Excise-duty demand requiring cash payment under Rule 8(3A) of the Central Excise Rules, 2002 was unsustainable because that rule had been declared ultra vires and unconstitutional. Jurisdictional High Court and Tribunal decisions followed that position. Judicial discipline required adherence to those binding decisions, preventing enforcement of the cash-payment requirement through the demand.

Mobile-phone-specific goods engineered solely or principally for fabrication of mobile-phone covers and related structures fall under Tariff Item 8517 79 90 as mobile-phone parts where their exclusive use is established. Post-import machining, stamping or lamination does not alter that classification, provided field verification confirms the stated end use. Those goods also fall within the customs exemption for inputs or parts used to manufacture mobile-phone covers. Polymer granules introduced only through later submissions remain outside the advance-ruling scope because they were not identified in the original application; their inclusion would expand the proceeding without jurisdictional comments, requiring a separate application.

Interest-free advances to wholly owned subsidiaries, used for overseas business expansion as owners' quasi-equity and not funded by domestic borrowings, were not benchmarked as ordinary loans for a notional-interest transfer-pricing adjustment; the adjustment was deleted. Corporate-guarantee pricing was restricted to 0.5%, reflecting an arm's-length rate materially lower than a bank-guarantee rate. A creditor's write-off supported an addition for remission or cessation of the related trading liability, while a separate alleged liability required verification of whether it remained outstanding in the taxpayer's books. Only the established write-off addition survived, subject to verification of the other liability.

Section 69A treatment of demonetisation-period cash deposits must consider whether the claimed source-realisation of business receivables and sales-was accepted on materially identical facts in an earlier assessment year. Although res judicata does not strictly govern income-tax assessments, the rule of consistency supports uniform treatment where the fundamental facts and source explanation remain unchanged. Without a material distinguishing change, the same business-receipt explanation should not be rejected; the addition requires fresh determination after considering the earlier assessment, supporting material, and providing a reasonable hearing opportunity.

Closing-stock valuation under the mercantile system must be assessed as part of an integrated going-concern exercise. A reduced closing-stock value that also lowers opening stock in the succeeding year increases that year's profit; where the Department does not establish distortion of profits for the relevant year, the adjustment is revenue-neutral. The resulting tax effect concerns only the timing of taxability, not the accrual of real income, so an addition based solely on that reduced valuation is unsustainable.

Unsigned electronic notices issued under Section 148 to initiate income-tax reassessment must comply with the CBDT requirement that notices issued through the e-proceedings facility bear the Assessing Officer's digital signature. Where a reassessment notice was neither digitally nor manually signed, it was invalid and could not confer jurisdiction to reassess income. The resulting reopening proceedings and consequential assessment were quashed.

Dividend income of a recognised staff provident fund is exempt under Section 10(25). Misreporting that income in the return under Section 10(35) does not change its exempt character or justify its disallowance under Section 115BBDA. Delayed employees' provident-fund and ESI contributions concern a separate issue and cannot support disallowance of the fund's dividend income. The dividend disallowance under Section 115BBDA was deleted.

Reassessment beyond four years after scrutiny requires recorded failure to make full and true disclosure linked to escaped income; absent that requirement, reopening is void. Within four years, tangible material not examined originally can support reopening without change of opinion. Dealer-service payments not shown to be prohibited by law, actuarially valued IBNR and IBNER claims, and amortised premium on mandated Government securities qualify as deductible expenditure. Foreign reinsurance premiums require withholding where the payee's Indian business connection or permanent establishment makes income chargeable; default can trigger disallowance. Special insurance computation rules prevent exempt-income expenditure disallowance and book-profit add-back of reserve for unexpired risk, while qualifying investment-sale gains remain exempt.

Section 144C(13) requires a final assessment conforming to Dispute Resolution Panel directions to be completed within one month from the end of the month in which the directions are received. Digitally signed directions uploaded to the ITBA portal are treated as accessible to the Faceless Assessing Officer on the upload date. Internal system processing, asserted non-receipt, or differing user functions do not defer limitation; an assessment made without the directions cannot satisfy the conformity requirement.

Reassessment was sustained where a search-related inquiry identified an assessee's political donation and the assessee acknowledged it during assessment inquiry. A deduction for political contribution cannot be determined on merits without verifying bank records for possible prior cash receipt or subsequent return of donated funds. The deduction issue requires fresh adjudication after verification of donation evidence and an opportunity of hearing, consistent with principles of natural justice.

CBDT's extended-relaxation circular permits the admission and processing as pending applications of settlement applications filed after 31 January 2021 and before 30 September 2021, provided the assessee was otherwise eligible and relevant assessment proceedings remained pending. Applications filed within that period require consideration by the Interim Board in accordance with the circular and applicable law. Eligibility to apply for settlement under section 245C remains subject to separate examination and is not determined merely by filing within the extended period.

GST process reforms propose automated registration amendments and cancellations, simplified registration for qualifying e-commerce sellers, return reconciliation tools, and electronic mechanisms for reverse-charge reporting and input tax credit correction. Risk-based automated refund processing is proposed for electronic cash-ledger, zero-rated, and inverted-duty claims. Input tax credit refunds would extend to specified input services and capital goods, while several blocked-credit restrictions are proposed for removal. Dispute reforms include notice standards, a minimum threshold for show-cause notices, revised penalties, and capped pre-deposits in penalty-only appeals.

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.

Recall of a prior appellate order is warranted where a ground of appeal was raised but remained unaddressed. The omitted ground challenged revision under Section 263 concerning deduction of profits enhanced by disallowance of an NPA provision. Because the omission was conceded, the prior order was recalled on a limited basis solely to adjudicate that ground. The matter is to be listed for hearing in the regular course.