Tariff values are revised for edible oils, brass scrap, gold, silver and areca nuts under section 14(2) of the Customs Act, 1962. Edible-oil and brass-scrap values are fixed per metric tonne, while gold and silver values apply per 10 grams and per kilogram respectively for specified forms and concessional categories, subject to stated product and import-mode exclusions. Areca nuts receive a tariff value per metric tonne. The revised values take effect on 16 October 2026.

Section 44AB tax-audit requirement applies only to persons carrying on business or profession. A registered charitable educational society claiming exemption under Section 11 on the basis of Section 12A registration, with no business activity or computation of business or professional profits, falls outside that requirement. Subsequent disallowance of the charitable exemption does not retrospectively create a tax-audit obligation while the registration remains operative. Consequently, penalty under Section 271B for failure to obtain a tax audit is not leviable; the society's bona fide belief in the inapplicability of Section 44AB also supports that result.

Composite schemes of arrangement involving amalgamation and demerger under the Companies Act, 2013 require requisite shareholder and creditor approvals, service of statutory notices, and satisfaction of applicable regulatory requirements. Accounting treatment, stock-exchange observations, employee protections and continuing compliance must be addressed. Tax authorities retain their rights to recover lawful dues and pursue pending or future proceedings. The proposed arrangement proceeds with the exclusion of Serial No. 47 and Note 2 from Part IV of the Schedule, while the amalgamation and demerger take effect under the modified scheme.

National Assessment Centre Portal provides a common digital platform under the Faceless Assessment framework for accessing Customs assessment information and reference material. Its searchable resources cover audit objections, rulings, legal decisions, classification, valuation, meeting minutes, advisories, alerts and trade-facilitation information. Importers, Customs Brokers and trade associations are encouraged to use the platform to support informed compliance, reduce divergent assessment practices, and improve transparency, predictability and certainty in Customs assessment.

Duty drawback schedule entries in Chapter 71 are revised under the Customs and Central Excise Duties Drawback Rules, 2017. The figure in column (4) for tariff item 711301 is replaced from 1851.99 to 1794.11. For tariff items 711302 and 711401, the corresponding figure is replaced from 29501.09 to 26859.02.

Commissioner of Customs (Adjudication), Mumbai is appointed as the Common Adjudicating Authority to exercise the powers and duties of the Commissioner of Customs, NS-I Commissionerate, Mumbai Customs Zone-II, for adjudicating and disposing of specified customs show-cause notices. The appointment covers identified importers and exporters, with notice particulars and applicable order-in-original deadlines, including extensions where specified. It takes effect upon publication in the Official Gazette.

Under the Code on Social Security, 2020, paragraph 4(2) of the Employees' Pension Scheme, 2026, applies the stated monthly wage limit in place of a centrally specified sum. The first proviso to paragraph 4(2) is amended by omitting the words "and the Central Government". The amendments take effect on 17th September 2026.

Central excise exemption table entries at serial numbers 1 and 2 are amended by substituting the per-litre rates in column (4). The rate for serial number 1 is substituted with "Rs. 2.5 per litre", and the rate for serial number 2 is substituted with "Rs. 8.5 per litre". These revised entries take effect from 16 October 2026.

PMLA coverage extends to virtual digital asset exchanges, transfers, custody or administration, and related financial services, with virtual digital asset entities treated as reporting entities. Enhanced record-maintenance and due-diligence obligations require beneficial ownership identification, client-structure information, trustee and senior-management details, and registered-office information. Trusts and companies are subject to a ten per cent controlling-interest threshold for beneficial interest, while non-profit organisation clients require registration on the NITI Aayog DARPAN portal. Politically exposed persons are defined by reference to prominent foreign public functions.

Personal hearing under Section 75(4) of the CGST Act is mandatory where an adverse decision is contemplated, regardless of a "No" selection in FORM GST DRC-06. Where FORM GST DRC-01 does not contain hearing particulars, the proper officer must separately communicate the date, time, and venue; reminders showing "N.A." do not provide an effective hearing. Section 75(6) additionally requires a reasoned order addressing relevant facts, the taxpayer's reply, and supporting material. For ITC eligibility, the recipient must establish actual movement of goods and transaction genuineness beyond invoices and banking payments.

