Compounding of tax offences: streamlined guidelines set eligibility, procedure, authority and computation of compounding charges.
Guidelines set a consolidated framework for compounding offences under the Income Tax Act: they apply from issuance to new and pending applications, require a prescribed affidavit, payment of a non refundable application fee, and settlement of all outstanding tax, interest and penalties. The jurisdictional Principal CCIT/CCIT/Principal DGIT/DGIT is the Competent Authority; certain high gravity or specified cases require prior Board approval. Procedure, timelines, electronic processing, and computation rules for compounding charges (based on tax excluding interest) are specified, including multiplicative increases for repeat or delayed applications and provisions for co accused and consolidated filings.

Liquidity Window facility via issuer put options enhances secondary market liquidity by enabling periodic investor redemptions.
Issuers may optionally offer a Liquidity Window allowing investors to exercise put options for early redemption on pre specified dates or intervals after one year from issuance; the facility requires board approval and oversight, must be nondiscriminatory, be made available to demat holding eligible investors (all or retail only), and have a disclosed aggregate limit and possible per window sub limits with proportionate acceptance when limits are exceeded. Operational, valuation, settlement, reporting and disclosure procedures are prescribed, and issuers may resell or extinguish purchased securities within specified timelines.

Recognition of foreign official control allows BFDA Health Certificate to enable customs clearance when uploaded and verified electronically.
Recognition of official control by the Bhutanese food authority permits consignments from listed Bhutanese establishments to be cleared on the basis of a BFDA-issued Health Certificate; importers/customs brokers must upload the Health Certificate to the electronic records system and enter its particulars on the bill of entry, and out-of-charge/TSK officers must verify the certificate before NOC is granted, with specimen signatures provided for verification and Customs officers acting as authorised food-safety officers ensuring compliance.

Retrospective Certificates of Origin preserve preferential tariff entitlement when validly issued, enabling post-import claims for refunds.
Rule 15(11) permits issuance of a Certificate of Origin retrospectively in exceptional cases with the words "ISSUED RETROSPECTIVELY" and written reasons by the issuing authority, preserving origin status if authenticity is not disputed. Rule 21(3) allows importers, under domestic law, to apply for refund of excess duties where preferential treatment was not extended at import but a valid COO later establishes originating status. Minor clerical discrepancies shall not invalidate a COO if they do not affect authenticity or product correspondence, and import-time procedural formalities do not defeat a legitimately issued retrospective COO.

Position limits revised and monitoring tied to prior-day open interest; passive breaches exempt from penalties and forced unwind.
Aggregate Trading Member position limits for index futures and index options are raised to a higher fixed threshold or market-share percentage and remain applicable separately by contract type. Market open interest for monitoring will be measured using the prior trading day's closing open interest; passive breaches arising solely from a decline in market open interest will not be penalised or require unwinding. Exchanges and clearing corporations must amend their bye-laws, implement the changes, and notify participants.

GST regularisation accepts qualifying lower-rate or exempt positions as full tax discharge, while barring refunds and preserving recovery for non-payment.
GST regularisation on an "as is" or "as is, where is" basis treats lower-rate GST payments or a nil-rate exemption position, adopted amid genuine interpretational doubt and reflected in filed returns, as full discharge of liability for the specified past period. No differential tax is recoverable from qualifying taxpayers, and no refund is available to taxpayers who paid at a higher rate. The regularisation does not extend to non-payment where the issue involved competing taxable rates rather than a genuine exemption or nil-rate position.

GST classification clarifies treatment of extruded snacks, railway air-conditioners, and vehicle seats, with specified prospective rate alignment.
Savoury or salted extruded or expanded food products, excluding un-fried or un-cooked extruded snack pellets, receive prospective rate treatment comparable to ready-to-consume namkeens, while the earlier period remains subject to the previously applicable higher rate. Railway RMPU air-conditioning machines are classified as air-conditioning machines rather than railway parts. Two-wheeler seats are classified as vehicle parts and accessories, whereas car seats are classified as motor-vehicle seats; the revised rate for car seats applies prospectively to align with motorcycle seats.

