Customs sample testing for specified goods may temporarily be undertaken by an external laboratory to clear pending Group-I, particularly first-check, samples. The two-month extension from 30 July 2019 seeks to prevent delays affecting other sample testing. Importers or owners must bear the testing cost for samples sent to the notified laboratory. Operational difficulties may be raised with the Customs officer in charge, and the arrangement is to be followed as a standing order.

Revisionary jurisdiction under Section 263 requires an assessment order to be both erroneous and prejudicial to the interests of the Revenue. In limited scrutiny, the Assessing Officer cannot extend inquiry beyond the selected issue. Agricultural income had been specifically examined through questionnaires, show-cause proceedings and supporting documents, and was accepted after considering the material. Further inquiry could not be directed without identifying an unexamined issue or showing how any deficiency made the assessment both erroneous and prejudicial. A plausible view adopted after inquiry does not satisfy the conditions for revision; the assumption of revisionary jurisdiction was therefore invalid.

Reassessment initiated more than four years after a completed scrutiny assessment is jurisdictionally invalid unless the recorded reasons themselves allege, and set out a factual basis for, the taxpayer's failure to make a full and true disclosure of material facts. Such failure cannot be inferred from recorded reasons that omit both the allegation and its factual foundation. Accordingly, the reassessment notice and consequential reassessment require annulment where the recorded reasons do not satisfy that condition.

Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (ICERT) is designated to function as an Attached Office under the administrative control of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, with immediate effect. ICERT remains the appointed agency for purposes of the Information Technology Act, 2000, as amended from time to time. Its continuing statutory agency role applies alongside its attached-office classification.

Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) is appointed by the Central Government as the agency for the purposes of section 70B(1) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. CERT-In functions under the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

Income-tax reassessment under Sections 147 and 148 is permissible only where recorded reasons, assessed at the time of notice, disclose a bona fide reason to believe that chargeable income escaped assessment. Final proof is unnecessary at that stage, but relevant tangible material must have a rational, live link to escapement. Reopening cannot be used to review an issue consciously examined and decided in the original scrutiny; nor can later or extraneous material supplement the recorded reasons. The taxpayer may seek the reasons, file focused objections, and receive a speaking order before reassessment continues.

Disallowance of a political-contribution deduction under Section 80GGC and imposition of penalty under Section 270A are separate statutory inquiries. An adverse finding on genuineness or eligibility may raise assessed or reassessed income, but cannot alone establish misreporting. Enhanced penalty requires proof that the taxpayer's conduct falls within a specific Section 270A(9) category, supported by a precise notice and reasoned factual findings.

The Commissioner of State Tax, Punjab, rescinds Notification No. GST-1-2020/13 dated 9 December 2020 under section 168 of the Punjab Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, read with sub-rule (5) of rule 61 of the Punjab Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017. The rescission preserves things done or omitted before its operation and is deemed effective from 10 November 2020.

Section 12AB permits the authority, after inquiry into objects, genuine activities and material legal compliance, to grant registration for the statutory period or reject the application. It does not create a contingent form of registration whose tax consequences await future litigation. Post-registration violations must be addressed through the separate cancellation process, requiring inquiry and hearing. Conditions in prescribed forms or administrative guidance may operationalise statutory duties but cannot create extra-statutory eligibility thresholds, future-conduct obligations or anticipatory cancellation consequences. Binding jurisdictional rulings remain applicable unless stayed, modified or reversed.

Punjab GST return compliance introduces quarterly return filing, the Invoice Furnishing Facility for the first and second months of a quarter, and a monthly static auto-drafted input tax credit statement in FORM GSTR-2B. Quarterly filers may report specified supplies to registered persons and related notes through IFF without repeating them in quarterly FORM GSTR-1. FORM GSTR-2B segregates available, unavailable and reversible credit and requires reconciliation with records. Regular taxpayers file FORM GSTR-3B monthly or quarterly, with quarterly taxpayers depositing tax for the first two months in FORM GST PMT-06.

New Article 27B introduces an entitlement-to-benefits limitation for India-Mauritius treaty relief. A benefit for an item of income may be denied where obtaining it was one of the principal purposes of an arrangement or transaction that directly or indirectly produced the benefit, considering all relevant facts and circumstances. Relief may still be granted where it accords with the object and purpose of the relevant treaty provisions. The amendments apply from their entry into force, irrespective of the tax levy date or taxable year concerned.

