Excise classification of agricultural tractors: incidental haulage does not defeat agricultural character or taxable reclassification.
Tractors primarily designed and intended for agricultural use retain their character even if incidentally used to carry produce to market; such incidental hauling does not convert them into road tractors for semi-trailers or otherwise taxable goods, and the primary design and use of the vehicle is the decisive criterion for classification and levy.

Tax Deduction from Salaries: employers must compute and deduct income tax from salary payments using prescribed procedures.
Employers must estimate salary income inclusive of perquisites, compute tax at prescribed rates by reference to age and gender, and deduct tax on average at each payment under section 192; employers may opt to pay tax on non-monetary perquisites by computing an average rate on total salary inclusive of such perquisites and depositing tax at the time of payment, and must obtain and retain employee declarations and furnish prescribed certificates and returns in specified formats.

Remittance of NRO account funds liberalised, allowing sale proceeds of immovable property within the annual remittance ceiling.
AD Category I banks may permit remittances from NRO accounts, including sale proceeds of immovable property, subject to an overall cap of USD one million per financial year; the prior ten year lock in on remittance of sale proceeds has been removed. Banks must continue to observe existing documentary and other conditions and submit quarterly statements of applicants and amounts remitted to the Reserve Bank in the prescribed proforma within ten days of the reporting quarter.

Overseas investment ceiling for mutual funds increased, expanding permissible corpus for SEBI-registered funds while reporting obligations remain.
Aggregate overseas investment limit for Mutual Funds registered with SEBI is increased with immediate effect, while all other SEBI terms, conditions and operational guidelines remain unchanged. Monthly statistical reporting to the Reserve Bank continues to be mandatory, and Authorised Dealer Category I banks must notify their constituents. The directions are issued under the Foreign Exchange Management Act and do not affect permissions required under other laws.

Setting up of new trading units in SEZs permitted after withdrawal of prior instruction, subject to SEZ amendment rules.
Instruction No. 5/2006 is withdrawn with immediate effect, removing the departmental hold on setting up new trading units in SEZs; such establishments may proceed subject to compliance with the SEZ (Amendment) Rules and other applicable regulatory requirements, with administrative circulation to the relevant oversight and coordinating bodies.

Dematerialisation requirement: securities with connectivity to both depositories may shift from trade-for-trade to rolling settlement.
Shifting trading from the Trade-for-Trade segment to rolling settlement is permitted for securities with connectivity to both depositories provided at least 50% of non-promoter holdings are in demat mode, supported by a certificate from the Registrar and Transfer Agent or, where no separate RTA exists, from a practicing Company Secretary or Chartered Accountant, and provided there are no other grounds for continued TFTS trading.

Vishesh Krishi and Gram Udyog Yojana expands to cover egg albumin exports, benefits effective from specified export period.
Amendment adds egg albumins to Appendix 37A under the Vishesh Krishi and Gram Udyog Yojana, listing two product entries with ITC (HS) codes for dried and other egg albumin and specifying the export date from which benefits are admissible; for exports made within the stated period the final date for filing applications for grant of credit is the prescribed filing deadline.

Service tax applicability to government departments hinges on taxable service definition and receipt of consideration.
Applicability of service tax to services by government departments depends on two criteria: the service must meet the statutory definition of taxable service, and there must be receipt of consideration. Where a service provider is described as "any person," the term ordinarily includes government unless context excludes it. Field formations must examine cases on their facts and refer doubtful matters with all-India implication or any proposal to levy on central or state departments to the Board.

Application fee payment methods: cash or specified negotiable instruments, with designated payee for non-cash submissions.
Applicants seeking information under the Right to Information Act must pay the prescribed application fee either in cash against proper receipt or by demand draft, banker's cheque, or Indian Postal Order; for this Commissionerate non-cash instruments are to be made payable to the Assistant Chief Accounts Officer, Central Excise, Kolkata-I Commissionerate.

Clearance of human remains requires advance airline notification, specified documentation, and direct on tarmac release to relatives.
Procedure requires foreign going airlines to notify Customs and Airport Authority in advance, provide the deceased's particulars and relative's contact, and ensure relatives are informed. On arrival, relatives contact customs, complete a release form, and submit documents-death certificate, embalming and packing certificate, diplomatic mission certificate, and passport. Customs verifies identity and documents and releases human remains directly from the tarmac to relatives; airlines record delivery. Completed forms are forwarded to the Import Section as a kuccha bill of entry and to immigration to request passport cancellation.

Receipt and movement of half yearly VAT returns: designated counters and supervised data entry to expedite processing and dispatch.
A temporary regime designates Front Office counters and Front Office extension counters to accept half yearly VAT returns (with refunds at designated counters and non refund returns at extension counters) during the specified two day filing window; Zonal in charges must deploy staff for receipt, bundling, transport, supervised data entry at the Front Office, indexing, and onward despatch to wards using prescribed proforma, with misfeeds forwarded to concerned wards for corrective action.

