Appointment of Value Added Tax Inspectors to assist the Commissioner under Delhi VAT rules; four officers appointed.
Under statutory authority vested in the Lt. Governor and relevant VAT rules, four named officers are appointed as Value Added Tax Inspectors to assist the Commissioner in administering the Delhi Value Added Tax Act, each appointment taking effect from the date of assumption of charge.

Appointment of Assistant Value Added Tax Officers to support Commissioner in VAT administration through statutory delegation of duties.
Appointment of Assistant Value Added Tax Officers to assist the Commissioner in administering the Value Added Tax framework under the enabling statutory provision and implementing rule. The notification names six officers, records their dates of physical joining, and assigns them to the office of Assistant Value Added Tax Officer, thereby effecting administrative delegation to support assessment, compliance supervision and other VAT administration tasks.

Designated business or profession: record storage and retrieval services are brought within AML compliance obligations.
Persons carrying on the business of storing, safeguarding and retrieving the records and documents specified for reporting entities are notified as persons carrying on designated business or profession, whether operating on their own behalf or for other reporting entities, thereby bringing such record management services within the AML compliance and regulatory framework applicable to designated businesses or professions.

Double taxation avoidance: Protocol revises treaty rules, withholding limits, PE criteria, and exchange of information protections.
Protocol amends the India-Poland tax treaty by specifying covered taxes and territorial definitions, expanding resident and permanent establishment rules (including service PE based on aggregate six month activity), modernizing associated enterprises/transfer pricing adjustments, setting withholding tax ceilings on dividends, interest and royalties/technical fees with defined exceptions, permitting taxation of gains from alienation of shares tied to immovable property, revising personal services and student/apprentice exemptions, strengthening exchange of information and mutual assistance in tax collection, and adding a Limitation of Benefits clause; effective in India from the fiscal year beginning after entry into force.

Certificate validity for no deduction tied to named deductor; lower rate certificates issued to applicant authorising reduced withholding.
Amendment revises rule 28AA to state that a certificate for no deduction of tax is valid only for the deductor named therein and must be issued directly to that deductor under advice to the applicant, while a certificate for deduction at a lower rate is issued to the applicant authorising receipt of income after deduction at the lower rate. It also replaces Form No.13 with a consolidated application and specified schedules and annexures detailing applicant particulars, past returns and tax payments, liabilities, estimated income computations and counterparty transaction details required to assess entitlement to no-deduction or lower-rate certificates.

Arm's length price: actual transaction price accepted as ALP where variation falls within notified tolerable limits.
Notification prescribes that for assessment year 2014-15 the actual transaction price shall be deemed the arm's length price where variation between the ALP under section 92C and the actual price does not exceed the notified tolerable limits; a narrower limit applies to wholesale trading, defined by purchase cost of finished goods being at least eighty percent of total trading cost and average monthly closing inventory being ten percent or less of related sales.

Tax treaty provisions on residence and permanent establishment limit double taxation and allocate cross-border taxing rights.
The Agreement provides a bilateral framework to avoid double taxation and prevent fiscal evasion on income taxes, applying to residents of one or both Contracting States and to income taxes imposed by those States. It defines residence and permanent establishment, allocates taxing rights for categories of income (business profits, immovable property, dividends, interest, royalties, capital gains, personal services and other income), prescribes methods for elimination of double taxation by credit/deduction subject to limits, and establishes administrative cooperation mechanisms including mutual agreement, exchange of information and assistance in collection, together with non discrimination and limitation of benefits rules.

Eligibility of provident funds as stock exchange members now permitted, extending membership to trustee represented exempted establishments.
The Securities Contracts (Regulation) (Second Amendment) Rules, 2014 insert sub rule (7) in rule 8 of the 1957 Rules, stating that any provident fund represented by its trustees of an exempted establishment under the Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, shall be eligible to be elected as a member of a stock exchange; the amendment was notified on 19 September 2014 and takes effect upon Gazette publication.

Director Identification Number procedures updated: application numbering, surname declarations, new intimation and form requirements.
Amendments revise DIN procedures: remove certain personal fields and Form DIR-1; require verification and signature on applications and a declaration when no last name exists with use of Form DIR-3A; replace provisional DIN with an automatically generated application number; insert rule 10A obliging pre-30 June 2007 directors to notify companies of allotted DIN via Form DIR-3B and require companies to file Form DIR-3C within fifteen days; require fee payment, mandate electronic submission of DIR-6 with proof, substitute Form DIR-3, insert DIR-3A/B/C and DIR-6, and omit DIR-4 and DIR-7.

