De-notification of SEZ land reduces designated area following statutory approvals under SEZ Act and rule-based delisting.
Central Government de-notifies 11.53 hectares from a sector-specific SEZ for information technology at Outer Ring Road, Bengaluru, resulting in a remaining SEZ area of 27.31 hectares. The notification lists the specific survey parcels forming the de-notified area and proceeds under the de-notification mechanism of the SEZ statutory framework and rule 8, following developer proposal, State Government approval and Development Commissioner recommendation.

Customs audit procedure requires auditees to preserve records and cooperate with officers, with notice and procedural safeguards.
Customs audits require auditees to preserve and timely produce true and correct records, including electronic records and books of account, and to render assistance to proper officers. Audits cover verification of declarations, licences, authorisations, accounts and may include inspection or sampling of goods. Proper officers must give advance notice for on site audits, inform auditees of objections before finalising reports, complete on site audits within a prescribed period subject to limited extension, and may engage approved professionals where necessary.

Amendment to Customs Notification adds Section 99A to the notification table under delegated Customs Act authority.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, under the authority of clause (34) of section 2 of the Customs Act, 1962, amends Notification No. 40/2012 Customs (N.T.) by inserting, in the Table against serial number 3 in column (3) after item (xxx), a new entry "(xxxa) Section 99A;", thereby adding that provision to the listed items of the principal notification.

Exemption from deemed income on share premium where Central Board approval exempts application of section 56(2)(viib).
Exemption disapplies the deeming provision treating share issue consideration above face value as income under section 56(2)(viib) where the Central Board of Direct Taxes has approved the share issue under the GSR notification approval mechanism; the notification supersedes a prior one and is retrospective to the GSR notification's operative date.

Valuation of shares: only merchant bankers may issue FMV reports for tax purposes following rule amendments.
The Income-tax (6th Amendment) Rules, 2018 amend the Income-tax Rules, 1962 by omitting a clause in rule 11U and deleting the words "or an accountant" from rule 11UA(2)(b), thereby restricting issuance of valuation reports for determining fair market value of shares and securities to merchant bankers only, effective on publication in the Official Gazette.

Eligibility threshold for Duty Credit Scrips revised to require net foreign exchange earnings in year of service, clarifying individual criteria.
The eligibility timing for Duty Credit Scrips is amended so that qualifying net free foreign exchange earnings must be realized in the year of rendering service rather than in the preceding financial year; existing higher and lower monetary thresholds for general service providers and for Individual Service Providers and sole proprietorships respectively are retained.

SEZ de-notification alters notified landholding, reducing entitlement after central and state approvals and administrative recommendation.
The Central Government, invoking powers under the Special Economic Zones Act and rule 8 of the Special Economic Zones Rules, 2006, hereby de-notifies an area of 7.40 hectares from the sector specific IT/ITES SEZ at Kesarapalli Village held by M/s. Ace Urban Hitech City Limited, following the developer's proposal, State Government approval, and the Development Commissioner's recommendation, resulting in a revised SEZ area of 2.60 hectares and identifying the affected survey number.

Inspection time extension authorized with written reasons under GST rule framework and commissioner empowerment for inspection proceedings.
The Commissioner of State Tax authorizes Additional Commissioner, State Tax (Anti Evasion), Joint Commissioners (Administration and Anti Evasion) and all Joint Commissioners (Administration, State Tax) to extend the prescribed time limit for concluding inspection proceedings under the Rajasthan Goods and Services Tax framework beyond the ordinary working-day threshold, provided reasons for such extension are recorded in writing, pursuant to the enabling powers conferred by the Rajasthan Goods and Services Tax Act.

E-way bill verification authority permits designated officials to authorize interception of conveyances for physical and electronic checks.
Empowers designated senior tax commissioners to authorize proper officers to intercept any conveyance to verify the e-way bill in physical or electronic form for all inter-state and intra-state movement of goods within their territorial jurisdiction, and to carry out physical verification of intercepted conveyances.

E way bill verification: authorized officers may intercept and physically inspect conveyances to verify e way bills and goods.
Designated senior tax officials may authorize proper officers to intercept any conveyance within their territorial jurisdiction to verify e-way bills in physical or electronic form and to carry out physical verification of the intercepted conveyance and goods during both inter-state and intra-state movement.