Transaction value under Section 14 and Rule 3 is the primary basis for valuing imported goods. Rule 12 permits rejection only where an objectively sustainable reasonable doubt persists after considering further information; on request, the grounds must be disclosed in writing and a hearing afforded. Redetermination must follow Rules 4 to 9 sequentially and rely on demonstrably comparable import data. Written acceptance of reassessment may dispense with a speaking order under Section 17(5), but protest-qualified or provisional-clearance correspondence may preserve the statutory right to appeal.

GSTR-9/9C annual return filing for FY 2025-26 is enabled on the GST portal from 8 October 2026. Access to the annual-return filing tile requires filing all GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B returns for the relevant financial year. Taxpayers requiring filing assistance may submit a support ticket through the GSTN helpdesk.

GST treatment of assignment of leasehold rights turns on whether the lessee has made a complete transfer of its existing estate or continues to provide occupation or enjoyment. Where the assignor transfers the whole residual term, possession, building and associated rights, retains no reversionary or controlling interest, and the assignee succeeds directly to obligations towards the original lessor, the transaction may be characterised as transfer of benefits arising out of land rather than a supply of services. Labels such as premium, salami or transfer fee are not conclusive.

Retirement leave encashment received by employees other than Central or State Government employees falls under Section 10(10AA)(ii). Exemption depends on retirement, the ten-month earned-leave limit, average salary for the preceding ten months, earned-leave entitlement restrictions, aggregate limits, and prior exempt receipts. The enhanced notified ceiling of Rs. 25,00,000, deemed to operate from 1 April 2023, is treated in the Tribunal approach discussed as a beneficial rationalisation available to eligible pending claims for earlier assessment years, without displacing the statutory computation conditions.

Plot No. 7, Sector Knowledge Park-05, Greater Noida, comprising 1.65 hectares, is notified as a Special Economic Zone for Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled Services. An Approval Committee is constituted for the zone, chaired by the Development Commissioner and including designated commerce, trade, customs, income-tax, banking and State Government representatives; the developer's representative is a special invitee. From 12 October 2026, the zone is deemed to be an Inland Container Depot under customs law.

The Customs Tariff (Determination of Origin of Goods under the Free Trade Agreement between India and New Zealand) Rules, 2026 prescribe origin criteria for preferential tariff treatment from 20 October 2026. Goods must be wholly obtained or satisfy applicable product-specific rules, including tariff-classification changes, qualifying value content or process requirements, subject to bilateral cumulation, de minimis allowances and direct-consignment conditions. Minimal processing does not confer origin. Claims require a valid Certificate of Origin or eligible origin declaration, supported by prescribed records. Customs may verify origin through information requests and verification visits, deny preferences for non-compliance or insufficient information, and temporarily suspend treatment for persistent or deliberate origin misrepresentation.

Export policy for Prepared Culture Media classified under ITC(HS) Code 38210000 remains free while establishing a certification process where an importing country requires shipment clearance or health certification. CAPEXIL may issue consignment-wise Shipment Clearance Certificates containing exporter, plant, product, quantity, invoice, loading-port and destination details. Following shipment, exporters must provide buyers a consignment-wise Health Certificate covering product classification, packaging, origin, destination, vessel, departure and health requirements. Where mandated by the importing country, CAPEXIL and the Regional Animal Quarantine Officer must jointly issue the Health Certificate. The amendment takes immediate effect.

Restricted imports of specified silver bullion items, excluding silver dore, qualify for expedited import authorisation where applicants self-declare payment of customs duty at the generally applicable rate without concessions. Applicants must apply online, provide a reasoned quantity-and-value justification, and remain responsible for complete and correct information; other applications undergo merits scrutiny. Pending applicants may revise applications once to use the procedure. Authorisations require procurement through IIBX or notified nominated banks or agencies, remain subject to further verification and all policy requirements, and are valid for six months without extension.

INR non-deliverable derivative contracts may be offered by Authorised Dealers to non-resident users only for hedging, replacing the previous unrestricted-purpose position. Authorised Dealers must maintain a Foreign Exchange Risk Reserve for INR foreign exchange derivative contracts undertaken to hedge currency risk on their own assets and liabilities where they purchase foreign currency against INR. The reserve must equal 20 per cent of each contract's INR-equivalent notional amount, be maintained as a daily cash deposit in India with RBI until contract termination, and applies to contracts undertaken after issuance of the directions.