Forgery alert: forged office order cancelling export policy for beach sand minerals declared invalid; original notification remains operative.
A circulated Office Order purporting to cancel Notification No. 26/2015-2020 for the export policy of Beach Sand Minerals is a forged document and was not issued by the relevant trade authority; the original Notification No. 26/2015-2020 dated 21.08.2018 remains unchanged and in force, and trade stakeholders are advised to rely only on official communications.

Fee waiver for ADT 1 filings allows refiling auditor appointment form without fee until the stated deadline.
Companies that filed ADT 1 as an attachment to GNL 2 during the specified period may file e form ADT 1 for auditor appointments covering the stated tenure without payment of additional fee; this is a one time concession and, after the concession period, fees and additional fees will apply under the Companies (Registration of Office and Fees) Rules, 2014.

One-time tax option for promoters to elect construction tax rates; failure will be deemed acceptance of reduced rates.
Promoters must submit Annexure-IV to Rate Notification No. 03/2019 to their jurisdictional officer to exercise a one-time, irrevocable option to pay state tax on construction of apartments at the rates specified for item (ie) or item (if) against serial number 3; the Form must identify the project and declaration, interim invoices must conform to the eventual option, and failure to submit will result in the promoter being deemed to have elected the reduced rates for RREP and REP.

Fund manager recognition: SEBI-approved AMCs treated as fund managers, qualifying for specified income-tax benefits under the Act.
An AMC approved under the SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996 is to be treated as a Fund Manager for the purposes of Section 9A(4)(b) of the Income-tax Act, as SEBI has confirmed that AMCs engage in fund management of mutual funds and thereby fall within the substance of the term; the SEBI regulations have been included among the "specified regulations" by prior notification to align regulatory approval with the Act's definition.

Tax treatment of sales promotion schemes clarified: supply classification and ITC consequences for samples, offers, and discounts.
Clarification of GST treatment and ITC consequences for sales promotion schemes: free samples and gifts without consideration are not supplies unless covered by Schedule I and attract denial of ITC for related inputs unless treated as supply; buy one get one and bundled pricing are treated as aggregated supplies with taxability determined by composite/mixed supply rules; invoice and pre established volume discounts that meet statutory conditions may be excluded from value and allow supplier ITC, while secondary post supply discounts via credit notes do not qualify for exclusion unless statutory conditions are met.

Registration of contracts for peas: bill of lading date governs shipment validity and regional authorities may revalidate contracts.
Registration of contracts for peas imports permits specified minimum consignments per contract subject to registration with Regional Authorities. An RC covers any shipment whose bill of lading date is on or before the RC's expiry, with the bill of lading date treated as the shipment date for import clearance. If Customs questions RC validity, Regional Authorities may revalidate RCs without referring the case to headquarters so long as the bill of lading date predates the RC expiry.

Self-Ratification scheme for Advance Authorizations urged to increase use to reduce transaction time and costs.
Self-ratification under para 4.07A of the Foreign Trade Policy allows Authorized Economic Operators to obtain Advance Authorizations on self-declaration where SIONs are not notified, bypassing Norms Committee ratification; AEOs using duty exemption schemes are urged to use this facility and Export Promotion Councils and DGFT Regional Authorities should disseminate information to increase uptake and reduce transaction time and costs.

AI and ML reporting obligations require mutual funds to disclose AI/ML systems, uses, controls and audits to regulators quarterly.
Mutual funds offering or using AI/ML in investor facing products, trading or compliance must complete a prescribed reporting form and submit quarterly to AMFI within fifteen days of quarter end; AMFI will consolidate and forward submissions to the regulator within thirty days. The scope covers fintech and regtech initiatives and enumerated AI/ML technologies, and the form requires disclosure of system identity, uses, claimed capabilities, implementation, controls, safeguards, audit inclusion and any adverse audit comments, with confidentiality to be maintained by AMFI.

Paperless duty credit scrips: electronic issuance and ICES-only debits, but not usable at non-EDI ports.
DGFT will issue MEIS/SEIS duty credit scrips electronically for EDI ports and transmit them to Customs for visibility in ICES. Owners or authorized representatives must present scrip identifiers to the proper officer while ownership will be verified on the DGFT website. All debits for these paperless scrips will be effected only in ICES; no physical debits or TRA will be available for paperless scrips, which therefore cannot be used at non-EDI ports. Physical scrips on security paper will continue for non-EDI ports.

IGST export refunds: officer interface available for resolving invoice mismatches; RRR facility limited to earlier shipping bills.
Officer-interface relief for resolving invoice mismatches (SB 005) in respect of IGST export refunds is available only for Shipping Bills filed up to 15.11.2018, per referenced Board circulars. The facility to submit a Revised Refund Request (RRR) to claim differential IGST refund amounts is available only for Shipping Bills filed up to 30.06.2018.

