Customs Authority for Advance Rulings created to provide advance rulings; notifications issued and publicity sought.
The circular notifies the Customs Authority for Advance Rulings (CAAR) Regulations, 2021, records the formal notification of two constituent CAAR authorities in specified jurisdictions, and directs departmental officers to publicise the Regulations locally. It emphasises the Regulations as the statutory mechanism for obtaining advance rulings on customs matters and requests reporting of any implementation difficulties to the Board.

Informer management requires duplicate slips, mandatory LTI and undertaking, AE-1/AE-2 reporting, sealed custody and LTI matching.
A standardized informer-management procedure requires duplicate information slips with the informer's Left Thumb Impression and a mandatory undertaking (noting liability under Section 182 IPC), creation of an AE-1 report, placement of originals and duplicates in sealed covers with identifying marks and AE-1 number, custody by the receiving officer with transfer on succession, maintenance of an AE-1 register, restriction on disclosure of informer details beyond LTI, preparation of AE-2 to record officials' roles for reward sanctioning, and LTI matching at disbursal (reporting officer's cover opened if receiving cover is lost).

Quarterly return monthly payment scheme: monthly tax deposits required with quarterly GSTR-3B filing and prescribed payment methods.
The circular implements the QRMP scheme allowing registered persons with aggregate turnover up to five crore rupees to file quarterly returns while making monthly tax payments. Eligibility is GSTIN-wise based on portal-calculated turnover; option windows, default migration criteria, and opt-out rules are set. Outward supplies are filed in quarterly GSTR-1 with an optional Invoice Furnishing Facility (IFF) for the first two months subject to a per-month value cap. Monthly tax deposits via Form GST PMT-06 are required by the 25th, using either a system fixed sum method or self-assessment; deposits offset quarterly liability and interest and late-fee rules are clarified.

Input tax credit reconciliation: cumulative supplier-uploaded invoice cap requires reversal of excess claimed in the subsequent return.
Taxpayers must cumulatively reconcile ITC claimed in FORM GSTR-3B for February-August 2020 with supplier-uploaded invoice details available up to the due date of FORM GSTR-1 for September 2020; cumulative ITC claimed must not exceed 110% of the cumulative eligible credit evidenced by supplier uploads and remains subject to general ITC eligibility rules. Any excess ITC identified must be reversed in Table 4(B)(2) of FORM GSTR-3B for September 2020, failing which the excess will be treated as ineligible credit for that month.

IRP/RP registration rules clarified: fresh registration generally required, with exceptions and authorized-signatory transfer allowed.
Clarification confirms IRP/RP generally must obtain separate GST registration under the special procedure, but if the corporate debtor furnished all pre-appointment GST returns and statements, IRP/RP need not obtain a fresh registration. A single new registration suffices and subsequent IRP/RP changes are to be effected by amendment of the authorized signatory rather than fresh registrations. Pandemic-related statutory time limits for compliance that fall within the specified period are extended to the later prescribed date, including the merchant-exporter export-period requirement and the quarterly filing of FORM GST ITC-04.

GST refund and adjustment: suppliers must issue credit notes or refund vouchers to adjust tax or claim excess payment refunds.
Procedural clarifications require issuance of a credit note to adjust GST paid on advances or returned goods where an invoice was issued, declared in the return for the month of issuance and adjusted against output liability; if no output liability exists, taxpayers may claim excess tax refund through Form GST RFD-01. Where GST was paid on advances without issuance of invoice, a refund voucher must be issued and refund sought via Form GST RFD-01. Zero-rated supplies may continue under LUT subject to furnishing annual form Form GST RFD-11 within the extended timeline.

GST compliance relief: reduced interest and late-fee waivers for delayed returns subject to specified filing conditions.
Clarification sets out that specified COVID-19 relief measures under HPGST permit delayed filings for composition taxpayers (Form GST CMP-02, CMP-08, GSTR-4, GST ITC-03), grant a nil-interest window for the first 15 days after GSTR-3B due dates and reduced interest thereafter for larger taxpayers, and nil interest for smaller taxpayers, subject to filing by notification dates; waive late fees if returns/statements are filed by prescribed dates; suspend rule 36(4) for input tax credit for February-August 2020 with cumulative adjustment in September 2020; extend e-way bill validity and suspend/extend various statutory time limits to June 30, 2020 under section 168A.

