Convertible foreign exchange requirement necessary to qualify services as zero-rated exports under GST, where payment is received in foreign currency.
The operative requirement for classifying cross-border services as zero-rated is mandatory receipt of payment in convertible foreign exchange; absence of such receipt prevents claiming exemption or zero-rated treatment for export of services.

Export of services: cross border supply requires foreign recipient, foreign place of supply, and foreign exchange payment.
The concept of export of services requires five conjunctive conditions: supplier located in India; recipient located outside India; place of supply outside India; payment received in convertible foreign exchange; and the supplier and recipient not being merely distinct establishments of the same person.

Receipt in convertible foreign exchange required for export GST exemption; realization must meet foreign exchange timelines.
Whether export of goods qualifies for exemption or zero-rated GST depends on receipt of consideration in convertible foreign exchange and adherence to the realization timeframe under Regulation 9 of the Foreign Exchange Management (Export of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2015, which requires realization of export proceeds within nine months (subject to extension).

Export of goods under GST means removal of goods from India to a location outside India for classification purposes.
The term export of goods under the integrated GST framework is defined to mean the act of taking goods out of India to a place outside India, inclusive of its grammatical variations and cognate expressions; this definition identifies when the movement of goods qualifies as export for GST classification.

Continuous journey under GST defines when contemporaneous tickets and no intervening stop constitute one uninterrupted trip for tax treatment.
The definition treats a journey as a continuous journey where one or more tickets or invoices are issued at the same time by a single supplier or an agent on behalf of multiple suppliers and there is no stopover between the legs covered by those tickets or invoices; a "stopover" is where a passenger disembarks to transfer or to break the journey and resume it later.

Location of supplier: treat the supplier's place of business as the determining factor for place of supply under GST.
Location of supplier of goods is not defined in the GST/IGST Acts; it should be treated as the place where the supplier was located immediately before or at the time of supply and before movement of goods. A CBIC flier treats the supplier's place of business as the relevant location, supporting use of the supplier's business location for determining place of supply under Section 10 and inter state rules.

Location of supplier of services determines place of supply under GST-prioritise place of business, fixed establishment, then residence.
Location of the supplier of services determines place of supply under GST/IGST by a hierarchical rule: (a) location of the registered place of business; (b) location of the fixed establishment when supply is made from another place; (c) location of the establishment most directly concerned where multiple establishments are involved; and (d) otherwise the usual place of residence of the supplier.

Location of recipient of services determines place of supply; prioritise registered business, fixed establishment, most concerned establishment, then residence.
The location of the recipient of services is determined hierarchically: (a) the location of the registered place of business where the supply is received; (b) if received at a place other than the registered place, the location of the fixed establishment elsewhere; (c) where received at multiple establishments, the establishment most directly concerned with receipt; and (d) if none of these exist, the usual place of residence of the recipient. The IGST Act contains the same hierarchical definition.

Taxability of gifts expanded to all assessees; assets received without adequate consideration treated as taxable income.
The amendment inserts a new clause in subsection (2) of section 56 to tax assets received without or for inadequate consideration across all categories of assessees, subsuming earlier clause-based provisions that applied only to individuals, HUFs or certain share receipts, and rationalises the exceptions by revising and adding specified carve-outs while sunsetting the earlier clauses.

Cost of acquisition rules: cutoff date advanced, altering use of prior fair market value for long-term capital assets.
Amendment to section 55 advances the statutory cut-off date used to compute cost of acquisition and cost of improvement for long-term capital assets: where an asset was acquired before the new cut-off date, its cost of acquisition is to be treated as the asset's value on that cut-off date and cost of improvement is recognised only if incurred after that date, with fair market value at the cut-off date available as the basis. The amendment is effective from 1st April, 2018 and applies to the assessment year 2018-2019 onwards.

Capital gains exemption expanded to include government notified bonds, widening eligible investments for deferring tax on long term gains.
Amendment to section 54EC broadens the definition of qualifying instruments by allowing the Central Government to notify additional specified bonds beyond the previously listed redeemable bonds, thereby expanding the range of investments that can be used to claim the capital gains exemption; the amendment takes effect from the stated commencement and applies to the indicated assessment year and subsequent years.

Fair market value deemed consideration for unquoted share transfers, altering capital gains valuation under prescribed rules.
The fair market value of unquoted company shares, determined in the prescribed manner, is to be deemed the full value of consideration for computing capital gains on transfer; a statutory definition of "quoted share" is to be provided and the rule applies prospectively from the stated effective date.

Deemed cost of acquisition set as fair market value where accreted income is taxed under Chapter XIIEB.
Where capital gain arises from transfer of an asset held by a trust or institution for which accreted income has been computed and tax paid under Chapter XIIEB, the cost of acquisition of that asset shall be deemed to be the fair market value taken into account for computing accreted income as on the specified date referred to in sub section (2) of section 115TD.

Cost of acquisition tied to stamp duty value for land pooling allotments determining capital gains computation.
Where capital gains arise from transfer of a specified capital asset received under the Andhra Pradesh Capital City Land Pooling Scheme and transferred after two years from the end of the financial year in which possession was handed over, the cost of acquisition shall be deemed to be the stamp duty value of the asset as on the last day of the second financial year after the end of the financial year when possession was handed over; the amendment also defines "stamp duty value."

Cost of acquisition set as deemed full value of consideration for project-share transfers under development agreements, effective 2018-19.
The amendment provides that the cost of acquisition of a share in a project consisting of land or building, given as consideration under specified agreements (for example, joint development agreements), shall be the amount deemed as the full value of consideration under the related provision, subject to the proviso excluding certain capital assets, and applies prospectively from the effective date for subsequent assessment years.

Deemed cost of acquisition: equity received on conversion of preference shares treated as costing the original preference shares.
A new deeming provision treats the cost of acquisition of equity shares received in consideration of a transfer under clause (xb) of section 47 as the cost of the preference shares in relation to which those equity shares are acquired, thereby carrying over the preference share cost for computing capital gains.

Cost of acquisition rule: consolidated-plan unit transfers deemed to carry forward cost from consolidating-plan units, affecting capital gains.
The amendment deems the cost of acquisition of a capital asset comprising unit(s) in a consolidated mutual fund plan to be the cost of acquisition of the corresponding unit(s) in the consolidating plan when the consolidated units were obtained by a specified transfer, thereby fixing the cost basis for capital gains computation.

Cost basis for demerger transfers: previous owner's acquisition cost to determine transferee's cost for share transfers.
Where shares in an Indian company are transferred in a demerger, the transferee's cost of acquisition shall be the cost for which the previous owner acquired those shares, increased by any cost of improvements, by virtue of the Clause 25 amendment; the change takes effect from 1 April 2018 and applies to assessment year 2018-19 onward.

Indexed cost base changed for capital gains computation, altering base-year reference and effective assessment period.
Amendment revises the benchmark year used in the computation of the indexed cost of acquisition by replacing the earlier base-year reference with a more recent base year, with consequential changes to the mode of computation and prospective application to the stated assessment year and subsequent years, thereby altering the use of the Cost Inflation Index in proportionately adjusting cost of acquisition for capital gains.

Capital gains computation: rupee appreciation on redemption of rupee bonds held by non-residents excluded from full value.
Amendment clarifies that for a non-resident holder of a rupee-denominated bond of an Indian company, any gain arising from appreciation of the rupee against a foreign currency at redemption shall be ignored in computing the full value of consideration for capital gains; the change substitutes "held by" for "subscribed by" and operates prospectively from the notified effective date.