Registration functions under GST assigned to specified tax officers; jurisdictional and substitution rules clarified for taxpayers, including casual and non-resident persons.
Assignment of registration functions under the Rajasthan GST Act designates Deputies/Assistant Commissioners of regular circles and State Tax Officers of independent headquarter wards to perform registration responsibilities within their territorial jurisdictions; other State Tax Officers are assigned specified registration duties. Deputies/Assistant Commissioners also handle registrations for casual and non-resident taxable persons. If the designated officer is unavailable, the Joint Commissioner (Administration) may reallocate the task, and where multiple wards exist the ward with the lowest number is assigned the registration function.

Extension of time limit for filing ER-1 and ER-2 returns granted due to system migration; filing deadline administratively extended.
Extension of time limit for filing monthly returns ER-1 and ER-2 is directed due to migration and integration of legacy data which disabled the ACES application; the e filing deadline for April 2019 returns is administratively extended from the original May date to a new date in June 2019 to allow taxpayers to file production, removal particulars and CENVAT credit information.

Management and Business Consultant Services added as authorized SEZ services, subject to consumption-based eligibility and evidentiary proof.
Inclusion of Management and Business Consultant Services as a default authorized service in Special Economic Zones is directed, limited to the value of services actually availed or consumed by the SEZ entity, with a requirement that the unit produce satisfactory evidence that the service was consumed exclusively for authorized operations; Development Commissioners and Unit Approval Committees may further expand the list to facilitate units and developers.

FPI investment in municipal bonds permitted under SEBI regulations, enabling foreign portfolio access to municipal debt markets.
Permitting Foreign Portfolio Investors to invest in municipal bonds is authorized under the SEBI regulatory framework, extending market access to FPIs for municipal debt pursuant to the operative provision of the foreign portfolio investor regulations. Custodians are required to notify their FPI clients and the circular is published on the regulator's website to implement this investment permission.

One-time tax option for promoters to elect construction tax rate; failure to file annexure triggers default reduced tax treatment.
Promoters must submit the one-time option Form (Annexure-IV to Notification No. 3/2019 State Tax (Rate)) to the Jurisdictional Joint Commissioner to elect payment of tax on construction of apartments at the rates prescribed for item (ie) or item (if) against serial number 3 of the Table in Notification No. 11/2017; failure to submit the Form will result in the promoter being deemed to accept the alternative reduced tax treatment prescribed in Notification No. 3/2019.

Electronic filing migration: Excise and service tax filings move to an integrated CBIC portal with mandated password and registration procedures.
Migration of Central Excise and Service Tax electronic filing and arrears payment from the ACES application to an integrated CBIC-ACES-GST portal will disable ACES transactional menus during migration; taxpayers may still pay via E-payment or the EASIEST portal. Post-migration, existing users must authenticate with ACES credentials and change passwords to access filings, amendments and refunds; new users register through a TRN/OTP process that yields an ARN and, on approval, a registration number and temporary password. Departmental officers will use SSO access to an "ACESGST" icon to process transactions, with read-only legacy icons retained temporarily.

Import allocation process for peas and pulses: EFC to allocate quantities to eligible applicants and publish decisions.
Applications for import of specified peas and pulses will be scrutinised and verified against the specifications and eligibility criteria in Trade Notice No.06/2019-20. Thereafter the matter will be placed before the EFC, which will allocate import quantities to eligible applicants; the EFC's allocation decisions will be uploaded on the DGFT website and its meeting minutes made available on the stated weblink.

GST rate changes for real estate: promoters must choose between new no credit regime or old creditable regime, with specified compliance obligations.
Revisions to GST for real estate effective 1 April 2019 prescribe differentiated effective rates for residential construction after deduction of land, define affordable residential apartment by carpet area and price ceiling, and permit promoters of ongoing projects a one time, project wise option to remain under pre existing rates with input tax credit if exercised by the specified deadline. The FAQs set out the detailed definition of an ongoing project, procurement thresholds from registered suppliers with reverse charge for shortfalls, valuation abatement rules, timing and reverse charge obligations for TDR/FSI/long term leases, and compliance requirements including project wise accounting and invoice adjustment mechanisms; new projects commencing on or after 1 April 2019 must apply the new regime without option.

Casual and non-resident taxable persons must register, deposit estimated tax in advance, and comply with invoice and return rules.
CTP and NRTP must obtain registration at least five days before commencing business; registration is issued only after an advance deposit of tax equal to estimated liability appears in the electronic cash ledger. Certificates are valid for the applied period or ninety days, extendable once on payment of additional estimated tax. Long-running exhibitions over 180 days require normal registration without advance deposit. Tax invoices with applicable HSN requirements and prescribed returns apply; NRTPs file GSTR-5. Excess advance deposits are refundable only after furnishing all returns for the registration period.

MEIS claim entry limit increased for ANF 3D filings, allowing more shipping bill and airway bill entries per application.
Amendment increases the allowable number of shipping bill and airway bill entries that may be submitted in a single online ANF 3D application for claiming the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS), revising filing instructions so applicants can feed multiple consignments and related export document details in one application.