance.
Integrated tax credit must be fully exhausted before Central tax or State/Union Territory tax credits can be utilised; rule 88A permits the Integrated tax credit to be applied toward Central and State/Union Territory liabilities in any order or proportion, provided the entire Integrated tax credit is consumed first. The circular explains the allowable permutations of set off among Integrated, Central and State/Union Territory tax credits, illustrates practical allocation alternatives, and directs taxpayers to continue using the current portal functionality until the new order is implemented.

Authorized Economic Operator programme consolidated into multi-tier AEO regime offering staged trade facilitation and compliance-based benefits.
The document merges ACP and earlier AEO schemes into a unified multi-tier AEO programme (AEO-T1, AEO-T2, AEO-T3; AEO-LO for other operators) that grants staged facilitation-DPD/DPE, deferred duty payment, paperless declarations, prioritized examinations/refunds, faster drawback, mutual recognition and partner-agency recognition-subject to eligibility on legal compliance, record-keeping, financial solvency and detailed safety and security requirements; applies MSME-friendly thresholds (25 documents), prescribes application annexures, physical verification for higher tiers, transition rules for existing ACP/AEO holders, validity/renewal periods, risk-based audits, and administrative suspension/downgrade/revocation mechanisms.

Permissible investments for AIFs in IFSC aligned with domestic AIF regulations, creating a uniform investment eligibility framework.
AIFs incorporated in IFSC are authorised to make investments in accordance with the SEBI (Alternative Investment Fund) Regulations, 2012 and the related guidelines and circulars, including operating guidelines for IFSC AIFs, thereby harmonising IFSC investment eligibility with the domestic AIF investment framework; all other conditions from the May 23, 2017 circular remain unchanged.