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.

Verification checklist for demonetisation cash deposits standardizes AO scrutiny to identify and quantify unexplained cash deposits for assessment.
Standardized verification checklist directs assessing officers to verify depositor information, classify taxpayer type, assess return filing history and income, compute ratio of cash deposits to gross total income, and identify nature of deposits to determine quantum of unaccounted deposits. For businesses it requires comparison with earlier sales profiles, review of stock records and internal controls, month wise analysis of cash sales and bank deposits across pre and peri demonetisation periods, computation of percentage increases, and follow up on atypical cash patterns; completed checklists must be uploaded in prescribed electronic format.

360 profiling of sensitive commodity businesses directed to improve recovery records, entity tracking, and asset monitoring across zones.
360 profiling of companies and other entities engaged in the trade of sensitive goods and services is directed to strengthen recovery administration in cases where recoverable assets or traceable directors may be unavailable. Each zone is to maintain complete and updated information on company profiles, directors, shareholders, and assets of sensitive commodity businesses and related red-flag entities, with the Joint Commissioner (Corporate Circle) designated as the nodal officer for the exercise. The profiling is to be undertaken in a phased manner, beginning with the most sensitive commodity or service in the zone and the largest companies engaged in that trade, and must be completed by 30 October 2019.

Transport and Marketing Assistance online filing enabled; applicants must submit supporting documents and bank mandate within the stipulated period.
Exporters may file TMA claims through the DGFT E COM module on the DGFT website with guidance from the available user manual. For processing, a self certified PDF printout from the online system, prescribed supporting documents and a Bank Mandate Form must be filed manually with the jurisdictional Regional Authority specified in Appendix 7(A)B within the stipulated period after online submission.

All Industry Rates applicability removed - Brand Rate drawback must be determined on actual duties in the post GST regime.
Earlier circulars permitting application of All Industry Rates to Brand Rate fixation were based on a pre GST premise of unrelieved excise duties; post GST subsumption of those duties and availability of input tax credit removes that premise. Therefore those circular provisions do not apply to exports in the post GST era, and any duties not refunded or neutralised may be claimed by exporters on an actual basis under the applicable Drawback Rules.

ITR-6 filing: report passport if no foreign TIN, disclose foreign directorships, and follow Schedule FA/AL/CG rules.
Non-resident taxpayers without a local TIN must report passport number and issuing country. Report foreign directorships and unlisted foreign shareholdings (also in Schedule FA) even if no Indian income arises. Listed overseas shares need not be reported as unlisted equity; delisted companies' PAN may be furnished or default "NNNNN0000N" used. For gifts/mergers/bonus, cost/sale consideration may be zero since entries are for reporting only. Schedule FD covers only foreign-currency payments/receipts for business operations in India. ISIN/scrip-wise LTCG tools in the utility are optional; aggregate LTCG may be entered directly in Schedule CG.

Monetary limits for departmental income-tax appeals increased, restricting appeals to assessment years with tax effects above prescribed thresholds.
The circular raises the monetary thresholds for departmental filing of income tax appeals at successive appellate fora and prescribes that the Assessing Officer must calculate tax effect separately for each assessment year for every assessee; appeals may be filed only for those assessment years where the separately computed tax effect exceeds the prescribed monetary limit, including in cases of composite orders and where multiple assessees are involved.

Disclosure of encumbrance reasons required for promoters, mandating detailed public disclosure and website posting under takeover regulations.
Promoters must disclose detailed reasons for any encumbrance by them and persons acting in concert when combined encumbrance meets specified thresholds, using the prescribed Annexure II format. Disclosures must be filed with each stock exchange and the listed company within two working days of creation or on further increases, and companies must publish the Annexure II contents on their websites. Stock exchanges will maintain and disseminate lists of such companies and report implementation to the regulator; the circular supplements prior Annexure I requirements and is issued to enhance transparency and protect investors.

Product Advisory Committees for commodity derivatives to guide contract design and market disclosures, mandating stakeholder representation and confidentiality.
Requires recognised exchanges with commodity derivatives segments to constitute a Product Advisory Committee for each commodity group to advise on contract design and review, delivery centres, market state, participant feedback, and contract performance. PACs must have balanced stakeholder representation including independent experts and exchange executives, meet at least twice yearly with specified quorum, and operate under confidentiality and conflict-of-interest rules. Exchanges must disclose PAC composition and terms, may publicise agendas, ensure annual Regulatory Oversight Committee review, amend bylaws, notify brokers, publish provisions online, and report implementation status to the regulator.