The First Appellate Authority's power to condone delay under Section 107 is confined to the statutory outer limit; constitutional orders issued on particular facts cannot enlarge that jurisdiction. Condonation beyond that limit is ultra vires. Restoration of cancelled GST registrations by the Department, followed by taxpayers resuming business and complying with obligations, leaves no effective relief in a subsequent departmental challenge seeking annulment. Implementing restoration and then challenging it engages the bar against approbating and reprobating. Revocation under Section 30 and an appeal against cancellation under Section 107 are independent remedies, so inability to apply for revocation within the Rule 23 period does not bar the statutory appeal. Restored registrations therefore remain undisturbed.

Section 107 confines the First Appellate Authority's power to condone delay to the prescribed appeal period plus the statutorily permitted further period; equitable considerations and High Court powers under Article 226 cannot enlarge that jurisdiction. Delay condoned beyond the outer limit is therefore beyond jurisdiction. Implementation of registration-restoration orders may nevertheless make a departmental challenge ineffective where restoration has altered parties' positions, enabled continuing compliance, and created genuine intervening transactions. Revocation under Rule 23 and appeal against cancellation operate as alternative remedies, so inability or failure to seek revocation does not bar a statutory appeal.

Section 129 of the CGST Act does not sustain a confiscatory penalty for return transit of fully duty-paid, accounted imported goods to a customs warehouse after an aborted delivery where no intent to evade tax is established. Although section 68 and rule 138 require movement documentation, absence of a fresh e-way bill, without discrepancies in quantity or description, diversion, unrecorded sale, or revenue loss, is a bona fide procedural lapse. Such a default attracts only the general penalty under section 125. Jurisdictional precedent treating bona fide transit-documentation failures as outside section 129 applies, while authorities involving deliberate commercial non-compliance are distinguishable. Consequential refund and release relief follows.

Section 112(3) confines a departmental challenge to points authorised by the Commissioner, preventing an authorised officer from raising an omitted objection to IGST credit utilisation. Priority utilisation of IGST credit under the statutory framework does not create unjust enrichment where equivalent unutilised CGST and SGST credit remains available to debit the refund amount. Judicial invalidation of the ocean-freight IGST reverse-charge levy operates retrospectively unless expressly limited, rendering the levy void from inception. Taxpayers who were not parties to the invalidating litigation may rely on that declaration to seek refund, subject to finality exceptions, with statutory interest for delayed payment.

Input tax credit claims in pending FY 2017-18 proceedings require verification of invoices, receipt of supplies, payment records, supplier-side tax compliance, books and reconciliation material. A numerical mismatch between GSTR-3B and GSTR-2A cannot by itself justify denial of credit under the prescribed verification procedure. Chartered Accountant certificates may serve as corroborative evidence where correlated with contemporaneous records. First appellate rejection for non-appearance, without determining credit eligibility and tax liability on merits, fails to provide a reasoned adjudication consistent with natural justice. Fresh determination should consider the certificate, invoices, ledger records and reconciliation material.

Assignment of leasehold rights in land allotted by an industrial development corporation for lump-sum consideration is characterised as a transfer of benefits arising from immovable property, not a taxable supply of services under GST. Consequently, GST is not leviable on such assignment. The entry for other miscellaneous services does not cover the transfer of these leasehold rights. This treatment follows binding jurisdictional precedent, which continues to apply unless stayed or recalled; an intention to seek review does not displace its binding effect.

GST appellate procedure requires a hearing before dismissal, including where limitation, signatory authority and payment objections depend on disputed facts. Delay within the statutory condonable period may be excused for sufficient cause without a separate affidavit; authorised-signatory proof is a curable defect that corporate ratification may cure. Pre-deposit applies to tax in dispute, while an alternative interest calculation is not an unequivocal admission. Delayed differential tax attracts compensatory interest where invoices separately state GST, preventing cum-tax treatment. GSTR-3B interest may be confirmed only within the show cause notice, and credit for interest already paid requires a reasoned determination.

Input tax credit disallowance for mismatches cannot be sustained where the show-cause notice omits the particulars needed for an effective response. Producing a mismatch chart only after adjudication, when it was unavailable to the adjudicating authority, denies the taxpayer a meaningful opportunity to address the proposed disallowance. Failure to provide sufficient personal-hearing opportunity during first appellate proceedings further breaches principles of natural justice. The input tax credit claim requires fresh adjudication after complete mismatch particulars are supplied and adequate opportunity is granted to explain the claim.

Writ challenge to GST summons seeking information and documents was premature where the petitioner had supplied relevant records by representation. No coercive recovery, threat of arrest, or adverse order had arisen from the summons. Judicial interference was therefore unwarranted at that stage in the absence of those circumstances during the GST proceedings.

Assignment and transfer for consideration of leasehold rights in industrial plots allotted by GIDC constitute transfer of benefits arising from immovable property and are not subject to GST. The jurisdictional High Court's ruling on that characterisation remained binding on the Tribunal absent a stay or recall. The department's stated intention to seek review did not diminish the ruling's binding effect. Accordingly, GST was not leviable on the assignments, and the departmental appeals were dismissed.

