Attachment under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act did not prevent a co-operative housing society from redeveloping its building where the attached flat's replacement remained subject to attachment. The attachment had to be disclosed in redevelopment documents, and all accruals relating to the attached flat had to be deposited exclusively in the designated Enforcement Directorate account. The replacement flat was entitled to the same redevelopment benefits as other members. A bank guarantee was not required because it would impose financial pressure before redevelopment terms were finalised. Redevelopment was permitted subject to these safeguards.

Pronouncement of judgment in a money-laundering prosecution should await judgment in the connected scheduled-offence proceeding, even though the money-laundering trial may continue independently. The scheduled offence forms the foundation of the money-laundering prosecution, and its outcome directly affects that prosecution; deciding the latter first may create a legally inconsistent result. The stated approach permits the Special Court to continue the money-laundering trial while deferring its judgment until the scheduled-offence court delivers judgment.

Intermediary services supplied by overseas Local Area Representatives in film-production arrangements fall outside India's taxable territory where the producer retains exclusive creative, budgetary and business control. Representatives that arrange facilities, personnel and third-party shooting services for a fixed facilitation fee, without changing the nature or value of underlying services, act as intermediaries rather than film producers providing services on their own account. The specific place-of-provision rule for intermediary services applies, with Paris as the place of provision. Foreign tax incentives received through a representative do not establish independent film-production services. Consequently, reverse-charge service tax, related demand and penalties do not apply.

Preferential customs duty concessions for imports from New Zealand apply at the scheduled basic customs duty, Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess, and, where specified, Health Cess rates, effective 20 October 2026. Eligibility requires proof that goods are of New Zealand origin under applicable trade-agreement origin rules. Specified products receive rates subject to CIF-value parameters and product-specific conditions. Manuka honey and albumins may receive in-quota treatment only within annual tariff rate quotas. Tariff rate quota imports require DGFT allotment, electronic authorisation, and electronic debit in ICES; Manuka honey also requires certification from New Zealand's Ministry for Primary Industries.

Special Economic Zones Rules now deem a developer's written provisional space offer for a fund management entity and that entity's lease deed to be the fund's corresponding documents in an International Financial Service Centre (IFSC). For an IFSC Unit, final regulatory recognition, registration, licence, or authorisation fixes the commencement date for service activity, which remains unchanged if approval later lapses. Letter of Approval renewals must follow recommendations on employment, violations of applicable statutes, and statutory-payment defaults. Aircraft or ship leasing Units allowed not to maintain separate offices may share office space or manpower without separate space or lease documents, subject to prescribed conditions. Funds established in an IFSC are excluded from rule 22(3). The amendments take effect on 15 October 2026.

Paragraph 4(2) of the Employees' Pension Scheme, 2026 substitutes the previously centrally specified sum with a pensionable wage ceiling of Rs. 15,000 per month. The first proviso to paragraph 4(2) is also amended by deleting the words "and the Central Government". These amendments take effect from 17 September 2026.

Customs tariff values are substituted for specified edible oils, brass scrap, gold, silver and areca nuts with effect from 16 October 2026. The prescribed values cover crude and refined palm oil and palmolein, crude soya bean oil, and brass scrap on a per-metric-tonne basis. Separate values apply to eligible gold and silver imports, including specified gold bars, coins, findings, silver, medallions and semi-manufactured silver forms, subject to the stated exclusions. Areca nuts receive a revised tariff value per metric tonne. These substitutions replace Tables 1, 2 and 3 under the existing customs tariff-value framework.

Listed entities whose non-convertible debt securities are listed on or after 14 October 2026 must list on stock exchanges all non-convertible debt securities issued after that listing. Regulation 62A(1) is replaced to impose this continuing listing requirement, while sub-regulations (2) and (3) are omitted. The amendment took effect upon publication in the Official Gazette on 14 October 2026.

REIT regulations permit the issuance of depository receipts on REIT units, subject to regulatory compliance and the manner specified by the Board. The definition of common infrastructure no longer contains wording limiting it to composite real estate projects, industrial parks and SEZs, and a clause in the investment conditions is omitted. Unitholder approvals for specified transactions and changes now require at least 75% of total votes cast in favour, excluding votes cast by related parties, rather than approval by unitholders by value. On a sponsor's exit from a multi-sponsor REIT, specified sponsors or sponsor-group entities must offer dissenting unitholders an exit option. The amendments took effect upon Gazette publication.

Effective from 14 October 2026, InvIT regulations permit the issuance of depository receipts on InvIT units, subject to regulatory compliance and Board-specified procedures. Approval requirements for specified matters now require votes in favour of a resolution to constitute at least 75% of total votes cast, replacing the prior threshold based on unitholders by value. For related-party transactions, votes cast by related parties are excluded. Where a sponsor exits an InvIT with multiple sponsors, the outgoing sponsor, its sponsor group entities, or continuing sponsors and their sponsor group entities must offer dissenting unitholders an exit option by purchasing their units in the prescribed manner.

