Extension of income tax filing due date: return and audit report deadline moved to end of October to aid GST transition.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes, under section 119 of the Income tax Act, extends the due date for filing the return of income and prescribed audit reports for assessees covered by clause (a) of Explanation 2 to sub section (1) of section 139 from 30th September, 2017 to 31st October, 2017 to accommodate GST related transition and ease compliance.

Due date extension for income tax return and audit report filings grants extra time to ease compliance during GST transition.
The Board exercised administrative powers to extend the statutory due date for filing return of income and specified audit reports for the class of assessees covered by the relevant filing provision, moving the deadline from the previously prescribed September date to a later October date to permit additional time for assessees and tax professionals to comply during the GST transition.

Aadhaar-PAN linking requirement extended to year-end by administrative order under section 119 modifying earlier relief.
The CBDT, invoking section 119, modifies its earlier instruction and further extends the deadline for taxpayers required by section 139AA to link Aadhaar or enrolment numbers with PAN for filing income tax returns, postponing the compliance cut off set in the prior order until the end of the calendar year.

GST registration enforcement for service-sector traders through data-based identification, turnover estimation, and suo motu registration action.
Increase in GST registrations among service-sector traders by identifying unregistered persons liable to registration, including earlier service-tax registrants whose registrations were cancelled. Officers must organise workshops, collect information from electricity, labour, municipal and online sources, estimate turnover of restaurants, beauty parlours, gyms, coaching institutes, hotels and similar businesses, and take action for registration where turnover exceeds the prescribed threshold under section 25(8) and rule 16. Weekly reporting of newly registered traders is required.

GST Regional Advisory Committee constituted to advise on procedural issues, meet quarterly, and require pre submitted agenda items.
Constitution of a combined GST Regional Advisory Committee for financial year 2017-18 with trade representatives and specified Commissioners as ex officio members; the Committee is advisory, will resolve general procedural difficulties (not individual judicial/quasi judicial cases), will meet ordinarily quarterly, requires advance sponsorship of agenda points with supporting particulars, and provides for admissible travelling and daily allowances and administrative support from the Principal Chief Commissioner's Office.

ITC(HS) code harmonisation expands MEIS coverage for exports by correcting classifications and preserving benefit eligibility.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade corrected and amended Table 2 of Appendix 3B of the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 to align ITC(HS) codes and product descriptions with ITC(HS) 2017, addressing bifurcations and description changes so that products eligible under earlier codes retain coverage; these corrections make clear MEIS benefit availability (subject to export policy restrictions) and apply to exports w.e.f. 01.01.2017.

Export/import of Sandalwood and Red Sanders requires SEZ units to use notified ANF forms to obtain an environmental NOC.
DGFT requires SEZ units to use two notified proforma application forms to obtain a No Objection Certificate from the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change via DGFT for import of Sandalwood and export/import of Sandalwood and Red Sanders. The forms record applicant identification, submission and fee particulars, item descriptions with ITC(HS) codes, value and origin details, COO and CITES certificate fields as applicable, three-year trade history, purpose and end-use, and carry declarations that the entity and principals are not penalized, not on denied/caution lists, and will comply with FT(D&R) Act, FTP, HBP and related rules; submission guidelines require two signed hard copies and proof of fee payment.

Centralized KYC verification: first-time importers and exporters must submit Category-I documents plus Category-II proof for customs processing.
First-time importers and exporters must submit prescribed KYC: Category I identity/constitutive documents plus one Category II fiscal or bank proof. A Centralized KYC Cell will collect files, record File Nos. against bills, and coordinate verification with SIIB (I), SIIB (X) and CIU, including telephonic bank confirmation and physical verification of at least ten percent of addresses. Verification results are registered, reported monthly, and adverse findings trigger alerts and preventive measures; customs brokers must exercise due diligence in verifying IEC and client details.

Letter of Undertaking eligibility: exporters meeting foreign remittance and status-holder criteria may use LUT; expedited acceptance ensured.
Clarifies that any registered person meeting specified foreign inward remittance thresholds in the preceding financial year, and status holders irrespective of remittance, are eligible to furnish a Letter of Undertaking (LUT) in place of a bond. LUTs are to be submitted on letterhead; bonds on stamp paper. LUT/bond submissions must be prioritised and accepted within a short prescribed period. Bank guarantees should normally not exceed a prescribed proportion and may be waived by the Commissioner in specified circumstances; self-declarations and supporting documents are acceptable unless contested.

Designation of Central Public Information Officers and Appellate Authorities updated for Customs Commissionerate Ahmedabad; Annexure substituted.
Addendum substitutes Annexure-A to Public Notice No. 11/2016 to revise the roster of Central Public Information Officers and corresponding Appellate Authorities for the Customs Commissionerate, Ahmedabad, specifying names, designations, contact addresses and the administrative jurisdictions (offices, ICDs, CFSs and customs divisions) assigned to each officer.

