E-way bill validity extension: e-way bills expiring during the lockdown period are deemed extended to a later date.
Where an e-way bill was generated on or before 24 March 2020 and its validity would have expired between 20 March 2020 and 15 April 2020, the period of validity of such e-way bill is deemed extended until 31 May 2020; the amendment is made under the West Bengal Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and is deemed effective from 5 May 2020.

Time limit extension: GST compliance deadlines during the pandemic extended with specified exclusions, and e-way bills extended.
Extension of time limits under the West Bengal Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 is provided for actions whose compliance period falls between 20 March 2020 and 29 June 2020, extended to 30 June 2020, covering proceedings, orders, notices and filings, subject to specified exclusions; e-way bills expiring between 20 March 2020 and 15 April 2020 are deemed valid until 30 April 2020, effective from 20 March 2020.

Sea cargo manifest compliance period extended under regulation 15, with corrigendum clarifying the correct prior date reference.
Sea Cargo Manifest and Transhipment compliance under regulation 15(2) is amended by extending the specified period from 31 March 2021 to 15 April 2021. The amendment took effect upon publication in the Official Gazette on 31 March 2021. A corrigendum clarified the correct prior date reference for this extension.

Rules of origin determine preferential tariff eligibility under India-Mauritius CECPA; proof, verification and penalties govern claims.
These Rules define origin criteria for preferential tariff treatment under the India-Mauritius CECPA: a product is originating if wholly obtained in a Party or if it satisfies Product Specific Rules (CTC, value addition tests, or other PSR conditions) with final manufacture in the exporting Party. They set de minimis provisions, list minimal operations that do not confer origin, permit bilateral cumulation, and regulate proof of origin (approved exporter self certification or Certificates of Origin), documentation retention, verification procedures including on site visits, and measures for denial, suspension and penalties under national laws.

Tariff value fixation establishes declared customs values for edible oils, brass scrap, areca nut, and specified gold and silver imports.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs, under section 14(2) of the Customs Act, 1962, substitutes TABLE-1, TABLE-2 and TABLE-3 of Notification No. 36/2001-Customs (N.T.) to fix declared tariff values for specified imports. The revised tables specify tariff values in US dollars for edible oils (various palm and soybean oil categories), brass scrap (all grades), areca nut, and specified forms of gold and silver, with explanatory notes clarifying included and excluded forms.

GST invoice threshold amendment revises the prescribed limit under Uttar Pradesh GST rules from one hundred crore to fifty crore rupees.
A further amendment was made to the existing Uttar Pradesh GST notification under sub-rule (4) of rule 48 of the Uttar Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017. With effect from 1 April 2021, the words "one hundred crore rupees" were substituted by "fifty crore rupees" in the first paragraph of the notification, thereby altering the specified threshold provision.

Renaming to National Faceless Assessment Centre updates statutory nomenclature under Income-tax Act and takes effect April first.
An amendment substitutes the expression National e-Assessment Centre with National Faceless Assessment Centre in the notification issued under the exercise of powers conferred by sub-section (6C) of section 250 of the Income-tax Act, thereby altering the official nomenclature used in the statutory scheme for centralised electronic assessment and operates to change terminology wherever the prior expression appeared.

Faceless Appeal Scheme renames National e-Assessment Centre to National Faceless Assessment Centre and updates scheme terminology.
The amendment substitutes clause (xviii) in the Faceless Appeal Scheme, 2020 to define the National Faceless Assessment Centre as the body previously termed National e-Assessment Centre or as referenced elsewhere, and directs that every occurrence of "National e-Assessment Centre" in the principal scheme be replaced by "National Faceless Assessment Centre", with the amendment taking effect on the stated commencement date.

Prescribed Income tax Authority designation enables NaFAC officer to issue assessment notices under the income tax assessment provision.
The Assistant Commissioner of Income-tax/Deputy Commissioner of Income-tax (NaFAC) at Delhi is authorised as the Prescribed Income-tax Authority to issue the notice under sub-section (2) of section 143 of the Income-tax Act in respect of returns furnished under section 139 or in response to notices under sub-section (1) of section 142 or sub-section (1) of section 148; the notification is effective from 1 April 2021.

Customs duty concessions under the India-Mauritius CECPA extend to specified goods, tariff quotas and origin-based import conditions.
Customs duty exemption and tariff concession framework is prescribed for goods imported into India from Mauritius under the India-Mauritius Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement. The notification exempts specified goods listed in Table 1 from customs duty to the extent of the rates stated, grants partial tariff concessions for goods in Table 2 as a percentage of the applied rate of duty, and allows duty-free import of goods covered by Table 3 up to an annual tariff rate quota of 7.5 million pieces, subject to annexed conditions. Table 4 provides separate tariff rate quota quantities, in-quota tariff rates and in-quota AIDC rates for specified goods.