Accredited-investor eligibility now includes accreditation by specified SEBI-registered or regulated entities and securities-market exposure criteria. A five-crore exposure criterion is added under one eligibility category; LLPs and other body corporates may qualify through net worth of fifty crore or securities-market exposure of twenty crore, and an LLP may alternatively qualify if each partner independently meets accreditation criteria. The proviso removes references to Category I foreign portfolio investors and sovereign wealth funds, adds Persons Resident Outside India, and deletes certificate-exemption language. Investor disputes with an Alternative Investment Fund or its Manager must be submitted to the prescribed mechanism, includin.....

Closing Auction Session (CAS) rules establish a 10-minute session from 3:30 p.m. to 3:40 p.m., with system-driven random closure of order entry, CAS-based closing-price dissemination, and a post-close cash session. CAS reference prices will use VWAP from the final 15 minutes of continuous trading, with prescribed last-traded-price and previous closing-price fallbacks. Only limit and market orders may be placed; stop-loss and new iceberg orders are prohibited. Qualifying pending iceberg orders will transition as fully disclosed limit orders with specified time priority. Expiring index and stock derivative settlement prices will be based on VWAP during the final 30 minutes of continuous cash trading, across exchanges for stock contracts. Most changes apply from December 7, 2026, while order-transition changes apply from February 8, 2027.

Import bonded trucking permission authorises air-import cargo transshipment by road from the Air Cargo Complex, Kolkata to Customs-notified airports, Air Cargo Complexes, CFSs and ICDs, exclusively in closed-body trucks secured with ECTS seals. The operator's bank guarantee requirement is waived based on its prior transshipment volume, while an import transshipment bond remains in place. Bond liability is debited when cargo is collected and restored upon Customs handover at destination. The operator remains liable for shortages or pilferage, including the value of goods, applicable interest, penalty and cess. Permission remains effective for one year or bond validity, whichever ends earlier, and is renewable subject to compliance or withdrawable after notice.

National Assessment Centre Portal provides public, searchable access to assessment-related material, including audit objections, CAAR rulings, legal decisions, NAC resolutions, classification and valuation guidance, meeting minutes, advisories, alerts, circulars and trade-facilitation references. Its use is intended to support informed customs compliance, reduce divergent assessment practices, and improve transparency, predictability and consistency in faceless assessment. Importers, customs brokers, trade associations and other stakeholders are encouraged to use the portal, with a user manual available through the portal and ICEGATE.

Notices issued under Section 108 of the Customs Act require the recipient to appear before the customs officer. Recipients may raise all available defences during that statutory process. Interference with such notices is not warranted at the preliminary stage; objections to the summons and related defences must be pursued before the customs officer rather than through proceedings seeking quashing.

Reassessment beyond four years after an assessment completed under Section 143(3) requires recorded satisfaction that income escaped assessment because the assessee failed to fully and truly disclose material facts. Reasons relying solely on investigation-wing information, without alleging such disclosure failure or showing independent application of mind and further enquiry, do not meet that jurisdictional condition. Consequently, the reopening was void ab initio, quashed, and the unexplained cash-credit addition was deleted.

Penalty under Section 271B cannot be sustained where the Section 274 notice alternatively alleges failure to obtain an audit and failure to furnish the audit report without identifying the specific charge. Section 44AB requires audit where the prescribed threshold is met, while Section 271B penalises specified audit-related defaults. Retaining both statutory limbs in a mechanically issued notice fails to give the taxpayer clear notice of the allegation requiring a response. The notice is therefore invalid, and the penalty is liable to be deleted.

Uncorroborated investigation material or suspicion cannot displace unrebutted documentary evidence supporting share transactions conducted through recognised brokers, demat accounts and banking channels; denial of requested cross-examination also breaches natural justice. A loan recorded in the books and supported by bank records does not meet the statutory conditions for unexplained investment merely because its commercial purpose is not explained. Unexplained cash-credit treatment requires identification of a specific credit in the books; unverified accommodation-entry information, without an identified credit, independent verification or cross-examination, cannot support an addition.

For AY 2015-16, the statutory relaxation under TOLA for notices issued between 1 April and 30 June 2021 did not extend the applicable reassessment limitation; a notice issued on 13 April 2021 was therefore time-barred. Sale receipts recorded in regular accounts, supported by stock records, purchase details, invoices, VAT returns, confirmations and bank realisation, represented consideration for S.S. pipe sales. In the absence of material disproving those sales, treating amounts already credited as sales income as unexplained cash credits on mere suspicion would cause impermissible double taxation. Such documented sale proceeds should not attract unexplained-credit additions.

Section 143(1) confines return-processing adjustments to specified matters, including arithmetical errors and claims that are apparent from the return. Disputed claims for house rent allowance, special allowance, food-meal coupons and medical reimbursement involve debatable questions of allowability and cannot be disallowed at that stage. Form 26AS does not take precedence over Form 16 when making such adjustments.