Income tax rules amended: new ITR forms and schedules effective 1 April 2023, expanded filing and disclosure requirements.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes issued the Income tax (First Amendment) Rules, 2023, effective 1 April 2023, amending rule 12 and substituting Appendix II by replacing ITR 1 SAHAJ, ITR 2, ITR 3, ITR 4 SUGAM, ITR 5, ITR 6, ITR V and the Income Tax Return Acknowledgement with new, expanded forms and schedules for filing returns for assessment year 2023 24.

Payment Mode Standardization requires electronic fee payments via SEBI gateway or bank transfers, replacing paper instruments.
SEBI amended numerous regulations to require that fees and levies be paid by direct credit into the Board's bank account through NEFT/RTGS/IMPS or online payment using the SEBI Payment Gateway, or by any other electronic mode as may be specified by the Board, replacing prior permissibility of demand drafts and banker's cheques. The amendments apply to a wide range of regimes and restate timing and procedural payment requirements for annual, application and non refundable fees, with the changes effective from the first day of April, 2023.

Buy-back regulation: phased elimination of open-market buy-backs and mandatory book-building, electronic filings and procedural limits.
Amendments update buy-back regulation by defining frequently traded shares and secretarial auditor, requiring thresholds to be based on standalone or consolidated statements whichever is lower, phasing out open-market buy-backs with transitional caps, mandating electronic filings and merchant banker certifications, broadening acceptable escrow instruments, and introducing a book-building process with specified disclosure, pricing, retail participation limits and a prohibition on promoter participation in book-building.

Inclusion of new members in CSEZ Authority updates notification to substitute two member entries, altering Authority composition.
Amendment to the composition of the CSEZ Authority substitutes the members at Sl. No. 5 and 6 in Notification No. S.O. 3625(E) dated 17.09.2020, replacing the previously listed individuals with newly nominated persons and their corporate affiliations, thereby updating the Authority's notified membership roster under the Special Economic Zones Act.

Corrigendum to Customs Notification updates textual references in an earlier customs notice by correcting specified line references.
Corrigendum to Notification No. 2/2023-Customs issues textual amendments: replace '113' with '114' in line 4; replace '112' with '113' in line 33; and replace '113' with '114' in line 35 of the original notification, effecting corrections to the published references in the Gazette relating to customs duty and IGST rates for imported goods.

Import permission for diamond certification added: GSI Pvt. Ltd. authorized to import diamonds for grading and re-export.
Gemological Science International (GSI) Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, Maharashtra is inserted at serial no. (6) of paragraph 4.42 of the Foreign Trade Policy (2015 20), thereby authorizing GSI as a permitted agency to import diamonds for certification and grading and to re export them under the existing policy framework.

RoDTEP schedule aligned with Customs Tariff First Schedule for chapters 28, 29, 30 & 73 effective 15.02.2023.
Notification revises and aligns RoDTEP Appendix 4R for chapters 28, 29, 30 and 73 with the First Schedule of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. The revised Appendix 4R - specifying eligible export items, RoDTEP rates (percentage of FOB or fixed quantum), units of quantity per the First Schedule and per-unit caps - is effective 15.02.2023 and applies to exports from 15.02.2023 to 30.09.2023, subject to further revisions under the Scheme's budgetary framework; the full Schedule is published on the DGFT portal under Regulatory Updates > RoDTEP.

Centralised processing of equalisation levy statements streamlines electronic validation, computation, communication and refund reconciliation.
The Scheme centralises receipt and electronic processing of Equalisation Levy Statements, authorises the Centre to validate, compute levy and interest, reconcile payments and determine payable sums or refunds, and to declare statements invalid for use of non validated software or incomplete information. Revised statements replace originals; unprocessable statements are referred to the Assessing Officer. Communications are electronic, no personal appearance is required, and the Director General with Board approval may specify automated procedures and software validation. Processing errors causing excess refunds will be rectified and recovered.

Rescission of a state GST notification under section 148: prior notification withdrawn with preserved prior acts and retrospective commencement.
The Governor, invoking section 148 of the Punjab Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and other enabling powers, rescinds Notification No. S.O.74/P.A.5/2017/S.148/2018 dated 21 May 2018. The rescission takes effect from 1 October 2022, is deemed to have come into force on 28 September 2022, and preserves things done or omitted before rescission.

