TRQ holders allocated quota for raw sugar imports may surrender unutilised quantities until 15 November 2026. Surrender remains subject to payment of 0.5% of the CIF value of the quantity surrendered under the existing modalities. All other conditions governing the tariff rate quota allocation and surrender process remain unchanged.

Heightened vigilance, enhanced due diligence and transaction-specific risk assessment are advised before commercial dealings with the identified Bangladeshi firm under the Foreign Trade Policy, 2023. Export promotion bodies, industry associations, banks, insurers, regional authorities and trade participants should alert exporters and importers to the concerns, consider them when processing applications, credit support, trade facilitation, certifications or recommendations, and promptly report adverse experiences, payment problems, contractual disputes or other relevant information. The precautionary advisory follows an unresolved Quality Control and Trade Dispute complaint and the absence of substantive cooperation needed to verify facts or achieve an amicable resolution.

Electronic Certificates of Origin issued by New Zealand bodies under the India-New Zealand FTA are valid for preferential tariff claims if issued in the prescribed format, bearing the authorised seal and signature, and satisfying applicable origin requirements. Importers or Customs Brokers must upload the e-CoO on e-Sanchit and accurately enter its certification details in the bill of entry. Authenticity may be checked through specimen seals and signatures, QR codes or URL links, with doubtful cases referred for verification. Each proof of origin applies to one importation only, and system controls will prevent reuse in multiple bills of entry. Preferential treatment may also be claimed post-importation for qualifying goods in transit or under customs control when the agreement entered into force.

Custodianship and Customs Cargo Service Provider approval is extended to export liquid cargo at Liquid Berths LB-03 and LB-04 until the cargo is loaded onto the vessel. The approval remains valid until 23 October 2031 and is co-terminus with the existing approval for imported liquid cargo. All existing approval conditions apply equally to export cargo, and the service provider must comply with customs law governing exports, cargo-handling regulations, and applicable rules, notifications, circulars, orders and instructions.

Liquid Berths LB-03 and LB-04 at Jawaharlal Nehru Port are approved as places for loading export liquid cargo, extending their existing approval for unloading imported liquid cargo. Export handling is subject to compliance with the Customs Act, related rules and regulations, and applicable instructions. The previously specified Boarding Station and Customs Area limits remain unchanged, so the addendum expands permitted cargo operations without altering the existing territorial customs designations.

Before granting out-of-charge clearance for imported cosmetics, drugs and medical devices through PGA-facilitated Bills of Entry, the proper officer must verify the applicable licences, permissions, registration certificates and other particulars prescribed in the relevant product-compliance checklist. Importers, Customs Brokers and other stakeholders must ensure that mandatory supporting documents are uploaded through e-SANCHIT to enable expedited clearance. The verification requirement applies immediately and covers compliance obligations under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and its rules.

Permanent Trade Facilitation Committees must meet fortnightly to resolve clearance bottlenecks, monitor AEM, TSK and ICEGATE Helpdesk grievance mechanisms, and escalate unresolved matters to National Assessment Centres. Each Customs Station must have a committee with departmental and trade stakeholders, a Single Point of Contact, and systematic compilation of grievances for meeting agendas. TSKs must assist trade under Faceless Assessment by tracking local delays, coordinating with assessment groups and supporting procedural issues. The revised framework applies immediately and modifies earlier arrangements to the stated extent.

Section 14A read with Rule 8D permits disallowance only for expenditure incurred in relation to exempt income. Where no exempt income is earned during the relevant year, no disallowance can arise under that mechanism. For book-profit computation under Section 115JB(2), clause (f) of Explanation 1 operates independently of the Section 14A and Rule 8D computation. Consequently, a disallowance calculated under Section 14A cannot be imported into book profit, and it must be excluded from the minimum alternate tax computation.

Input tax credit on demo passenger vehicles is available where an authorised dealer uses them for trial runs and demonstrations that promote the dealer's own further supply of similar motor vehicles. Credit is blocked where vehicles are used for employee or management transport, or where the dealer only provides marketing or facilitation services for a manufacturer that directly sells vehicles to customers. Capitalisation does not itself affect credit eligibility, subject to restrictions where depreciation is claimed on the tax component and to prescribed tax obligations on subsequent sale.

Goodwill recognised as excess consideration over net assets in a court-sanctioned amalgamation is treated as a depreciable intangible asset under Explanation 3(b) to section 32(1). Revenue's prior non-objection to the sanctioned scheme supports treating the arrangement as valid rather than a tax-avoidance device. Unabsorbed depreciation carried forward under section 32(2) forms part of current-year depreciation and may be set off under section 71, with no prescribed sequence requiring a less favourable adjustment; this includes set-off against short-term capital gains. MAT credit of an amalgamating company may pass to the amalgamated company following amalgamation, subject to assessment-stage verification.

