Customs amendment adds Kushinagar airport for baggage unloading and loading, expanding designated customs airport list.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs amends Notification No. 61/94 CUSTOMS (N.T.) by inserting an entry designating Kushinagar airport for the purpose of unloading and loading of baggage, thereby expanding the Table of airports authorized to carry out those baggage handling functions under the notification.

Last date of import: shipment or Bill of Lading/Lorry Receipt governs admissibility; Customs clearance barred after final cutoff.
The controlling datum for imports under Notification No. 20/2015-20 is the date of shipment or the date of issuance of the Bill of Lading (seaports) or Lorry Receipt (LCS Petrapole), fixed as 31.10.2021 or until further orders, whichever is earlier; consignments with Bill of Lading or Lorry Receipt issued on or before 31.10.2021 shall not be allowed by Customs beyond 31.01.2022.

Prescribed income-tax authority: requirement that inquiries under section 142 be conducted by an authorised Income-tax Officer rank.
The amendment adds rule 12F to the Income-tax Rules, 1962, specifying that the prescribed income-tax authority under the second proviso to clause (i) of sub-section (1) of section 142 shall be an income-tax authority not below the rank of Income-tax Officer who has been authorised by the Central Board of Direct Taxes to act as such authority for the purposes of that clause.

Authority for Advance Ruling membership updated: two members substituted under state GST rules and related statutory provision.
Amendment to the notification constituting the Kerala Authority for Advance Ruling substitutes members: Smt. S.L. Sreeparvathy replaces Shri. Sivaprasad S in Serial No.1, and Shri. Abraham Renn S, I.R.S, Additional Commissioner 1 replaces Shri. Senil A.K. Rajan in Serial No.2, reflecting a central nomination and the retirement of the outgoing member, effected under the State GST statutory scheme and rules.

Rescission of Notification: revokes earlier customs notification under Customs Act, with savings for actions taken before rescission.
The Central Government, invoking section 25(1) of the Customs Act, rescinds Notification No. 34/2021 Customs (published in the Gazette of India) thereby withdrawing the earlier miscellaneous exemption; the rescission is subject to a savings provision preserving things done or omitted before rescission and specifies the date on which the rescinding notification comes into force.

Import duty reduction on edible oils: revised customs tariff entries alter import duty treatment for specified oils effective immediately.
The notification amends Notification No. 50/2017 Customs by substituting revised percentage tariff entries at specified serial numbers to reduce and rationalise import duties on palm, sunflower and soya bean oils, and amends Notification No. 11/2021 Customs by substituting the description at the relevant serial number with "Crude Palm Oil" and replacing its tariff entry with a revised percentage rate; the amendments are made under the cited statutory powers and take effect the day after publication.

Seller classification clarified: Air India not treated as seller for transfers to its assets holding unit under the approved plan.
Central Government specifies that Air India Limited shall not be regarded as seller for the purposes of the tax collection provision in relation to transfers of goods by it to Air India Assets Holding Limited under a Government approved plan, with the specification effective retrospectively from 1 April 2021.

Buyer status exclusion: assets-holding company not treated as buyer for section 194Q on approved intra-group transfers.
The Central Government specifies that an assets-holding company shall not be considered a buyer for the purposes of sub-section (1) of section 194Q of the Income-tax Act when goods are transferred to it by the operating airline under a Central Government-approved plan, thereby removing the withholding obligation on such transfers; the notification is retrospective to the first day of July and includes a certification that no person is adversely affected by the retrospective effect.

No tax deduction under section 194-IA on payments to Air India Limited for approved property transfer, applied retrospectively.
The Central Government, under sub-section (1F) of section 197A, specifies that no deduction of tax shall be made under section 194-IA on payments to Air India Limited for transfer of immovable property to Air India Assets Holding Limited under a Central Government-approved plan, with the specification effective from 1 April 2021 and an explanatory memorandum stating no person is adversely affected by the retrospective effect.

Deemed gift exclusion: equity shares received from government under strategic disinvestment not taxable under section 56(2)(x).
The amendment to rule 11UAC excludes movable property, being equity shares, of a public sector company received from the Central Government or any State Government under strategic disinvestment from being treated as income under the deeming provision; it adopts the statutory meaning of strategic disinvestment and takes effect from 1 April 2022 for the assessment year 2022-23 onward.