Waiver of late fee for delayed GSTR-3B returns where TRAN-1 declarations are subsequently filed within prescribed extended timelines.
Waiver of late fee is granted for failure to furnish FORM GSTR-3B for the months from October 2017 to April 2018 where the registered person had submitted FORM GST TRAN-1 but not filed it on the common portal by the earlier cutoff; the waiver is conditional on filing TRAN-1 by the extended cutoff and filing the outstanding GSTR-3B returns by the further extended cutoff.

Customs exemption amendment: substitutes a revised rate and removes two table entries under existing notification.
Further amendment to Notification No. 50/2017 Customs under Customs Act and Customs Tariff Act authority omits table entries for serial numbers 25 and 102 and substitutes the column (4) entry for serial number 37 with a revised rate, referencing the principal notification of 30 June 2017 and the prior amendment of 10 April 2018.

Advance ruling authority appointment notified for a limited period under the Uttarakhand goods and services tax framework.
Appointment of Shri Anil Singh, Joint Commissioner State Tax, Headquarter Dehradun, as a member of the Uttarakhand Authority for Advance Ruling in place of Shri Vipin Chandra for the limited period from 07.05.2018 to 16.06.2018 under the Uttarakhand Goods and Services Tax framework. The notification is issued under section 96(2) of the Uttarakhand Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 read with rule 103 of the Uttarakhand Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017, and stands rescinded from 17.06.2018.

Increase in basic customs duty using section 8A(1) to raise tariffs on walnuts and protein concentrates immediately.
The Central Government, invoking its emergency tariff power under section 8A(1) of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, directs amendment of the First Schedule by substituting the column (4) entries for tariff item 0802 31 00 (walnuts in shell) in Chapter 8 and tariff item 2106 10 00 (protein concentrates and textured protein substances) in Chapter 21, effecting an immediate increase in the applicable basic customs duty rates.

Waiver of late fee for eligible GST registered persons where TRAN 1 filing and GSTR 3B returns are completed by set deadlines.
Waiver of late fee is granted for registered persons who submitted but did not file FORM GST TRAN-1 on the common portal by 27 December 2017, in respect of failure to furnish FORM GSTR-3B for October 2017-April 2018, provided the TRAN-1 declaration is filed by 10 May 2018 and the GSTR-3B returns for those months are filed by 31 May 2018; the waiver is issued under the State GST Act on Council recommendations.

Waiver of late fee for delayed GSTR-3B filings requires prior TRAN form declaration and subsequent GSTR-3B submission.
Waiver of the late fee under section 47 is granted for failure to furnish returns in FORM GSTR-3B for the specified months, applicable to registered persons who had submitted but not filed FORM GST TRAN-1 on the common portal; the waiver is conditional on subsequent filing of the TRAN-1 declaration and the GSTR-3B returns by the prescribed cutoffs and is effective from the stated operative date.

Investor Education and Protection Fund rules now require companies to file Form IEPF 7 within thirty days of remittance.
The amendment to rule 6(13) mandates that details of amounts remitted to the Investor Education and Protection Fund be furnished to the Authority in Form No. IEPF-7 within thirty days from the date of remittance or within thirty days from the date of enforcement of the Rules, as applicable. Form No. IEPF-7 requires corporate and bank transaction identifiers, amount and date credited, financial year, particulars of amounts (dividends, delisting, winding up, others), prescribed attachments, and a digitally signed declaration of compliance.

Amendment of notification date substitutes the specified date and declares the amendment effective retrospectively from mid May.
The notification amends notification No. 16/2018 State Tax by substituting "22nd May, 2018" in place of "20th May, 2018" in the Table against serial number 1, column (3), under the powers of section 168 read with sub rule (5) of rule 61 of the Chhattisgarh GST Rules, and states that the amendment shall be deemed to have come into force from 18th May, 2018.

Refund entitlement for specified persons: extended eighteen month deadline to claim GST refund for inward supplies.
Notification designates certain international entities as specified persons entitled to refunds of tax on inward supplies under the Punjab GST Act, subject to prescribed conditions and manner. It notes refund rules in the Punjab GST Rules, the availability of the common portal for filing, and prescribes that specified persons must apply to the jurisdictional tax authority within eighteen months from the last day of the quarter in which the supply was received.

Retrospective commencement of GST procedural rules makes specified e-waybill and invoice forms effective from the earlier date.
By statutory notification the government appointed the 1st day of April, 2018 as the date from which rules 138, 138-A, 138-B, 138-C and 138-D and forms GST EWB-01 to GST EWB-04 and GST INV-1 shall be deemed to have come into force, thereby giving retrospective effect to those procedural provisions and prescribed e-waybill and invoice forms under the enabling provisions of the GST enactment.