Validation of customs notification restores duty exemption for specified oil imports subject to TRQ and bill of lading conditions.
The Finance (No. 2) Bill, 2024 validates Notification No. 37/2023 to confirm exemption from basic customs duty and anti-dumping/countervailing duties on imports of crude soybean oil and crude sunflower seed oil, conditional on unutilized TRQ quota and a bill of lading issued on or before 31 March, 2023; it also exempts GST Compensation Cess on imports into SEZs by SEZ units or developers for authorized operations.

New Shipper Review introduced for countervailing duty rules, enabling review of new exporters under amended procedures.
Amendment inserts a New Shipper Review provision into the Customs Tariff Rules, 1995 to permit review of new exporters or suppliers within the existing framework for identification, assessment and collection of countervailing duty and for determination of injury; effective from 24.7.2024.

Temporary import time limits extended for aircraft, vessels and warranty exports, enabling longer duty-free re-import and repair periods.
The notifications extend temporal reliefs and adjust tariffs: aircraft and vessels imported for maintenance, repair and overhaul may remain imported for one year (further extendable by one year), warranty exports qualify for duty free re import for five years (further extendable by two years), and the India-UAE CEPA tariff notification is amended to revise duty rates on precious metals; changes effective 24 July 2024.

BCD exemption extensions preserve duty-free treatment for specified imports, with targeted scope adjustments for certain inputs.
The Finance measure extends conditional Basic Customs Duty (BCD) exemptions for numerous specified goods-inputs, parts, capital goods, and medical supplies-preserving duty-free import treatment subject to existing notification conditions, while narrowing or broadening the scope of certain entries and maintaining targeted provisions for SEZ-related supplies and bona fide exporters; stakeholders must refer to the notification for full descriptive and documentary eligibility requirements.

Customs duty exemptions extended and expiry clauses removed, preserving specified import concessions for listed goods and sectors.
Amendments extend Basic Customs Duty (BCD) exemption timelines for specified notifications and remove prescribed end dates for another subset, thereby sustaining concessional import treatment for listed categories such as media content, specialised machinery, castor products, artworks, precious stones on approval basis, copper products, export-jobbing inputs, instructional materials and other sectoral items; notifications remain authoritative for full descriptions.

Customs duty exemptions lapse removing concessional import treatments across multiple sectors and specified notification-based exemptions.
Customs duty exemptions and concessional notifications listed in earlier customs instruments are being allowed to lapse, removing specified concessional import treatments. Affected provisions include selected entries of notification No. 50/2017-Customs covering inputs and equipment for sectors such as solar manufacturing, electric vehicles, medical devices, telecommunication equipment, and certain industrial catalysts, and several standalone notifications granting exemptions for gold imports by banks, donated second-hand computers, SAD-related exemptions, SEZ to DTA transfers, and aviation re-imports.

Social Welfare Surcharge exemption for specified minerals and metal inputs removes surcharge on listed imported goods.
Amendment to Notification No. 11/2018 exempts a specified list of imported goods from the levy of the Social Welfare Surcharge with effect from 24 July 2024, covering raw minerals, metal ores and concentrates, high purity silicon and silicon products, rare earth metals and compounds, various oxides, hydroxides, salts and carbonates, graphite and a range of unwrought metals, powders, waste and scrap.

Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess rate reduction alters customs duty incidence on specified precious metal imports.
Amendment revises the Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) rates on specified precious metal goods by modifying Notification No. 11/2021 - Customs, effective 24 July 2024, reducing AIDC and altering the effective customs duty incidence on listed tariff entries including gold, silver, platinum group metals, coins of precious metals, and related findings.

Exemption of Clean Environment Cess on stock, subject to GST compensation cess on subsequent supplies.
The amendment extends the submission period for the final Mega Power Project certificate under Notification No.12/2012 Central Excise from 120 to 156 months. It also exempts Clean Environment Cess on excisable goods in stock as of 30 June 2017, conditional on payment of applicable GST Compensation Cess on supplies of those goods on or after 1 July 2017. Both changes take effect from the date of enactment of the Finance (No. 2) Bill, 2024.

Limitation on GST demand determination: new unified regime for post-change periods with restructured penalties and appeal pre-deposit rules.
Insertion of Section 74A establishes a separate regime for determination of tax not paid, short paid, erroneously refunded or incorrect input tax credit for periods from the Financial Year 2024-25 onwards, prescribes a uniform limitation period for issuing demands and orders for those periods, retains higher penalties where fraud, wilful misstatement or suppression is found, and triggers consequential amendments across assessment, recovery, credit, return-filing and appeal provisions to align procedures and pre-deposit requirements.