Transfer under section 47 clause viiaf: Air India to Air India Assets Holding notified, effective from assessment year 2022 23.
Notification invokes clause (viiaf) of section 47 to notify a transfer of capital assets from Air India Limited to Air India Assets Holding Limited under a Central Government-approved plan, identifying the transferor and transferee, and stating the notification takes effect from 1 April 2022 and applies to the assessment year 2022-2023 and subsequent assessment years.

Tax treatment for District Mineral Foundation Trusts: specified DMF receipts recognised as authority income subject to compliance and audit.
Notification under clause (46) of section 10 of the Income-tax Act designates District Mineral Foundation Trusts constituted under section 9B of the Mines and Minerals Amendment Act as a class of Authority for specified income: leaseholder contributions under the DMF Rules, interest and penalties from leaseholders, interest on DMF funds, savings account interest, and interest on excess funds in term deposits. The designation is subject to conditions: no commercial activity, unchanged activities and income across years, filing income-tax returns per clause (g) of sub-section (4C) of section 139, and filing an audited return with a chartered accountant's certificate.

GSTR-3B late fee amnesty extended to broaden eligibility for penalty waiver and compliance relief period.
The Finance Department amended a prior notification under the State GST Act to extend the Form GSTR-3B late fee Amnesty Scheme by substituting a new deadline in the ninth and tenth provisos of the earlier notification, thereby extending the period during which eligible taxpayers may claim waiver of late fees applicable to Form GSTR-3B without changing other substantive conditions of the original scheme.

Extension of revocation application deadline for cancelled GST registrations: deadline postponed to a new specified date.
The state notification, issued under the Tripura State GST Act's enabling provision, extends the time limit for filing applications for revocation of cancellation of registrations cancelled under the specified clauses when the original filing period fell between 1 March 2020 and 31 August 2021, and it sets a consolidated deadline of 30 September 2021 for such revocation applications.

Designation of Adjudicating Authority altered: the Table entry for serial seven, column five, is substituted.
The Principal Director General, Revenue Intelligence amends Notification No.9/2017 by substituting the Table entry against serial number seven, column five, replacing the existing words "Principal Commissioner/ Commissioner of Customs (Nhava Sheva-I), Jawaharlal Nehru Custom House, Raigad"; the amendment is made under the statutory authority of the Customs Act and recorded as Notification No.33/2021.

Annual return filing exemption relieves eligible registered persons from filing the annual return for the relevant financial year.
Annual return filing exemption applies to registered persons whose aggregate turnover for financial year 2020-21 does not exceed Rs. 2 crore. Such persons are exempt from filing the annual return for that financial year under the first proviso to section 44 of the Delhi Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The exemption takes effect from 1 August 2021.

Prior Informed Consent procedure now required for mercury imports, making them subject to restricted import conditions.
Import of mercury under ITC HS Code 28054000 is revised from Free to Restricted and made subject to Policy Condition No. 3, requiring a Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure pursuant to the Minamata Convention to be obtained from the National Focal Point in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, with procedural details available from the Ministry's Hazardous Substance Management Division.

Transport and Marketing Assistance scheme provides freight and marketing reimbursement for eligible agricultural exports subject to conditions and exclusions.
The Revised TMA scheme reimburses exporters registered with the relevant export promotion council for international freight and marketing of eligible agricultural products in HSN chapters 1-24 subject to Annexure 1 exclusions. Assistance is paid by direct bank transfer on production of Bill of Lading/Airway Bill and an indemnity bond, applies only to exports via EDI ports, uses TEU rules for sea and per kilogram rates for air, and excludes specified categories including trans shipments, imported goods, restricted/prohibited items, MEP/duty subject products and courier/e commerce exports.

Interest cap on advance export payments limited to a small margin above LIBOR or applicable benchmark by regulatory direction.
The amendment substitutes clause (ii) of Regulation 15(1) to cap interest on advance payments for exports at a margin not exceeding one percentage point above LIBOR or another applicable benchmark as may be directed by the Reserve Bank, thereby prescribing a benchmark linked ceiling for permissible interest on such advances.

Amendment to Notification updates the reference in serial 5, column 3 of Notification No.29/2020-Customs, substituting prior citation.
Amendment to Notification No.29/2020-Customs substitutes the wording in the entry against serial number 5, column 3, replacing the existing cited enquiry file number and accompanying supplementary show cause notice references with a substituted citation, under the authority of clause (a) of section 152 of the Customs Act, 1962.