Qualification change: Joint Commissioner now qualifies for appointment as Technical Member replacing Additional Commissioner under GST framework.
The Government of Maharashtra has specified Joint Commissioner in place of Additional Commissioner as the qualifying officer for appointment as a Technical Member (State) in the State Benches of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal, and all other conditions in clause (d) of sub section (1) of section 110 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act remain applicable.

Exemption from specified income: UIDAI's listed receipts exempted subject to non-commerciality and prescribed filing compliance.
Unique Identification Authority of India is notified as exempt under clause (46) of section 10 of the Income-tax Act in respect of specified receipts: central grants/subsidies; fees and subscriptions including RTI and tender fees, sale of scrap and PVC card; authentication, enrolment and updation service charges; term/fixed deposits; and interest on bank deposits, subject to conditions that it shall not engage in commercial activity, that activities and the nature of such income remain unchanged across the relevant years, and that it files returns under clause (g) of sub-section (4C) of section 139; applicable for assessment years 2024-2025 to 2028-2029.

Developer name amendment in SEZ notifications: official substitution of developer name under SEZ Act authority.
The Central Government, exercising delegated authority under the SEZ Act and rule 8 of the SEZ Rules, issues a notification amending prior SEZ notifications by substituting the developer's name: "M/s. Gujarat International Finance Tec-City Company Limited" shall be read in place of "M/s. GIFT SEZ Limited" in the specified notifications.

De-notification of SEZ land granted following statutory approvals, reducing the notified SEZ area and enabling infrastructure use.
Central Government de-notifies 1.11 hectares at Survey No. 128/2/A, Hinjewadi from the Special Economic Zone of M/s. Nalanda Shelter Pvt. Ltd., making the resultant notified SEZ area 3.95 hectares, under the first proviso to sub-section (1) of section 4 of the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 read with rule 8 of the Special Economic Zones Rules, 2006, as notified in S.O. 3234(E) dated 9 August 2024.

GST notification amendment substitutes the operative date in a prior Uttarakhand tax notification.
Amendment was made to the Uttarakhand GST notification under section 148 of the Uttarakhand Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, by substituting in para 4 the date "1st day of April, 2024" with "15th day of May, 2024". The notification was stated to be deemed to have come into force from 1 April 2024.

Consent-based information sharing under GST is enabled through the Public Tech Platform for Frictionless Credit notification.
The State Government notified the Public Tech Platform for Frictionless Credit as the system through which the common portal may share information on a consent basis under section 158A of the Uttarakhand Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The platform is described as an enterprise-grade open architecture information technology platform conceptualised by the Reserve Bank of India and developed by Reserve Bank Innovation Hub for digitally accessing information from multiple data sources through an open and shared API framework.

Tax collection at source rate is reduced through amendment, with deemed effect from 10 July 2024.
Tax collection at source under the Madhya Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Act is amended by replacing the rate of "half per cent" with "0.25 percent" in the notification dated 29 September 2018. The amendment is made under the State Government's power under section 52(1), on the Council's recommendations, and is deemed effective from 10 July 2024.

GST exemptions for railway services and qualifying long-term accommodation are expanded, while student and hostel accommodation exclusions are clarified.
The notification grants nil-rate treatment to specified railway-related services, including platform tickets, retiring or waiting rooms, cloak rooms, battery-operated cars, inter-zonal services, and defined infrastructure-use and maintenance arrangements with special purpose vehicles. It also revises the accommodation-services exemption by excluding student residences, hostels, camps, paying-guest establishments, and similar facilities. A separate nil-rate entry applies to accommodation services valued at no more than twenty thousand rupees per person per month when supplied continuously for at least ninety days.

Agricultural produce packaging exemption excludes supplies exceeding specified package quantities from pre-packaged and labelled GST classification.
GST exemption classification for agricultural farm produce is clarified by excluding supplies in packages containing more than 25 kilograms or 25 litres from the expression "pre-packaged and labelled". This exclusion applies notwithstanding the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 and rules made under it, and modifies the explanation to the Madhya Pradesh SGST exemption notification. The amendment is deemed effective from 15 July 2024.

GST rate realignment for specified packaging, milk cans and solar cookers clarifies agricultural produce package treatment.
Madhya Pradesh SGST schedules are revised to place specified paper or paperboard cartons, milk cans of iron, steel or aluminium, and solar cookers in the 6% schedule, with corresponding exclusions and adjustments in the 9% schedule. Parts of poultry-keeping machinery, including brooders, are also covered. Agricultural farm produce supplied in packages containing more than 25 kilograms or 25 litres is clarified not to be treated as pre-packaged and labelled.