Composition levy under GST: amendment expands eligible items to include fly ash bricks, aggregates and blocks, effective retrospectively.
Amendment under the proviso to section 10(1) substitutes, against serial number 4 in the TABLE of Notification No. S.O.39/P.A.5/2017/S.10/2019, the entry in column (3) with "Fly ash bricks; Fly ash aggregates; Fly ash blocks." The notification is made on the recommendations of the Council and is deemed to have come into force with effect from 18th July, 2022.

GST classification amendment revises entry for fly ash products in notification under Punjab Goods and Services Tax Act.
The Punjab GST notification substitutes the entry at serial number four, column (3) with "Fly ash bricks; Fly ash aggregates; Fly ash blocks", revising the classification of those goods. The amendment is notified as effective retrospectively from 18th July, 2022.

Limitation period suspension for GST recovery and refund claims extends computation exclusion and delays issuance of s73 orders.
The government, invoking section 168A of the Punjab GST Act, extends the time limit under sub section (10) of section 73 for issuing orders under sub section (9) to recover tax or wrongly availed input tax credit for the 2017-18 period, and excludes the period from 1 March 2020 to 28 February 2022 from computation of limitation for both issuance of recovery orders under section 73 and for filing refund applications under section 54 and section 55, with retrospective effect from 1 March 2020.

Exemption from annual return filing granted for small taxpayers below prescribed turnover threshold for FY2021 22 under Punjab GST.
The Commissioner under the first proviso to section 44 of the Punjab Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, exempts registered persons with aggregate turnover in FY 2021 22 up to two crore rupees from filing the annual return for that year; the exemption was issued on the Council's recommendation and is deemed effective from 5 July 2022.

Nil interest for e commerce operators who deposited collected tax but could not file required returns due to portal glitch.
Nil rate of interest is notified for specified electronic commerce operators who could not furnish FORM GSTR-8 for December 2020 due to a portal technical glitch, provided they had deposited the tax collected in the electronic cash ledger; the nil interest applies from the date of deposit of the tax until the date of filing the required statement.

Extension of revocation application deadline for cancelled GST registrations; eligible applications given additional prescribed filing period.
Where a registration was cancelled under provisions for cancellation and the period for filing an application for revocation fell between March 1, 2020 and August 31, 2021, the time limit for filing such application is extended until September 30, 2021, by way of partial modification of earlier Punjab notifications under the Punjab Goods and Services Tax Act.

Turnover threshold reduced for GST registration applicability under rule 48, lowering the qualifying limit effective October 1, 2022.
Amendment substitutes the earlier monetary threshold in the first paragraph of Notification No. S.O. 19/PGSTR/2017/R.48/2021 with ten crore rupees under sub rule (4) of rule 48 of the Punjab Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017; the substitution is effective from 1 October 2022.

State Tax Officer appointment under GST law: designation assists Commissioner with powers within assigned local areas upon assuming charge.
The State Government appoints Shri Satya Narayan Parida, CT & GST Officer, Balasore Range, as State Tax Officer under the Odisha Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, effective from the date he assumes charge to assist the Commissioner of State Tax. He is authorized to exercise powers and perform duties under the Act within local areas assigned by the Commissioner; the appointment is embodied in an administrative notification issued by the Finance Department.

Special Additional Excise Duty rate change for petrol and diesel exports alters export taxation and duty liability under excise law.
Amendment prescribes a revised Special Additional Excise Duty rate for exports of petrol and diesel by substituting the prior entry against the specified serial number in Notification No. 04/2022 Central Excise; the amendment is effected under the Central Excise Act and the Finance Act and takes effect on the stated commencement date, thereby changing the excise chargeable on exported petrol and diesel.

Special Additional Excise Duty on petroleum crude and aviation turbine fuel amended with substituted rates effective in early February.
The notification amends Notification No. 18/2022-Central Excise by substituting the Table entries for S. No. 1 and S. No. 2, revising the Special Additional Excise Duty applicable to production of petroleum crude and to export of aviation turbine fuel. The amendment is effected under section 5A of the Central Excise Act, 1944 read with section 147 of the Finance Act, 2002, and takes effect on the fourth day of February, 2023.

Green debt security definitions expanded to specify eligible uses and issuance, governance, and subscription requirements.
Amendments expand the definition of Green debt security to list eligible use categories; require issuers to send recall or redemption notices at least twenty-one days before exercisability to eligible holders and debenture trustees with specified delivery methods and stock-exchange dissemination; mandate trust deed and Articles of Association provisions to appoint debenture trustee nominees as directors with timelines for amendment and appointment for listed issuers and issuers in default; prescribe a three-to-ten working day subscription period with extension rules; and require stock exchanges to collect regulatory fees and substitute the draft offer document fee schedule.