Revenue audit procedure: consolidated timelines and accountability for handling audit objections and initiating remedial action.
Instruction No. 9/2006 consolidates procedures for Revenue Audit objections: maintain registers and AST records, cooperate with Revenue Audit parties, require three day AO replies to Audit Memos, and set timelines for AO, Range and CIT responses. It prescribes supervisory accountability, ledger cards, calling explanations for failures to follow instructions or for manifest errors, initiation of remedial action within prescribed periods unless barred by specified judicial precedents or Board approvals, and standardised Proforma Reports and ATN preparation for Draft Paras, with DIT(Audit) monitoring compliance.

Mandatory e-payment of service tax required for major taxpayers; procedural failures may justify temporary leniency.
Mandatory e-payment of service tax applies from 1 October 2006 to assesses meeting the qualifying threshold; each registered premises is treated as a separate assessee except that Large Taxpayer Units must aggregate tax paid across all premises. Service tax paid in cash plus CENVAT credit counts toward the threshold, and where both provision and receipt of taxable services occur at a premises their cumulative tax is considered. Field formations should adopt leniency for reasonable procedural or systemic failures to comply while directing assessees to complete internet banking formalities promptly.

Business auxiliary service: dealer commissions for arranging finance are taxable on the gross amount regardless of pass throughs.
Service tax applies to mark up on spare parts sold by authorized service stations unless the items are consumed and not sold; exemption covers value of goods sold where documentary proof exists and no excise credit taken. Reimbursements from manufacturers for free services are taxable. Commissions from banks/NBFCs for arranging finance are taxable as Business Auxiliary Service on the gross amount received; pass on amounts to customers do not reduce the taxable base. Servicing of motor cars, light motor vehicles and two wheelers by authorized stations is taxable, while truck servicing is excluded.

Prevention of Food Adulteration Act compliance: noncompliant imports must be re exported or destroyed unless court orders reprocessing.
Only imported food consignments that conform to the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act standards may be cleared; consignments failing PFA testing must be handled per Circular No.58/2001-generally re-exported or destroyed-and Customs shall not permit suo motu reprocessing. Reprocessing is allowed exclusively pursuant to a court order after conviction and forfeiture, where the court finds reprocessing can restore compliance and returns goods to the owner subject to a prescribed bond.

Centralised registration expanded to any person liable for service tax, with registration issued by the local Commissioner.
Amendment extends centralized registration eligibility to any person liable to pay service tax with centralized billing or accounting, and assigns grant of such registration to the Commissioner having jurisdiction over the premises where centralized billing/accounting is maintained. Existing registrations remain valid. Assessees must produce records to audit parties on demand. Pending applications are to be transferred to the relevant Commissioners, and Commissioners granting centralized registration must promptly send the Certificate of Registration to Commissioners of associated premises.

Centralized registration enables taxpayers with centralized billing or accounting to obtain a single registration and streamline service tax compliance.
Amendment expands centralized registration eligibility to any person liable to pay service tax where centralized billing or accounting is maintained, and prescribes that the Commissioner with jurisdiction over the premises for which centralised registration is sought shall grant registration. Pending applications with Chief Commissioners or DGST must be transferred; the granting Commissioner must, within one week, send Form ST-2 copies to Commissioners overseeing associated premises. Assesssee must make records of taxable services available on demand to audit parties deputed by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Duty credit scrip utilization for central excise payment allowed; domestic debits require verification and written notification to Customs.
Holders proposing domestic procurement must present the original SFIS duty credit scrip to the jurisdictional Central Excise officer at clearance; the officer will verify genuineness and balance with Customs at the Port of Registration, debit the scrip for duties (noting supplier details and excise debited) and keep clearance records. The scrip holder must notify Customs in writing of the Excise debit before any further clearances, and Customs will allow import debits only after verifying prior Excise debits, obviating the need for a TRA from Customs for Excise debits.

Exemption for ready-to-eat namkeen: nil rate where description matches exemption entry; otherwise attracts packaged-food duty.
Items that conform to the description at Sr. No. 29 (sweetmeats, namkeens, bhujia, mixtures and similar ready-for-consumption edible preparations) qualify for the nil rate exemption even if also described by the packaged-food entry; products classifiable as ready-to-eat packaged food but not falling within the Sr. No. 29 description must be taxed under the packaged-food entry, as illustrated by packaged items such as alu-mutter and palak-paneer.

Refund mechanism for duty exemption clarified as operationalizing the exemption, not subject to Section 11B, extended to similar area notifications.
Refunds under area based exemption notifications are mechanisms to give effect to the exemption and are not refunds of excess duty; consequently, Section 11B of the Central Excise Act does not apply to such refunds. The Board extends the earlier clarification (issued for Jammu & Kashmir) to units availing exemption in the Kutch area and to other similarly structured area based exemption notifications, and directs trade and field formations to inform stakeholders and acknowledge receipt.