GST compliance amendments introduce GSTR-1A reporting, risk-based registration verification, revised credit distribution, refunds and appellate procedures.
The amendments introduce risk-based biometric Aadhaar authentication, photograph capture, document verification and possible physical verification for GST registration applicants. They create optional FORM GSTR-1A for current-period additions and amendments after GSTR-1 and before GSTR-3B, with consequential changes to GSTR-2A, GSTR-2B, GSTR-3B and other compliance forms. The rules also replace Input Service Distributor credit-distribution conditions, permit specified export integrated-tax refunds, establish a Canteen Stores Department refund process, regulate Appellate Tribunal filings and withdrawals, and introduce electronic mechanisms for e-way-bill enrolment and adjustment of voluntary payments against demand.

Annual return filing exemption relieves eligible registered persons with limited aggregate turnover from filing for financial year 2023-24.
Registered persons with aggregate turnover not exceeding two crore rupees in financial year 2023-24 are exempt from filing the annual return under the Madhya Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The exemption is issued under the first proviso to section 44 on the Council's recommendations and is deemed effective from 10 July 2024.

Qualification relaxation for Technical Member appointments: service requirement changed to long government Gazetted service for a limited period.
The notification relaxes the qualification for appointment as Technical Member (State) in State Benches of the GST Appellate Tribunal by replacing the prior Group A service requirement with a requirement of completion of at least twenty five years of Government service as a Gazetted Officer, with this relaxation effective for ten years from publication; all other conditions of clause (d), sub section (1), section 110 of the CGST Act remain applicable.

Income exemption under section 10(46) granted to Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, subject to specified conditions.
Exemption under section 10(46) is notified for Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre in respect of grant-in-aid from State and Central government, income from data sharing activities, and interest on bank deposits, subject to conditions that the Centre shall not engage in commercial activity, its activities and specified income remain unchanged across the relevant financial years, and it files its return of income under the applicable statutory return-filing requirement; the notification is retrospective for specified assessment years and prospective for subsequent assessment years.

Tax exemption for specified income: Kalyan Karnataka Region Development Board exempted for grants and bank interest, subject to conditions.
The Central Government notifies a tax exemption under clause (46) of section 10 of the Income tax Act for Kalyan Karnataka Region Development Board in respect of grants from the State Government of Karnataka and interest on bank deposits, subject to conditions that the Board not engage in commercial activity, that activities and the nature of specified income remain unchanged across financial years, and that the Board file its return of income as required. The notification is made retrospective to the assessment years 2022 2023 and 2023 2024.

Technical Member eligibility relaxed for Uttar Pradesh officers, replacing Group A service with gazetted officer service for a limited period.
Eligibility for officers of Uttar Pradesh for appointment as Technical Member (State) in the State Benches of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal is relaxed for a limited period. The qualification is changed from completion of twenty-five years of service in Group A, or equivalent, to at least twenty-five years of service in the Government as a gazetted officer, for ten years from publication of the notification. All other conditions of the qualification provision continue to apply.

GST exemption for railway and accommodation services expands with revised nil-rate entries and exclusions for student and hostel stays.
Amendments are made to the West Bengal SGST rate notification to exempt specified Ministry of Railways services, including platform tickets, retiring rooms, waiting rooms, cloak rooms, battery operated car services, inter-zone or inter-division railway services, and certain Special Purpose Vehicle infrastructure and maintenance services. The accommodation-services entry is also revised by removing the Heading 9963 reference, excluding student residences, hostels, camps and paying guest accommodations, and inserting a separate nil-rate entry for accommodation services valued at not more than twenty thousand rupees per person per month for a minimum continuous period of ninety days.

Agricultural farm produce packaging clarification under GST excludes larger packages from pre-packaged and labelled treatment.
The notification amends the West Bengal GST exemption entry to clarify that agricultural farm produce supplied in packages exceeding 25 kilogram or 25 litre is not treated as "pre-packaged and labelled," notwithstanding the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 and the rules made thereunder. The amendment is made under section 11(1) of the West Bengal Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, on the recommendation of the Council, and applies from 15 July 2024.

GST rate amendments for paper packaging, milk cans, solar cookers, and farm produce packaging classification under West Bengal tax rules.
West Bengal GST notification amends the rate schedule to insert concessional and revised entries for cartons, boxes and cases of paper board, milk cans of iron, steel or aluminium, and solar cookers, while making corresponding exclusions in other schedule entries. It also clarifies that agricultural farm produce supplied in packages containing more than 25 kilogram or 25 litre is not to be treated as pre-packaged and labelled notwithstanding the Legal Metrology Act, 2009. The amendments are deemed effective from 15 July 2024.

GST rate amendment reduces the prescribed levy rate under state GST and applies retrospectively from the stated date.
Amendment substitutes the words "half per cent." in Notification No. 1427 F.T., dated 28.09.2018 with the figure and words "0.25 per cent." under powers conferred by sub section (1) of section 52 of the West Bengal GST Act, 2017; the amendment is deemed to have come into force with effect from 10th July, 2024.