Composite supply treatment governs GTA ancillary services, while GST clarifications address educational affiliation, aviation training, utilities and property charges.
GST is clarified for affiliation, aviation training, helicopter transport, GTA ancillary services, foreign airline imports, preferential location charges, electricity utility support services and film distribution rights. GTA loading, unloading, packing, transshipment and temporary warehousing supplied in the course of road transport are composite transport supplies despite separate invoice entries. Preferential location charges collected with pre-completion construction consideration form part of the composite construction supply. Specified electricity utility support services and gratuitous foreign airline service imports receive exemption from 10 October 2024, with designated past liabilities regularized on an 'as is where is' basis.

Waiver of interest or penalty requires full tax payment by the notified date and prescribed electronic application to qualify.
Section 128A waiver applies to demands under section 73 for specified past periods provided the taxpayer pays the full tax demanded (after permitted deductions for amounts no longer payable due to retrospective amendments to Section 16) and files the prescribed electronic application (FORM GST SPL 01 or FORM GST SPL 02) within notified timelines. Payments for pending notices are to be made via FORM GST DRC 03 and demand orders against ELR Part II (with adjustment via FORM GST DRC 03A where applicable). ITC may be utilised subject to exceptions; interest/penalty already recovered is not adjustable. Processing, hearing, and final orders are to follow specified forms and timelines, and any departmental enhancement on appeal must be paid within the stipulated period or the waiver will lapse.

Retrospective input tax credit entitlement extended; taxpayers may seek electronic rectification under prescribed procedure, refunds restricted.
Clarifies implementation of retrospectively inserted sub-section (5) and sub-section (6) of section 16 of the CGST Act extending entitlement to input tax credit for specified past years and revoked-registration cases; directs authorities to recognise these provisions at investigative, adjudicatory, revisional and appellate stages and to pass appropriate orders. Introduces a special rectification procedure under section 148 via Notification No. 22/2024 for affected taxpayers to apply electronically within six months, requires prescribed annexure details, mandates decision by the original officer (ordinarily within three months) with natural justice safeguards, and reiterates that section 150 of the Finance Act bars refunds of tax paid or credits reversed, subject to refund of successful appeal pre-deposits.

Dispute settlement scheme: declarants may file declarations and pay prescribed percentages to secure full and final tax settlement.
The Guidance Note sets out the Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Scheme, 2024 as a statutory settlement mechanism whereby an eligible appellant may file a declaration, pay prescribed percentages of the disputed tax or disputed interest/penalty as determined by the Designated Authority, and obtain a Form 4 order recording full and final settlement; it specifies eligibility limits, excluded categories (including search based assessments, prosecutions and undisclosed foreign income/assets), prescribed Forms and timelines, non refundability of payments, and collateral effects on TDS/TCS and prosecution immunity.

Regulatory corrigendum: MIIs must follow master circular references and face accountability for technical glitches, with submission opportunity.
Corrigendum aligns the SEBI circular on payment of Financial Disincentives by MIIs for Technical Glitches with specified provisions of the Master Circular for Commodity Derivatives Segment, mapping particular paragraphs to para 16.8, para 16.8.1 and Clauses 3-8 of Annexure ZF. It inserts provisions requiring SEBI to afford MIIs an opportunity to submit facts on identified technical glitches and obliges MIIs to carry out internal examinations to determine individual accountability and record outcomes in performance appraisals, while preserving SEBI's right to initiate enforcement action.

Monitoring shareholding of MIIs enforces shareholding limits, fit-and-proper criteria and triggers freezes on excess holdings.
MIIs must disclose category-wise shareholding publicly, appoint a Designated Depository (DD) to monitor paid-up equity and breaches on an End of Day basis, and inform exchanges of threshold breaches. The DD will generate daily aggregate reports, alert on caution and breach levels, coordinate with other depositories, and on breaches apply ISIN-level freezes, disable e-voting for excess holdings, and freeze corporate benefits directing them to investor protection or settlement guarantee funds; listed excess holdings are divested via a special trading window, unlisted divestment follows regulator directions.

