GST Council recommends removal of arrest provisions under GST GST Council recommends raising prosecution threshold from Rs.1 crore to Rs.5 crore GST Council recommends reduction in general penalty from Rs.25,000 to Rs.10,000 GST Council recommends wider eligibility for input tax credit and refunds GST Council recommends further simplification of registration and compliance processes GST Council recommends faster refunds to improve working capital for businesses GST Council ... ... ...

Income-tax treatment of corpus receipts received by a co-operative housing society for granting development rights to a developer is considered for return reporting. The developer has deducted tax at source under section 194-IC, raising the issue of the receipts' resulting income-tax implications in the society's return.

Revisionary jurisdiction under section 263 may be sustained where profit is estimated on reduced work receipts despite TDS-backed total contract receipts, without examining subcontract arrangements and related commission income. However, subcontracted receipts cannot automatically be subjected to the same flat profit rate applied to other receipts merely because related income remains unverified. Income attributable to subcontracted work requires factual verification of the income disclosed, while revision remains confined to the inadequately examined assessment.

Compulsory registration requirements under the Electronics and Information Technology Goods (Requirement for Compulsory Registration) Order, 2021 are extended to screen protectors for smartphones. These goods must conform to Indian Standard IS 19348:2025, titled "Glass Screen Protector - Specification." The registration requirement applies from 1 April 2027, and customs field formations must take the expanded compulsory registration coverage into account for necessary action.

Section 14A disallowance relating to exempt income is restricted to the amount of dividend income where that limitation was directed for the relevant assessment year. Omission to record and apply the earlier direction restricting the disallowance to exempt income constitutes a mistake apparent from the record. The required correction limits the disallowance to the exempt-income amount.

Free Trade Agreements are positioned to preserve sensitive domestic interests, particularly agriculture, fisheries and MSMEs, while widening market access for agricultural, marine, engineering, precision and electronic products and facilitating foreign investment. Proposed FTA utilisation desks across State Councils would assist MSMEs in using preferential arrangements, understanding rules of origin and market-access opportunities, participating in delegations and exhibitions, and presenting products and technologies to overseas markets.

Assessment order and consequential notices were quashed. The objection to reopening of assessment under Section 147 was remanded for reconsideration, with an opportunity for further submissions, clarification of figures stated in the reopening reasons, and a personal hearing under prescribed rules. The merits remained open. Until disposal of the reopening objection, the jurisdictional Assessing Officer retains the matter; subsequent assessment proceeds under the Faceless Scheme.

Section 80P(4) excludes specified co-operative banks from the deduction but does not remove a co-operative credit society's eligibility under Section 80P(2)(a)(i) or Section 80P(2)(d). Interest earned by such a society on deposits with a co-operative bank remains deductible where that bank is a registered co-operative society within Section 2(19). Allowing this deduction does not make the assessment erroneous and prejudicial to the Revenue; consequently, revision under Section 263 on that basis is unsustainable.

Omission to adjudicate a ground challenging revisionary action prompted rectification proceedings concerning the effect of an NPA provision disallowance on Chapter VI-A deductions. The unresolved issue was whether profits increased by disallowance of the NPA provision remained eligible for the relevant deduction. The earlier order was recalled only for adjudication of that omitted ground, without reopening the determination concerning deduction claimed on interest from cooperative-bank deposits.

Under the Estates Land Act, a cocoanut plantation falls within "fruit garden" and constitutes a statutory improvement because cocoanuts are fruits and cocoanut trees are fruit trees. Enhanced rent beyond the dry rate is therefore not chargeable for that improvement. In recurring rent claims, res judicata binds the same landlord and tenant as to rights previously determined for the same holdings and areas of cocoanut cultivation, even where the earlier legal interpretation was erroneous. Its effect does not extend to land subsequently planted with cocoanut trees that was not previously litigated; those additional areas require verification and determination under the correct statutory interpretation.

Refined coconut oil qualifies as agricultural produce under the Bihar Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1960, both before and after the 1982 amendment. The amended definition encompasses processed, unprocessed and manufactured products derived from agriculture, horticulture or plantation, and generally does not require scheduled inclusion; that requirement is limited to livestock and poultry. Under the earlier definition, coconut appeared in the Schedule, falls within the ordinary meaning of vegetable, and oil extracted from it is vegetable oil and a processed coconut derivative. Undefined expressions may be interpreted using dictionaries and encyclopaedias.

