Option to pay composition tax clarified; filing CMP 02 or indicating in REG 01 required, applicability extends across PAN.
Registered persons opting for the concessional composition rate under Notification No. 02/2019 must intimate the option by filing FORM GST CMP-02 and furnish FORM GST ITC-03; applicants may indicate the option in FORM GST REG-01 at registration. The option applies across all places of business under the same PAN and is effective from the start of the financial year or from the date of registration for new registrations. Chapter II of the Maharashtra GST Rules applies mutatis mutandis except as clarified. The Circular is clarificatory and implementation difficulties may be reported.

Transfer of input tax credit after a sole proprietor's death - transferee may claim unutilized ITC by prescribed GST procedure.
Where a sole proprietor dies and the business is continued by a transferee or successor, unutilized input tax credit in the transferor's electronic credit ledger may be transferred to the transferee by the transferee filing FORM GST ITC-02 in respect of the registration to be cancelled; FORM GST ITC-02 must be filed before filing the cancellation application, and upon acceptance the specified credit will be credited to the transferee's electronic ledger. The transferee/successor must register effective from the date of transfer and, together with the transferor, is jointly and severally liable for tax, interest or penalty due from the transferor.

Registration verification: fresh GST applications may be rejected when prior cancellation and unresolved statutory violations persist.
Officers must treat failure to seek revocation of an earlier cancelled registration and the persistence of the cancellation grounds as a material deficiency in any fresh registration application; they should compare application data with prior registrations on the same PAN using the common portal and may reject applications that conceal earlier registrations or fail to justify continued statutory violations.

Refund of accumulated ITC: portal filing workaround requires debit via electronic credit ledger before refund order issuance.
Where taxpayers reversed ITC required to lapse under the notification through returns, they may, as a one-time measure, claim refund of accumulated ITC for that same period under the portal category "any other" with required documents; the proper officer will calculate admissible refund, request the taxpayer to debit the electronic credit ledger, and only after receiving proof of debit issue the refund order and payment advice. Late reversals attract interest, and similar debit-then-refund steps apply to merchant exporter claims and corrected resubmissions after deficiency memos.

Inter State Supply IGST payable on trading of Priority Sector Lending Certificates, with credit where CGST/SGST already paid.
Trading of Priority Sector Lending Certificates (PSLC) on the RBI e-Kuber portal is a supply of goods in the course of inter State trade, and therefore attracts Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST). This applies to both the earlier forward charge period and the subsequent reverse charge period. Banks that have already paid CGST/SGST or CGST/UTGST for such transactions are not required to pay IGST additionally. The Circular is clarificatory in nature.

GST treatment of sales promotion schemes: defining supply, valuation and ITC consequences for free goods and discounts.
Clarifies GST taxability, valuation and Input Tax Credit (ITC) treatment of sales promotion schemes: free goods without consideration are not a supply except as per Schedule I (and attract ITC denial for inputs used unless treated as supply); 'buy one get one' is treated as multiple supplies priced together with tax determined by composite/mixed supply rules and ITC allowable; pre-established invoice discounts can reduce taxable value if statutory conditions are met, while post-supply commercial credit notes do not reduce taxable value unless conditions are satisfied.

Inter-State supply for warehoused goods: taxpayers who paid central and state tax are deemed compliant if amounts match integrated tax
Supply of goods deposited in customs bonded warehouses is an inter-State supply; due to lack of portal functionality for July 2017-March 2018, some suppliers reported and paid central tax and state tax instead of integrated tax. As a one-time exception, such suppliers will be deemed to have complied with tax payment obligations provided the combined central and state tax paid equals the integrated tax otherwise payable on those supplies.

Place of supply obligation: include State in invoice for inter-state supplies under GST, non-compliance invites penalties.
All registered persons making supplies in the course of inter-State trade or commerce shall specify the place of supply along with the name of the State in the tax invoice as required by rule 46(n). The place of supply for goods and services should be determined with reference to the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. Contravention of the invoicing requirement may attract penal action under the Maharashtra Goods and Services Tax Act.

Inter-State supply reporting required in GSTR-3B and GSTR-1 to ensure correct IGST apportionment and compliance.
Registered persons making inter-State supplies to unregistered recipients must report those supplies, with place of supply, in Table 3.2 of FORM GSTR-3B and Table 7B of FORM GSTR-1. Table 3.2 data is used to apportion IGST to the State where supply occurs; omission leads to non-apportionment, mismatches in supplied quantities and tax allocation, and potential penal consequences under the MGST Act. The Circular is clarificatory and implementation difficulties should be notified to the Commissioner of State Tax.

Realization of export proceeds in Indian Rupee: INR allowed where RBI permits and LUT acceptance clarified.
Amendments implement GST Amendment Acts effective 01.02.2019: export proceeds in INR for services allowed where RBI permits; acceptance of LUT for supplies of goods or services to persons outside India or SEZ developers/units allowed irrespective of payment currency if RBI guidelines are followed; detention-related payment period extended from seven to fourteen days with revised forms and notices; suspension of registration permits field formations not to issue non-filing notices for applicants for cancellation while preserving the obligation to file a final return.