Email authentication protocols protect exporters by validating senders and reducing payment interception risks.
Email spoofing and phishing cause exporters to ship goods without receiving payment; implementation of SPF, DKIM and DMARC is advised to authenticate senders and protect message integrity. SPF authorizes sending IPs via DNS, DKIM provides cryptographic signatures to assure content integrity and domain ownership, and DMARC ties SPF and DKIM to a policy and reporting framework that instructs receivers how to treat unauthenticated messages. Exporters should also follow stronger password practices and confirm bank details via a secure alternate channel.

RoDTEP export rebate claims require shipping-bill declarations, post-manifest processing, ICEGATE credits, and controlled scrip utilisation or transfer.
RoDTEP rebates unrefunded Central, State and local duties, taxes and levies on exported products. Exporters must make an item-wise RoDTEP declaration in the shipping bill; no benefit accrues where the prescribed claim option is not selected, and claims cannot be altered after filing of the export general manifest. Eligible claims are processed after that filing and credited through scrolls to ICEGATE. Registered IEC holders may create credit-ledger accounts, generate credit scrips from eligible shipping bills, use scrips for notified import duties, and transfer them through OTP-verified procedures. Suspended scrips cannot be used or transferred.

Record retention obligations require insolvency professionals to preserve and produce CIRP records, maintaining secure electronic and physical archives.
The circular mandates that insolvency professionals preserve CIRP records in electronic form for an extended statutory period from completion of the CIRP or conclusion of related proceedings, and retain physical copies for a shorter statutory period; records must be stored securely, produced on demand, and preserved for the specific period of the CIRP handled by the IP. It lists categories of records to be maintained, including appointment, handover, admission, public announcement, CoC records, claims and verification, professional engagements and reports, information memorandum, official filings and orders, resolution plan processes, statutory filings, correspondence, process costs, and avoidance transaction records.

Collegium mechanism exempted where only one senior officer exists; Pr. CCIT approval now governs recovery surveys in such regions.
The Board modifies its prior section 119 Order to exempt regions having only one officer at the level of Pr. CCIT or CCIT from the Collegium mechanism; in such regions recovery surveys will be conducted after obtaining approval of the concerned Pr. CCIT, thereby providing a delegated approval route in place of the previously prescribed Collegium composition for non-central charges.

Proper officer functions under Assam GST assigned across tax cadres with limited powers, approvals, and authorisations specified.
Assignment of proper officer functions under the Assam Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and the Assam Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 to designated State tax cadres, pursuant to re-designation of posts. The Principal Commissioner of State Tax, Assam allocates specified statutory and rule-based powers to officers ranging from Special Commissioner and Additional Commissioner to Joint Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, Assistant Commissioner and Superintendent of State tax, with the table mapping each designation to the relevant sections and rules.

ITC blocking/unblocking under Rule 86A clarified: use Enforcement Alert menu and stop marking duplicate copies to headquarters.
Vigilance enforcement units must enter actions taken under Rule 86A against ITC claimed on invoices from non-existent firms into the SIB module's Enforcement Alert menu; this electronic entry notifies the concerned sector office and provides MIS, and copies of compliance letters/e-mails shall no longer be separately marked to the Vigilance Enforcement Section, Headquarters.

RoDTEP incentive: exporters must declare claims in Shipping Bills to receive transferable duty-credit scrips via ICEGATE.
The RoDTEP scheme remits duties, taxes and levies not refunded elsewhere through credits that accrue only where exporters elect the claim in the Shipping Bill using prescribed declarations; system checks bar benefits where other export schemes apply, RMS applies risk-based routing, and once notified rates permit automated calculation, credits are scrolled to ICEGATE accounts for conversion into transferable credit scrips usable against import duties via a Credit Ledger and OTP-secured transfer workflow.

RoDTEP declaration requirement mandates exporters to state intent in Shipping Bill, enabling later credit calculation and scrips.
RoDTEP implementation mandates exporters to declare intent to claim RoDTEP in the Shipping Bill via specified SW_INFO entries and STATEMENT CODE RD001; absent RODTEPY no RoDTEP accrues and claims are immutable after EGM filing. Declared Shipping Bills are risk-targeted by RMS and processed by DBK_AC officers who calculate Drawback and RoDTEP on the same export value. Scroll generation options exist but remain disabled until final rates are notified. Once enabled, credits appear in ICEGATE for scrip generation, transfer, ledgering, and utilization against import duties, with suspension powers available to Customs officers.