Section 151A and the e-Assessment of Income Escaping Assessment Scheme, 2022 require covered reassessment functions and section 148 notice issuance through automated allocation. Risk-based selection of cases is distinct from randomised allocation of the officer authorised to act. Sections 148A and 148 form an integrated reassessment sequence, so general concurrent jurisdiction, administrative instructions or digital service cannot substitute for the prescribed faceless allocation. Section 147A did not amend the continuing statutory and scheme-based allocation requirements and is treated as constitutionally invalid.

Agricultural-land capital-gains exemption depends on the land's character at the time of sale, requiring verification of the conversion date and relevant property and revenue records. Interest on a loan to a bankrupt overseas subsidiary remains subject to arm's-length benchmarking for the relevant broken period. A corporate guarantee for an associated enterprise falls within international transactions, with 0.5% treated as a reasonable commission, while foreign-currency debenture interest requires use of the correctly verified LIBOR rate. Expenditure disallowance related to exempt income cannot exceed that income and cannot be added to book profit unless it falls within specified book-profit adjustments.

CBDT Instruction No. 3/2003 required the Assessing Officer to determine the arm's-length price without referring international transactions to the Transfer Pricing Officer where their value did not exceed the prescribed monetary threshold. The instruction bound income-tax authorities. A reference made despite transactions falling below that threshold was unsustainable and could not trigger the extended assessment period. Consequently, the assessment was invalid as time-barred.

Under Article 136, a refusal of special leave remains a discretionary leave-stage determination. A non-speaking dismissal does not merge the challenged lower-court decision into a Supreme Court order, affirm its reasoning, or automatically create res judicata. A speaking refusal may bind only as to legal propositions expressly declared under Article 141, without producing merger. Merger arises when leave is granted and appellate jurisdiction is exercised. Review, writ, and remanded proceedings remain subject to independent procedural requirements, including limitation and safeguards against abuse.

Section 37 of the NDPS Act imposes cumulative bail conditions in commercial-quantity cases: the court must find reasonable grounds to believe the accused is not guilty and unlikely to reoffend while on bail. These requirements supplement ordinary bail factors and demand a genuine, provisional assessment of credible material. Personal liberty and trial delay remain relevant, but must be reconciled with the statutory threshold. Bail conditions, including verification safeguards for foreign nationals, must be proportionate, genuine and capable of enforcement.

Section 151 approval for reassessment requires the competent authority to form and record independent satisfaction after considering the recorded reasons for reopening. A bare endorsement that a matter is fit for reopening, without demonstrable application of mind, is mechanical and fails the statutory safeguard. Reassessment initiated on that basis is invalid, and the reassessment proceedings were quashed in favour of the assessee.

Form 10AB for regular section 80G approval may be filed subject to the applicable period, with delayed filing capable of condonation on sufficient cause. Absence of regular professional assistance and technical portal difficulties are identified as grounds for condonation; the Tribunal under section 254(1) and the Commissioner under the proviso to section 12A(1)(ac)(iii) may address such delay. Object clauses allowing overseas activities or application of income do not automatically bar regular approval, since the section 11(1)(c) restriction is examined when exemption is claimed. Valid incorporation of proposed memorandum amendments requires verification during fresh merits consideration.

Tax-recovery attachment under the Income-tax Act requires an existing default, while sections 222 and 225 permit recovery proceedings to be modified after appellate orders. Once relief deleting additions has been given effect and resultant arrears have been paid, factual finality at the ITAT level and an extinguished or satisfied demand require release of the attachment. A proposed further Revenue appeal cannot preserve the attachment; subsequent Revenue success permits fresh recovery under the statutory procedure.

Customs-duty liability for pilfered imported goods arises only where pilferage occurs after unloading in a customs area while goods are held by an approved custodian. Approval is indispensable; factual control or statutory custody alone does not impose this liability for a period before approval. Importer duty exemption for pre-clearance pilferage operates alongside the custodian's revenue liability. Pilferage must be proved through contemporaneous records and cannot be presumed from every cargo discrepancy, shortage, or loss.