Tariff amendment: revised customs duty treatment for petroleum crude and related goods under substituted notification entries.
Amendment substitutes entries in the Table of Notification No. 52/2017 Customs to provide a specific tariff heading for petroleum crude with a nominal duty per tonne and a separate entry for other goods under the related heading with nil duty, thereby modifying the exemption and levy positions under the principal notification.

Authorisation of Regional Faceless Assessment Centres to exercise concurrent income-tax powers and delegate to subordinate officers.
Designated Principal Commissioners of Income-tax of the Regional Faceless Assessment Centre (Verification Unit) are authorised under section 120 (sub-sections (1), (2) and (5)) read with section 133C and rule 12D to act as Prescribed Authority with concurrent powers for specified territorial areas, persons, cases or incomes; Principal Commissioners may delegate these powers in writing to Additional/Joint Commissioners, who may further delegate to Deputy/Assistant Commissioners or Income-tax Officers within the Schedule's territorial and subject-matter limits based on information held by the Directorate of Income-tax (Systems).

Exemption from Integrated Tax and Compensation Cess extended for goods imported under AA/EPCG authorizations, notifications amended.
Extension of the exemption from Integrated Tax and Compensation Cess for goods imported under AA/EPCG authorizations by substituting the earlier cut off date with a later cut off date in the opening paragraph provisos and specified conditions of notifications 16/2015, 18/2015, 20/2015, 22/2015 and 45/2016, thereby continuing the exemption under the stated authorization schemes.

Regional Faceless Assessment Centres exercise concurrent Assessing Officer powers for faceless assessments nationwide, subject to specified exclusions.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes directs specified Income tax Authorities of Regional Faceless Assessment Centres (ReFACs) to exercise, concurrently, the powers and functions of Assessing Officers to facilitate faceless assessment proceedings under Section 144B in respect of all persons, incomes and cases within India, excluding those covered by Notification No. 57/2014 and Notification No. 70/2014; a Schedule lists the ReFACs and their headquarters. The notification is effective 1 April 2021.

Faceless assessment jurisdiction extended: NaFAC authorities empowered to act as Assessing Officers for specified cases nationwide.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes directs that the Income-tax Authorities of the National Faceless Assessment Centre specified in the Schedule shall exercise the powers and functions of an Assessing Officer concurrently to facilitate conduct of Faceless Assessment proceedings under section 144B in respect of persons, classes of persons, incomes, classes of incomes or cases across India, excluding those covered by Notification No.57/2014 and No.70/2014.

Health cess exemption for specified x ray machine parts continued by amended customs notification, adding tariff entries and maintaining exemption.
Amendment continues the health cess exemption for specified x ray machine parts by inserting ", 564A, 564B, 564C," after "564" in column (2) against Sl. No. 3 of the TABLE in Notification No. 08/2020 Customs, with effect from the first day of April.

Customs duty changes raise BCD and create conditional exclusions for vehicle parts and X ray machine components.
Amendments to Notification No.50/2017 modify tariff entries by substituting descriptions to exclude goods suitable for specified motor vehicle categories, substituting tariff codes, omitting and inserting serial entries, and setting revised Basic Customs Duty rates for targeted items including battery chargers for use in manufacture of electrically operated or hybrid vehicles and specified components used in manufacture of X ray machines.

Income-tax rules: new ITR forms prescribed for AY 2021-22; eligibility expanded to include 194N TDS and deferred tax cases.
The Income-tax (7th Amendment) Rules, 2021 amend Rule 12 effective 1 April 2021 to add persons whose tax has been deducted under section 194N and persons with deferred payment or deduction of tax under employer/payer deferment provisions to the return filing provisos, and substitute revised ITR forms (SAHAJ/ITR 1, ITR 2, ITR 3, SUGAM/ITR 4, ITR 5, ITR 6, ITR 7 and ITR V) in Appendix II for Assessment Year 2021 22 onwards.

Time-limit extension for income-tax and finance-act compliance; notices, sanctions and Aadhaar intimation deadlines moved forward.
The notification modifies prior relief by extending statutory time-limits: for certain Income-tax Act actions-orders under the dispute-resolution provision, issuance of reassessment notices and sanctions to initiate reassessment-the original end date in late March is fixed and the time-limit is extended to the end of April, applying the pre-2021 finance-act versions of the relevant income-tax provisions for reassessment notices and sanctions. The Aadhaar intimation requirement to the prescribed authority is extended to the end of June. Comparable March-to-April extension applies to specified intimation obligations under Chapter VIII of the Finance Act.

Anti-dumping duty extension on melamine maintains import restrictions following the designated authority's review request.
The Central Government has amended the principal notification imposing Anti-Dumping duty on melamine from China PR by substituting the earlier terminal date in paragraph 3 with a new terminal date, thereby extending the period during which the duty continues. The amendment follows a review initiation and successive requests from the designated authority for extension under the Customs Tariff statutory framework and implements the continuation mechanism while the review process proceeds.