No Objection Certificate requirement: NOC not required for Acetic Anhydride procured from SEZ units under Certificate of Supplies.
Paragraph 4.08(ii) requires Regional Authorities to endorse Advance Authorisations to designated agencies and impose a condition that an NOC from the Drug Controller and Narcotics Commissioner is obtained before effecting imports. DGFT clarifies that this NOC requirement will not apply where an Advance Authorisation holder procures Acetic Anhydride from a unit located inside an SEZ against a Certificate of Supplies, provided the material is manufactured by that SEZ unit.

As is where is basis: acceptance of declared lower-rate GST payments as full discharge, no refunds to higher-rate payers.
The circular clarifies that where GST Council-directed regularisation on an "as is" or "as is, where is" basis addresses competing rates or interpretational doubt, the tax position declared in a taxpayer's returns at the lower or nil rate for the regularised period is treated as full discharge of liability, while taxpayers who paid the higher rate are not entitled to refunds; the regularisation does not protect taxpayers who paid no tax when the higher rate is held applicable, and applicable tax shall be recovered from nonpayers.

GST classification: revised rates and tariff headings for extruded snacks, RMPU air conditioners and vehicle seats take effect prospectively.
Clarification directs that extruded/expanded savoury snack products manufactured by extrusion are subject to 12% GST prospectively while un fried or un cooked extruded snack pellets remain at 5%, with past periods liable at 18%. Roof Mounted Package Unit air conditioners for railways are classified as air conditioning machines and attract the rate applicable to that heading. Seats for two wheelers are classifiable as two wheeler parts attracting the higher rate; car seat assemblies are reclassified to the higher rate prospectively. Field formations must implement and report difficulties.

Taxability of affiliation services: universities' affiliation taxable while government schools' board affiliation exempt, with past liabilities regularised.
Affiliation services by universities to colleges are taxable and not covered by the educational exemption. Affiliation by Central/State boards to schools is taxable, with supplies to government schools exempt from the notified date; past GST on such affiliation to all schools is regularized on an as is where is basis. DGCA approved flying training courses with mandated completion certificates qualify as exempt education services. Ancillary services by GTAs during road transport form part of a composite supply unless supplied independently and invoiced separately.

IGST export refund regularization applies after import tax and cess payment with interest and reassessment of the bill of entry.
IGST refunds on exports may be regularized where inputs were initially imported without payment of IGST and compensation cess under specified customs exemption benefits, provided the importer subsequently pays those taxes with interest. The refund is not treated as contravening rule 96(10) where the relevant bill of entry is reassessed by jurisdictional customs authorities to reflect payment of IGST and compensation cess.

Data hosting services supplied on principal-to-principal basis use recipient-location rules and may qualify as exports when statutory conditions are met.
Data hosting services supplied by an Indian provider to an overseas cloud computing provider are supplied on a principal-to-principal basis and are not intermediary services where the provider does not facilitate supplies to end users. The services are neither in respect of recipient-made-available goods nor directly related to immovable property. Where no specific place-of-supply provision applies, the place of supply is the recipient's overseas location. Such supply may qualify as export of services, subject to the remaining statutory export conditions.

Input tax credit on demo vehicles remains available when authorised dealers use them to promote further vehicle supplies.
GST input tax credit on demo vehicles used by authorised motor-vehicle dealers is available where the vehicles are used to promote and facilitate the dealer's further supply of similar motor vehicles. Credit is not available where vehicles are used for unrelated purposes or where the dealer merely provides marketing or test-drive facilitation services to a manufacturer without selling vehicles on its own account. Capitalisation does not by itself affect credit, subject to applicable conditions, depreciation restrictions, and the prescribed capital-goods disposal mechanism on subsequent sale.