Zero rating changes in IGST allow notified classes to claim refunds subject to prescribed conditions and export duty restrictions.
The Bill amends IGST to exempt Extra Neutral Alcohol used in making alcoholic liquor from integrated tax; empowers the Government to regularize non levy or short levy arising from established general practice; revises the zero rating regime to allow notification of classes eligible for zero rated supplies and corresponding refunds under Central GST refund rules while barring refunds where export duty applies; and reduces maximum pre deposit amounts required to file appeals before the appellate authority and the Appellate Tribunal.

Tax exemption for extra neutral alcohol removes union territory tax when used to make alcoholic liquor, altering levy scope.
Amendment excludes union territory tax on Extra Neutral Alcohol used in manufacture of alcoholic liquor for human consumption, narrowing the UTGST taxable base and requiring suppliers and manufacturers to adjust tax treatment. A newly inserted Section 8A authorizes the government to regularize non-levy or short levy of union territory tax where such shortfall resulted from a general practice, creating a mechanism to validate or correct historical under-collection attributable to systemic practices.

Regularisation of cess shortfalls where non levy arose from general practice allows government to sanction corrective levy.
Section 8A empowers the government to regularize cases of non-levy or short-levy of the compensation cess where such under-collection arose from a prevailing general practice, providing an administrative mechanism to treat practice-driven cess shortfalls as regularizable liabilities under the GST compensation framework.

Deduction eligibility for operational hotels affirmed despite administrative delay in star classification, focusing on substantive compliance.
The court addressed entitlement to a deduction under Section 35AD(5)(aa) where a hotel began operations and generated income in the relevant year and a timely application for star classification was submitted, but formal certification was delayed due to administrative inspections; the court applied a purposive construction to allow the deduction when substantive operational conditions were satisfied and delay was not the assessee's fault.

Depreciation entitlement for leasing companies where contractual ownership and business use are established, allowing higher depreciation rates.
A lessor retains entitlement to depreciation where lease terms demonstrate exclusive ownership rights, repossession power, return obligations and inspection rights, and where the asset is used in the course of the lessor's leasing business; actual physical use by the lessor is not required. Leasing activity that functionally equates to hiring can qualify assets for an enhanced rate of depreciation despite registration in the lessee's name.

Revenue classification of debenture issuance expenses upheld as revenue expenditure despite later conversion into equity.
Expenses incurred to issue convertible debentures that are raised to provide working capital are to be treated as revenue expenditure because classification depends on the purpose and usage of the expenditure, and future conversion into shares does not change its revenue character.

Classification of feasibility study costs: expansion-related studies without new assets qualify as revenue expenditure.
Whether feasibility study expenditures are revenue or capital depends on purpose and benefit: costs to obtain an enduring benefit or create a new capital asset are capital; costs incurred to expand the same business, under unity of control and without creation of new assets, are revenue in nature.

Section 43B actual-payment requirement prevents deduction of unutilised MODVAT credit and sales tax recoverable balances.
Section 43B permits deduction only for sums payable as tax, duty, cess or fee that are actually paid in the relevant previous year (or paid before the return due date where a statutory liability existed). Unutilised MODVAT credit is an entitlement to adjust future excise liabilities and not an actual payment; sales tax in a recoverable account is a cost adjustment, not discharge of statutory liability. Because no excise liability existed at the relevant year end, the proviso does not apply and such credits do not meet the Section 43B payment requirement for deduction.

Retrospective application of curative amendment to TDS deadline clarified, affecting disallowance of expenses under the tax provision.
The Court addressed whether an amendment extending the time to deposit TDS should be applied retrospectively to govern the operation of a statutory disallowance provision. After reviewing prior amendments, explanatory materials, and precedent on curative measures, the Court characterised the later amendment as curative and directed its retrospective application to the date of insertion of the original provision, thereby affecting the applicability of the disallowance to expenses where TDS was deposited by the extended deadline.

Bad debt deduction criteria clarified under Sections 36 and 37 - stricter substantiation required; capital expenditure excluded.
Entitlement to a bad debt deduction requires statutory compliance and adequate substantiation; an accounting write off alone does not suffice. The assessee's failure to produce coherent documentary evidence of the nature and terms of the advance, inconsistent characterisation of the payment, and the capital nature of the outflow precluded treatment as a business deduction. The general business expenditure provision does not avail items that are within or expressly excluded by the bad debt framework.