Wrong-head GST payments must be reconciled against the correct tax liability where IGST was mistakenly paid under CGST and SGST because of a clerical return-entry error. Established and available excess amounts may be adjusted to prevent duplicate recovery, but the adjustment extends only to that extent. A residual IGST shortfall remains recoverable in cash with applicable interest. Demand confirmation must remain within the grounds stated in the show-cause notice and must address the taxpayer's reconciliation through a reasoned adjudication.

Transitional input tax credit omitted because the portal did not permit correction of an earlier return should be tested through verification rather than defeated solely by procedural lapse. Proper officers must examine relevant records and issue a reasoned determination. First appellate authorities must independently assess facts, identify issues, address defence grounds and give speaking orders. Clerical tax-head mismatches may permit CGST/SGST credit set-off against an IGST shortfall through the electronic credit ledger, with any remaining dues payable in cash with applicable interest.

Police investigation is not excluded merely because allegations arise from GST registration, invoicing, input tax credit claims, or tax compliance. Where an FIR contains distinct cheating and forgery offences, tax authorities and police may examine connected aspects under their respective legal powers. GST officers may scrutinise registrations, invoices, returns, credits and tax consequences, while police may investigate separate criminal ingredients. A disputed return, accounting error, or input tax credit claim does not itself establish penal offences; statutory ingredients and supporting evidence remain necessary.

Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act permits interim measures securing an amount in dispute where circumstances show that enforcing a future arbitral award may become difficult. A registered cancellation deed, issuance of a cheque for the identified principal amount, and its dishonour for insufficient funds may prima facie support a refund claim. Financial and contractual disputes, negligible disclosed bank balances, pending enforcement proceedings, and assignment of redevelopment rights may establish a genuine risk to recoverability. Deposit of the disputed principal amount can preserve the claim pending arbitration without determining underlying rights or liabilities, where the balance of convenience supports such protection.

Sales-tax demand notice dated 15 July 1997 for assessment year 1991-92 fell within the five-year limitation under Section 12 of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1994. An earlier notice concerning the same assessment year and sales-tax demand had been issued within the prescribed period. The later notice was treated as a continuation of the earlier timely notice, rather than as an independent and time-barred demand, and was therefore valid.

Registered security interests recorded before a State tax charge receive statutory priority over government taxes, cesses and other dues under section 26E of the SARFAESI Act. A State's statutory first charge for sales tax cannot displace that priority where the secured creditor registered its interest first. Tax-recovery notices and attachments cannot burden the secured asset in those circumstances, particularly where the prescribed public-proclamation procedure for attachment has not been established. The auction purchaser is consequently entitled to receive the secured asset free of the State tax encumbrance.

Under the compounded levy scheme, capacity-based duty must be determined from verified production-capacity parameters and charged at the prescribed rate applicable to the chosen payment option. A demand cannot be confirmed on an annual-capacity basis not proposed in the show cause notice. No duty accrues after permanent factory closure where no production occurs, and duty paid in excess of liability calculated on the correct capacity and rate is refundable. Interest and penalty under Rules 96ZO, 96ZP and 96ZQ cannot be sustained because those provisions had been declared ultra vires.

Amounts paid during investigation or adjudication that are not appropriated towards duty retain their character as revenue deposits rather than statutory refunds or pre-deposits. The refund provisions governing duty and delayed statutory refunds do not apply while that character remains. Interest at 12% per annum is payable from payment until refund. Where an amount is later treated as a statutory pre-deposit, interest remains payable at that rate for the intervening period before its conversion, because later treatment does not alter its original revenue-deposit character.

CENVAT credit is admissible for service tax paid on commissions to overseas agents that procure export orders. Rule 2(l) of the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004 treats sales-promotion services as input services. Commission-agent activities that procure orders and facilitate sales contain a sales-promotion element, bringing them within that definition. The subsequent explanation confirms the legislative intent that credit extends to commission-agent services used for such sales-related functions.

Amounts deposited under protest during an investigation, rather than as statutory pre-deposits under section 35F of the Central Excise Act, fall outside section 35FF's refund-interest regime. Delayed refund of such deposits attracts interest at 12% per annum from the payment date until realisation under applicable jurisdictional High Court precedent. The distinction between an investigation deposit and a section 35F pre-deposit determines both the governing refund provision and the applicable interest rate.