GST rate amendments: Bihar revises SGST schedules, reclassifying goods and inserting new taxable items, effective October.
Amendments revise Bihar SGST notification by altering entries across Schedules I-VI: substituting, inserting and omitting tariff descriptions and serial entries to reclassify goods (including marine fuel, wet grinders, woven/polypropylene bags, railway rolling-stock, caffeinated beverages, specified motor vehicles for persons with orthopedic disability, and gemstones), adjust coverage of slide fasteners and plastic closures, and refine synthetic/precious stone descriptions; the notification takes effect on 1st October, 2019 under powers conferred by the Bihar GST Act.

Sovereign Gold Bond scheme allows resident investors to subscribe gram-denominated bonds with fixed interest, tradability, and redemption terms.
Sovereign Gold Bond instruments issued as Government of India Stock are gram-denominated securities available to persons resident in India (individuals, joint holders, minors, trusts, HUFs, charities and universities), convertible to demat form. Subscription limits, issue price based on average published gold rates with an online-payment discount, a fixed half-yearly interest rate, an eight-year tenor with premature redemption after year five, tradability, lien marking for loans, and specified tax treatment for interest and capital gains apply under the scheme.

Recruitment amendments: Assistant General Manager posts permitted on deputation including short-term contract, with specified eligibility and desirable experience.
The amendment authorizes deputation including short-term contract as the mode of recruitment for the Assistant General Manager post and substitutes Schedule entries to permit officers from government departments, recognized research institutes, public undertakings and related organisations to be appointed if they hold an analogous post on regular basis or possess the prescribed period of regular service in the equivalent pay level; regular experience in administration or establishment is listed as desirable.

Recruitment amendment for Deputy General Manager: deputation including short-term contract and clarified eligibility criteria.
Amendment revises recruitment for Deputy General Manager to Deputation including short-term contract and permits officers from Central/State governments, union territories, recognized research institutes, PSUs and statutory or autonomous organisations who hold analogous posts on regular basis or occupy the prescribed pay level with five years' regular service or equivalent; desirable qualifications include knowledge of the Companies Act and experience in administrative or establishment matters.

GST service classification changes for accommodation, restaurant and catering alter tax lines and input credit conditions.
The notification amends the service classification table and annexure to prescribe distinct state GST entries and mandatory conditions restricting input tax credit for specified hospitality services-hotel accommodation, restaurant service, outdoor catering and related composite supplies-introduces precise definitions for these services, adjusts leasing and job work entries (including separate job work rates for diamonds and bus body building), and implements various textual and cross reference changes; the amendments are effective 1 October 2019.

Deemed commencement of Tamil Nadu GST amendment rules effective from September twenty four establishing retroactive applicability.
The Governor, under the Tamil Nadu Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, designates 24 September 2019 as the date on which rules 10, 11, 12 and 26 of the Fourth Amendment Rules, 2019 are deemed to have come into force, thereby fixing the operative commencement of those rule provisions as notified by the Commercial Taxes and Registration Department.

Public authority activities exclusion: grant of alcoholic liquor licences for a fee is not treated as supply under GST.
The notification declares that activities undertaken by State Governments as public authorities shall be treated neither as a supply of goods nor a supply of services; specifically, the service by way of grant of alcoholic liquor licence, against consideration in the form of licence fee or application fee or by whatever name it is called, is excluded from supply classification.

GST classification of cement amended to specify chapter heading 2523, changing the notification and effective from October.
The Government amends the prior Tamil Nadu GST notification by substituting the Table entry at serial number 2 with: "Cement falling in chapter heading 2523 in the first schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975", under the statutory power of the Tamil Nadu Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017; the substitution is effective from the first day of October, 2019.

Development rights exclusion removes notification's applicability to development rights supplied after the specified date, with later commencement.
The amendment inserts an Explanation excluding the application of the earlier notification to development rights supplied on or after a specified date, and declares a later commencement date for this amendment under the authority of section 148 of the Tamil Nadu Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

Forward charge for authors to pay state tax on literary copyright transfers to publishers, subject to registration and declaration.
A new entry 9A subjects authors' supplies of copyrights in original literary works to publishers to state tax under a forward charge, while allowing an author to elect the option to pay state tax by registering and filing Annexure I (binding for one year) or by making the Annexure II declaration on the invoice; the amendment also substitutes the entry for creative services to music companies and inserts entries on renting motor vehicles to body corporates and on securities lending services. The notification is effective 1 October 2019.