GST on Priority Sector Lending Certificates: seller bank to discharge tax under forward charge for earlier period.
GST on Priority Sector Lending Certificates for the period 1 July 2017 to 27 May 2018 must be paid by the seller bank on a forward charge basis, with GST applicable to the supply of PSLCs; the Trade Circular is clarificatory and implementation difficulties should be reported to the Commissioner of State Tax, Maharashtra.

Prohibition on DPRK trade: exports and imports of listed arms, WMD-related items and sectoral goods barred under UNSC-based FTP amendment.
Prohibition on direct or indirect import and export to DPRK is restated by amendment to Para 2.17 of the FTP 2015-20, implementing UNSC Chapter VII resolutions. The amendment bars supply, sale, transfer or export of conventional arms, all arms and related materiel, items and technologies listed in specified UNSC and IAEA documents, luxury goods and items that could contribute to DPRK's nuclear, ballistic missile or WMD programmes; parallel import prohibitions and sectoral bans are set out, and Annexes provide HS codes for identification.

MEIS claims for OFAC shipments and Vostro payments require declaration, bank certification and manual RA scrutiny before scrip issuance.
Exporters claiming MEIS for shipments to OFAC-listed countries or where payment is via the Vostro mechanism must submit a declaration and self-attested proof of payment when an e-BRC is not available, or a bank letter confirming freely convertible currency receipt when e-BRCs are in INR. The MEIS e-Corn module segregates such claims into a manual processing stream requiring entry of foreign exchange realization details, submission of hard-copy documents to the RA with the RA File Number, and RA scrutiny which may amend FIRC details; specified earlier-period shipments are subject to a prescribed let-export date treatment for late cut calculation.

Examination facility for DPD containers introduced to enable on terminal inspections and reduce import dwell time.
An on terminal examination facility for Direct Port Delivery (DPD) containers at BMCT will allow Customs to conduct open examinations and sampling within a clearly demarcated area, subject to provision of EDI enabled office infrastructure, logistics and equipment comparable to CFSs, and compliance with custodian obligations. Containers will be shifted to the examination area on request after advance Bill of Entry filing and payment of terminal charges; Customs, Customs Broker and terminal staff will attend examinations; containers return to yard post inspection and are delivered only after Customs Out of Charge and delivery order requirements are met.

Direct Port Delivery limited to AEO holders; shipping lines may manifest DPD only after verified AEO and advance notice.
Direct Port Delivery (DPD) is limited to importers with a valid Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) certificate. Shipping lines shall manifest the IGM as DPDDPD or DPD CFS only after AEO certificate verification and receipt of the importer's advance intimation, and DPD CFS must be manifested only to the CFS attached to the respective port, following the procedure in Circular No. 22/2017.

Customs Inland Manifest requirement for eSealed export cargo mandates pre departure filing and real time tracking verification.
Exporters using eSeal must file a Customs Inland Manifest (CIM) on ICEGATE before goods leave their premises; the CIM, filed per rail or truck movement and quoting Shipping Bill numbers, must record vehicle, container and eSeal details. Technical guidance, message formats and an Excel utility to generate the required JSON are available on ICEGATE. CIM data will be shared with RMS for tracking and risk analysis, and Preventive Officers at port may verify CIM details in ICES, record match/mismatch and tamper status, and report results in specified fields.

Drawback claim compliance: exporters must respond to EDI queries or claims will be processed as zero.
Directs exporters to monitor Drawback claim status on the ICEGATE EDI system and to submit complete replies and supporting documents to queries in the "Query Raised" queue; failure to provide satisfactory responses within the prescribed period will result in those claims being processed as zero drawback. Exporters may thereafter file supplementary Drawback claims under the Drawback Rules and may contact the Drawback office for assistance.

Transfer of input tax credit on death of a sole proprietor allowed to successor via FORM GST ITC-02 before cancellation.
Transfer of unutilized input tax credit is permitted where a sole proprietor dies and the business is continued by a transferee or successor; the transferee/successor must file FORM GST ITC-02 on the common portal in respect of the registration to be cancelled on account of death, and upon its acceptance the specified unutilized credit is credited to the transferee's electronic credit ledger.

Verification of applications for new GST registration may be rejected if earlier cancelled registration remains unrevoked.
Proper officers must verify if applicants seeking new registration on the same PAN have earlier cancelled registrations and whether revocation of cancellation was filed; non-filing and continuance of statutory violations constitute a deficiency and may justify rejection of the fresh registration application.

GST refund procedures: file certain inverted-ITC and export ITC claims under "any other" in FORM GST RFD-01A with required proofs.
Allows one-time filing of inverted-tax-structure ITC refund applications under the "any other" category in FORM GST RFD-01A where portal validation prevents claiming due refunds after reversal in FORM GSTR-3B; requires statutory supporting documents, officer calculation of admissible refund under rule 89(5), written request to debit electronic credit ledger via FORM GST DRC-03, and issuance of FORM GST RFD-06 and payment advice FORM GST RFD-05 upon satisfaction. Late reversals attract interest under section 50(1), and merchant-exporter ITC refunds under rule 89(48) must similarly be filed under "any other" with supporting documents.