Electronic sealing for self sealing exports requires RFID one time bolt seals, vendor data linkage, and Customs verification on dispatch.
Exporters eligible for self sealing must declare the physical RFID e seal serial number when filing the shipping document, procure one time bolt RFID seals from certified vendors meeting specified ISO/RFID standards, and tag shipment metadata to the seal via a vendor web/mobile application that prevents overwriting. Vendors must submit self certified conformity documents, provide unique seal series, transmit seal and shipment data to Risk Management Division and destination ports/ICDs, install reader scanners at ports/ICDs at their cost, and integrate their data retrieval systems with ICEGATE for Customs verification and tamper examination.

Inspection and seizure procedure under Uttar Pradesh GST requires written authorization, prescribed forms, and strict compliance with statutory safeguards.
Inspection, search and seizure under the Uttar Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 require written authorization by a proper officer not below Joint Commissioner. The circular prescribes the procedure for inspecting business premises, transporters, warehouses and other places, and for seizing goods, documents, books or things relevant to proceedings. It provides for provisional release against bond and bank guarantee, retention and copying of seized records, special treatment of perishable or hazardous goods, and compliance with prescribed forms and rules.

Section 129 cash deposit procedure requires demand draft payment for seized goods until GST portal remittance is available.
Deposit of tax and penalty payable for goods seized under Section 129 of the Uttar Pradesh GST Act, 2017 is to be made by demand draft in favour of the concerned seizing officer until the cash-deposit facility on the GST portal becomes available. The circular addresses the practical difficulty in treasury remittance through the portal and clarifies the interim procedure for release of detained goods after payment of the amount due.

Valuation of secondhand machinery: empanelled chartered engineers may conduct inspection/appraisement where overseas report is not procured.
Amendment updates paragraphs 11 and 12(c) of Public Notice No.25/2015 to notify five chartered engineering firms as authorised agencies for valuation and appraisement of second hand machinery at the Bangalore port, specifies recognition validity periods, and instructs importers and customs brokers to contact them for inspection/appraisement reports. If an importer fails to procure an overseas inspection/appraisement report, these notified firms may inspect the goods under Appendix-2G of the Handbook of Procedure 2015-20 and relevant Aayat Niryat forms.

Rebate of State Levies continuation: exporters may claim pre-GST rates for transition period upon submitting revised undertaking.
The Ministry of Textiles restored pre-GST Rebate of State Levies (RoSL) rates for a three-month transition period and requires exporters to submit a revised undertaking in the specified format; the EDI Shipping Bill was updated for electronic filing of the undertaking and, for earlier exports without electronic filing, a manual undertaking must be submitted. The EDI system will apply notified RoSL rates at scroll generation irrespective of amounts on shipping bills, and no separate claim is necessary.

Single Window Interface for export clearances extended to all EDI locations, enabling online WCCB NOC referrals for wildlife shipments.
SWIFT on the export side is extended to all Customs EDI locations so that Shipping Bills filed on ICEGATE or through Service Centres for CITES or wildlife items are referred online to the Wild Life Crime Control Bureau for a No Objection Certificate where required; stakeholders are to report implementation difficulties to the issuing office.

Electronic self-sealing of export containers requires RFID one time seals and mandatory seal data transmission to customs systems.
Exporters must procure and affix RFID tamper proof one-time-bolt seals, declare the physical seal serial number when filing shipping documents, and ensure that vendors transmit non-editable sealing and shipment data to the Risk Management Division and destination ports/ICDs; vendors must hold required certifications, provide reader-scanner capability and integrate their data retrieval systems with ICEGATE at their own cost, while Customs will examine containers if seals are tampered.

IGST on high sea sales is collected only at importation, with value additions across transactions included in assessable value.
IGST on high sea sales of imported goods is collectable only at the time of importation when import declarations are filed; value additions from each high sea sale form part of the value on which IGST is assessed. The importer clearing the goods must furnish the complete chain of documents-original invoice, high sea sale contract, and service/commission details-to support the declared value, and Customs may reject the declared value and determine valuation under the Customs Valuation Rules if doubts arise.

Import restrictions on gold and silver from South Korea now apply to specified jewellery, other articles and coins.
Imports of jewellery, goldsmiths' and silversmiths' wares, other precious-metal articles and coins from South Korea are now restricted by insertion of a Policy Condition in Chapter 71 of ITC(HS) 2017, removing the FTP trade-facilitation/protection for those items; a Principle of Restriction relating to gold and silver was added to the Foreign Trade Policy and a country-specific Appendix listing South Korea was notified.

No Use Bond procedure clarifies submission, acceptance and monitoring requirements for DPD container clearance pending PGA NOC.
Procedure for execution and monitoring of No Use Bond requires importers to submit either separate bonds per Bill of Entry or a continuity bond; Group Officers must accept, record in the manual register and EDI Bond Menu ('UT'), and hand over a copy to the importer. Facilitated and non facilitated Bills of Entry have specified steps for entering bond particulars and departmental comments. Group Officers must close bonds based on PGA reports, initiate action on adverse reports, and submit monthly pendency reports for supervisory monitoring.