Registration exemption criterion updated: threshold now tied to eligibility under the Tamil Nadu GST Act, with new service exemptions added.
Modifies the exemption table in the earlier notification by replacing fixed monetary threshold text with a reference to the amount that renders a supplier eligible for exemption from registration under the Tamil Nadu Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017; inserts exemptions for FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup related services (subject to Director (Sports) certification), right-to-admission services for the event, storage or warehousing of specified agricultural commodities, and CAPF Group Insurance Fund life insurance services; adds "Bangla Shasya Bima" and updates certain year entries; effective 1 October, 2019.

Composition scheme amendment adds aerated water to the notified entries, altering composition scope effective October first.
The Government amends the composition notification by inserting a new serial entry 2A with classification code 2202 10 10 described as "Aerated Water" into Notification No. II(2)/CTR/212(g-4)/2019 under the proviso to sub section (1) of section 10 of the Tamil Nadu GST Act, 2017; the amendment takes effect on 1 October 2019.

Tax exemption for goods supplied to FAO where certification confirms quantity, description and project use.
Exemption from State Tax applies to goods supplied to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations for execution of specified Annexure projects, conditional on certification by an officer not below the rank of Deputy Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare verifying the quantity and description of the goods and that they are intended for use in executing those projects.

GST amendment adds aerated water to the taxable schedule, altering the state notification and becoming effective shortly.
Amendment inserts serial number 2A with tariff classification 2202 10 10 described as "Aerated Water" into the Annexure of Notification No. II(2)/CTR/212(g-1)/2019, made under sub section (1) of sections 9, 11 and 16 of the Tamil Nadu Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017; the insertion takes effect on the 1st day of October, 2019.

Scope of precious metals expanded to include silver and platinum, and tariff reference and 'Chapter' definition updated.
The notification expands its commodity scope by substituting "gold" with "gold, silver or platinum", replaces the reference "heading 7108" with "Chapter 71", and substitutes Explanation clause (d) to define "Chapter" as the heading specified in the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975; the amendments take effect on 1st October, 2019.

Tax treatment for mutilated goods: option to pay reduced tax on non-serviceable disposals with specified certification.
The notification expands covered activities to include petroleum and coal bed methane operations under HELP or OALP, and adds a proviso permitting the recipient or transferee to opt to pay tax at a reduced rate on the transaction value of goods disposed of in non-serviceable form after mutilation, subject to producing to the jurisdictional tax officer a certificate from a duly authorised officer of the Directorate General of Hydro Carbons certifying that the goods are non-serviceable and were mutilated prior to disposal.

GST schedule amendment adds dried tamarind and biodegradable leaf plates and cups to the notified goods list.
Amendment inserts two tariff entries into the Tamil Nadu GST notification schedule: "Tamarind dried" and "Plates and cups made up of all kinds of leaves/ flowers/bark", issued under the Tamil Nadu GST Act with commencement on the first day of October, 2019.

GST rate amendments reallocating goods across schedules and revising classifications, altering applicability from the prescribed commencement date.
Amendment effects targeted GST rate and classification changes by altering multiple schedule entries of the existing notification, revising taxable descriptions, inserting new tariff headings and omitting others to reallocate specified goods among different rate schedules. The instrument modifies Schedules I through VI by deleting certain serial entries, substituting descriptions and tariff codes, and inserting new entries for specific goods, thereby changing the rate applicability and coverage of those items, with the amendments taking effect on the stated commencement date.

Service by way of grant of alcoholic liquor licence treated neither as supply of goods nor supply of service.
The grant of an alcoholic liquor licence for consideration in the form of licence fee, application fee, or by any other name shall be treated neither as a supply of goods nor as a supply of service when undertaken by the State Government as a public authority under sub section (2) of section 7 of the Nagaland Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

Goods classification: Cement assigned to a specified customs chapter in a state GST notification, altering its notified entry.
Substitutes the notification table entry for cement with a description referencing the applicable Customs Tariff chapter heading to clarify its classification for state GST purposes; amendment effective from the first day of October, 2019 and made under the State Government's notification power on the Council's recommendation.