Interest payable to a co-operative bank for AY 2016-17 was not subject to the actual-payment condition under section 43B(d). The provision was extended to cover such interest only from 1 April 2018, applying from AY 2018-19. Consequently, non-payment by the return-filing due date could not justify disallowance for AY 2016-17, and the interest disallowance was required to be deleted.

ICETAB-based export examination enables examining officers to access Shipping Bill particulars, examination orders, RMS instructions and supporting documents digitally, without paper documents. Officers must enter examination reports through ICETAB and upload cargo images, which remain available in the e-Sanchit repository. Where exigencies prevent ICETAB reporting, prior permission of the concerned Assistant Commissioner is required and must be recorded in the system.

An optional FORM GSTR-1A permits a registered person, after filing FORM GSTR-1 and before filing the corresponding FORM GSTR-3B, to add or amend current-period outward-supply details electronically without late fee. It cannot amend a document where the recipient GSTIN changes. GSTR-1A particulars are made available for FORM GSTR-3B and reflected in FORM GSTR-2A and the next open FORM GSTR-2B. Related compliance, input tax credit, refund, annual-return, scrutiny and demand-intimation processes recognise GSTR-1A amendments.

Section 68 requires an assessee to establish creditors' identity and creditworthiness and the genuineness of loan transactions; once supporting confirmations, tax and financial records, and bank evidence discharge that burden, the Revenue must rebut them with independent evidence rather than suspicion. Interest and commission adjustments dependent on non-genuine loans consequently fail. Where purchase invoices, banking records, supplier confirmations, stock records and sales remain unrebutted, any adjustment for alleged bogus purchases is confined to the embedded profit element rather than the entire purchase value. Undisclosed, uncorroborated third-party seized material without cross-examination cannot support an alleged cash-payment addition because it breaches natural justice.

CSD must file section 55 refund claims electronically in FORM GST RFD-10A for qualifying inward goods supplied onward to Unit Run Canteens or authorised customers. Claims may be quarterly or combined for multiple quarters, must be filed within two years from the relevant quarter, and require supplier-reported invoices, supplier return compliance, an undertaking on intended use, and a no-prior-refund declaration. Portal validation limits the claim to fifty per cent of eligible tax and prevents enhancement of auto-populated amounts. The proper officer verifies compliance, invoice eligibility, and reversal of related input tax credit before issuing FORM GST RFD-06.

SCMTR export-message implementation at Mumbai requires mandatory electronic filing of the Sea Departure Manifest and Sea Departure Notification for vessels calling at the port from 29 April 2025, replacing Export General Manifest filing. Successful filing of these messages directly determines linkage to export incentives. Authorised sea carriers, agents, transhippers, terminal operators, custodians, freight forwarders, importers, exporters, customs brokers, and authorised persons must ensure prescribed export-message filing.

Reassessment limitation under Sections 149(1)(a) and 149(1)(b) restricts action beyond three years from the end of the relevant assessment year unless the conditions for the extended period are met. Where a notice under Section 148A(b) is issued after that period and the alleged escaped income is below Rs. 50 lakh, the extended limitation framework does not apply. An order under Section 148A(d) founded on such notice is without jurisdiction, unsustainable in law, and liable to be quashed.

Refund of additional IGST paid after an upward revision of export-goods price must be claimed electronically in FORM GST RFD-01 and is processed by the jurisdictional GST officer under rule 89. Pending a separate portal category, the claim is filed under "Any other" with specified remarks, statements 9A and 9B, and supporting evidence. Eligibility requires proof of revised contractual price, payment of additional IGST and interest, reporting in GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B, and receipt of corresponding additional foreign exchange remittance.

Customs duty refund applications are to be processed and disbursed electronically through the Customs Automated System and the ICEGATE Portal. Manual or online filing is permitted only until 31 March 2025 as a transitional measure. Thereafter, manual refund applications are not to be accepted unless the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Customs allows manual filing for reasons recorded in writing.

GST investigation administration assigns the Headquarter Bureau of Investigation duties under specified statutory provisions and relevant Rules as directed by the Commissioner of State Tax. The Divisional Bureau is assigned duties under the same provisions and Rules as directed by the Joint Commissioner of State Tax (Administration). The revised functional allocation is deemed effective from 5 December 2017.