Under the Explanation to Rule 110(4) of the CGST Rules, an appeal is filed only upon issuance of the final acknowledgement. A mandatory pre-deposit made after provisional acknowledgement, but within the time allowed to rectify a defect and before final acknowledgement, satisfies the pre-deposit requirement under Section 112(8). The timing objection is therefore treated as cured, enabling registration and admission of the appeal for consideration on merits.

Judicial review of the quantum of a FERA penalty permits interference on proportionality grounds only where the sanction is grossly excessive, unduly harsh, or so disproportionate that it shocks the court's conscience. A Tribunal cannot reduce a penalty without demonstrating and giving reasons that this high threshold is met; its reduction was therefore unsustainable. FERA penalty adjudication follows proof of breach of a statutory civil obligation, without requiring mens rea. Absence of criminal intent or monetary gain does not legally justify a reduced penalty. The appellate outcome restored the penalty imposed by the Adjudicating Authority after setting aside the Tribunal's reduction.

Separate offshore-supply, domestic-supply and domestic-service contracts in a transmission project need not be treated as artificial splitting merely because project safeguards, acceptance testing and performance obligations apply. Where goods are supplied on CIF terms and title passes outside India, offshore-supply receipts are not taxable in India. An Indian associate conducting an independent business does not create a fixed-place or dependent-agent permanent establishment without legal, economic or other dependence. The presumptive computation provision for turnkey power projects does not extend to receipts from mere offshore supply under a separate contract.

Income Declaration Scheme declarations provide personal immunity only to declarants, but an accepted, tax-paid declaration may evidence the true source of share-capital and share-premium credits in another taxpayer's books where it specifically covers the credits and remains unrebutted; taxing that same income again risks double taxation. Before the source-of-source proviso applied, the taxpayer's burden for such credits was limited to identity, genuineness and creditworthiness, although apparent routing of its own advances through intermediaries required verification of commercial rationale. A banking trail alone does not exclude prior cash funding, requiring examination of relevant admissions. A search statement directly linking accommoda.....

Business set-up is distinct from commercial commencement: once a division is established and ready to perform its functions, expenditure cannot be denied solely because commercial operations have not begun. Contemporaneous evidence recording completion of the first phase and commencement of production supports the division's operational status; subsequent financial distress or action against assets cannot retrospectively alter that status. Appellate authorities must consider written submissions and material evidence, including annual reports, and provide reasoned findings rather than merely adopting assessment reasoning. Expenditure of a newly established division cannot be categorised wholesale as capital; deductibility of each item remains subject to applicable statutory conditions.

Mandatory reversal of GST input tax credit attributable to unsold units on project completion converts the extinguished credit into an irrecoverable project cost, deductible as business expenditure when final project-wise allocation crystallises. The reversal is not a voluntary write-off or correction of an earlier error, even where no fresh cash payment arises, because GST on inputs has been paid and the related credit becomes unrecoverable. The deduction for credit attributable to unsold completed units is allowable in AY 2022-23. A related post-completion provision requires examination in AY 2023-24 and may be allowed in only one assessment year to prevent double deduction.

Fixed place permanent establishment requires evidence that the foreign enterprise has a right to use or control the Indian subsidiary's premises for its business; group-wide Form 10-K and website material do not establish that condition. A subsidiary relationship alone is insufficient. Dependent agency permanent establishment also requires authority to conclude contracts or habitual order securing for the foreign enterprise. Independent principal-to-principal dealings, the subsidiary's separate manufacturing operations, and a licence arrangement confined to royalty-bearing products did not satisfy those conditions. Neither form of permanent establishment arose, so no Indian profits were attributable to the disputed offshore supplies and the attribution was deleted.

Electronic upload of DRP directions on the ITBA module constitutes receipt of those directions in a faceless assessment. The final assessment must therefore be completed within the period prescribed under section 144C(13), calculated from that upload date. Where the final assessment is completed after the prescribed period, it is time-barred and liable to be set aside. Other assessment grounds remain open where invalidity is determined solely by limitation.

Gifted unlisted shares taxed on receipt under section 56(2)(x) retain their character as assets acquired by gift for determining the holding period. The previous owner's holding period is included, so a subsequent transfer may produce long-term capital gains. However, section 49(4) separately fixes the donee's cost at the value previously taxed under section 56(2)(x); it does not carry over the prior owner's cost. Consequently, indexation of that deemed cost begins only in the financial year in which it was taxed, not in an earlier ownership period.

Compulsory-acquisition compensation under the National Highways Act that remained unpaid on 31 December 2014 and was received in FY 2015-16 qualified for exemption under section 96 of the RFCTLARR Act. The exemption applied notwithstanding the absence of a specific corresponding exemption in the Income-tax Act, resulting in deletion of the long-term capital-gains addition. Interest received for delayed payment of that compensation was separately taxable as income from other sources under binding jurisdictional High Court precedent. The capital-gains addition was deleted, while the addition for delayed-payment interest was sustained.