National Advisory Committee on Accounting Standards constituted to advise on accounting standards; members appointed for a two year term.
Notification constitutes the National Advisory Committee on Accounting Standards under section 210A of the Companies Act, 1956 to advise the Central Government on accounting policies and standards for companies. It specifies the Chairperson and members nominated by professional institutes, financial regulators and industry bodies, prescribes a two year term from Gazette publication or until constitution of the National Financial Reporting Authority under section 132 of the Companies Act, 2013, whichever is earlier, and states the notification comes into force on 18th September 2014.

Exchange rate determination under Customs Act fixes foreign currency conversion rates for import and export valuation and compliance.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs, under section 14 of the Customs Act, prescribes distinct conversion rates for specified foreign currencies into Indian rupees for import and export purposes effective from 19th September, 2014, set out in two schedules (unit rates and per 100 unit rates); these rates supersede the earlier September notification except as to past actions and are to be applied by customs authorities for valuation and related customs calculations.

Customs designation: Modinagar added for import unloading and export loading under central customs notification amendment.
The notification amends the principal customs notification by inserting Modinagar, District Ghaziabad, in the Table for Uttar Pradesh as an additional designated location, authorising the unloading of imported goods and the loading of export goods at that site under the powers of section 7 of the Customs Act, 1962.

Anti-dumping duty on sulphur black imports from China imposed, with duty per unit and government exchange-rate conversion rules.
The Central Government imposes an anti dumping duty on sulphur black (all forms and strengths) originating in or exported from the People's Republic of China at a specified US dollar amount per metric tonne; the duty applies also to imports routed through or involving third countries. The duty is payable in Indian currency, remains effective for five years from publication unless earlier altered, and conversion from US dollars shall use the exchange rate specified by Government notifications, with the relevant date being the bill of entry presentation.

Customs tariff amendment increases specified exemption threshold and defers compliance date effective next quarter.
This notification amends Notification No. 12/2012-Customs by substituting the figure 500 with 1000 in item (y) of serial number 282 in the Table, and by replacing the proviso clause (bc) operative date "first day of January, 2015" with 1st day of April, 2015.

Customs exemption for AEW&C programme goods subject to authorised works centres and certified import lists.
Permits specified goods for the Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) Programme to be imported duty-free if imported by authorised works centres designated by a Deputy Secretary-rank officer in the Ministry of Defence and accompanied at import by a Programme Director-certified list presented to the Customs officer confirming the goods are required for, authorised by the Ministry of Defence for, and will be used solely in, the AEW&C Programme; exemption lapses on or after 5 October 2014.

Nationwide jurisdiction of Chief Commissioners established, redesignating national customs inspection and revenue heads accordingly.
The Principal Director General of Revenue Intelligence, New Delhi is redesignated as Principal Chief Commissioner of Customs with jurisdiction over the whole of India, and the Director General of Inspection, Customs and Central Excise, New Delhi is redesignated as Chief Commissioner of Customs with jurisdiction over the whole of India; these substitutions amend Notification No. 83/2004-Customs (N.T.) and take effect from 15th October, 2014.

On-site Post Clearance Audit appointments: specified audit officers empowered as Customs officers to conduct audits under regulations.
Specifies that officers of Commissionerates of Central Excise (Audit) and Service Tax (Audit) at ranks from Commissioner down to Inspector are appointed as Customs officers to conduct On-site Post Clearance Audit at importers' and exporters' premises within the jurisdiction of their commissionerates, under the notification's statutory authority, effective 15th October, 2014.

Appointment of audit officers as Customs officers to conduct on-site post clearance audits at importers' and exporters' premises.
Appointment of officers of the Directorate General of Audit as officers of Customs to conduct On-site Post Clearance Audit at importers' and exporters' premises under the On-site Post Clearance Audit Regulations, 2011; the Central Board of Excise and Customs, under sections 4(1) and 5(1) of the Customs Act, 1962, maps Directorate General of Audit posts to equivalent Customs ranks and specifies their areas of jurisdiction.

Customs designation change: substitution expands 'Commissioner of Customs' to include Principal Commissioner and updates DGRI leadership entries.
The notification substitutes the phrase "Commissioner of Customs" with "Principal Commissioner of Customs or Commissioner of Customs" and replaces the Table entry with "Principal Additional Director General or Additional Director General, Directorate General of Revenue Intelligence posted at Headquarters and Zonal/ regional units," effecting who is authorized under the principal customs notification and specifying commencement under the Customs Act.

Appointment of adjudication authorities designates vigilance officers as customs adjudicators with specified ranks and jurisdiction.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs, under section 4(1) read with section 5(1) of the Customs Act, 1962, appoints specified officers of the Directorate General of Vigilance as officers of Customs with corresponding ranks and jurisdiction, superseding the earlier 2009 notification. A Table maps vigilance posts to customs ranks-starting with Principal Director General to Principal Chief Commissioner of Customs (whole of India) and continuing to Inspector-level designations-enabling those officers to perform customs adjudication. The notification takes effect from 15th October, 2014.