Reverse charge on legal services broadened to include advisory and representational work under GST notifications.
Corrigenda amend reverse-charge entries to treat "services provided by an individual advocate including a senior advocate or firm of advocates by way of legal services, directly or indirectly," as taxable, and add an Explanation that "legal service" includes advice, consultancy, assistance in any branch of law and representational services, thereby broadening the scope beyond representational services before courts, tribunals or authorities.

Reversal of input tax credit: sale of exempt by products triggers reversal under VAT/GST credit rules.
Reversal of input tax credit is triggered by the sale of goods produced incidentally during manufacture, not by their status as by products. The statutory credit regime aims to prevent double taxation by granting input credit for inputs used in manufacture, but the legislature determines the extent and conditions of credit. A provision that uses the terms 'goods' and 'sale' does not distinguish by products from final products, so where the incidental output is marketable and sold for consideration, reversal rules apply.

Capital gain valuation under section 50C on transfer of contractual rights challenged as inappropriate and commercially onerous.
Application of section 50C to a transfer of rights under a power of attorney, where no possession or control of the immovable property passed and no stamp authority value was adopted, was contested; the assessing officer's adoption of an enhanced valuation for computing short term capital gains was regarded as inappropriate and characterised as harassment, and that addition was reversed on appeal.

Accounting policy change disclosure required when future material effect is expected; disclose at adoption and when it first becomes material.
Change in accounting policies that has no material effect in the current previous year but is reasonably expected to have material effect later must be disclosed: (a) in the previous year in which the change is adopted; and (b) in the previous year in which the change has material effect for the first time.

Change in accounting policy: permitted only for reasonable cause and where AS 5 requires it or improves financial presentation.
A change in accounting policy will be treated as reasonable if it meets the criterion established by AS 5: the change is permissible only where it is required by statute, necessary for compliance with an accounting standard, or results in a more appropriate presentation of the enterprise's financial statements.

Mark-to-market loss recognition barred under ICDS, allowed only if another ICDS or tax law permits.
Mark-to-market and expected losses are not recognised under ICDS I unless another ICDS permits such recognition; the Accounting Standards Committee held that because anticipated profits are not recognised, parity requires that expected or mark-to-market losses also be excluded, while established tax-law precedent allows deduction for exchange fluctuation losses arising on revenue-purpose borrowings.

Disclosure of fundamental accounting assumptions required when Going Concern, Consistency or Accrual are not followed in tax reporting.
ICDS I requires that where the Going Concern, Consistency and Accrual assumptions are followed no specific disclosure is required, but any departure from these fundamental accounting assumptions must be disclosed; the revised tax audit reporting format provides columns to record such disclosures.

Going concern assumption affects income computation and disclosure, requiring a different measurement basis if materially impinged.
Going concern is the assumption that an assessee will continue operations and has no intent or necessity to liquidate or materially curtail business; it underpins periodic income computation and financial statements and applies in the absence of contrary information. Material uncertainties that cast doubt on going concern may impinge this assumption. ICDS I does not specify computation methods when going concern is not met; absent such mandate an assessee may follow the Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements and prepare statements on a different basis, affecting recognition, measurement and disclosure.

ICDS disclosure requirements must be reported in tax audit reports and reflected in amended income tax return schedules.
ICDS require disclosure of accounting policies and ICDS adjustments; the net effect must be disclosed in the Return of Income. Disclosures required under ICDS shall be made in the tax audit report in Form 3CD for taxpayers subject to tax audit, and no separate disclosure regime exists for those not liable to tax audit; return forms were amended to include a schedule ICDS.

ICDS supremacy - where ICDS conflicts with CBDT circulars or press releases, the ICDS treatment prevails.
Where ICDS provisions conflict with earlier CBDT circulars or press releases, the later ICDS provisions prevail for the period after they take effect; CBDT circulars and press releases are interpretative guidance binding on tax officers but not on taxpayers.

DTAA supremacy: ICDS governs income computation when the treaty is silent, non-conflicting, or specifies only tax rate.
ICDS apply to non-residents claiming DTAA benefits only where the DTAA is silent, where there is no conflict between ICDS computation and treaty treatment, where the income falls outside the DTAA's scope, or where the DTAA fixes a tax rate but does not prescribe the method of computing the income, in which case ICDS governs computation.

Recognition of provisions under ICDS X requires a present obligation, probable outflow of resources, and a reliable estimate.
Recognition of a provision under ICDS X requires a present obligation from a past event, a reasonably certain outflow of resources to settle the obligation, and a reliable estimate of the obligation amount; routine future operating costs must not be recognised as provisions.

Transitional provisions for ICDS X ensure recognition of provisions and contingent items to prevent double taxation or omission.
Transitional recognition under ICDS X requires that provisions, contingent liabilities and contingent assets and related income be recognised for previous years commencing on or after 1 April 2016 in accordance with this standard, after taking into account any amount recognised for the same items for previous years ending on or before 31 March 2016; the rule aims to prevent double taxation or omission of income.

Supremacy of tax law: reversal of an ICDS-recognised asset must follow tax deduction rules, permitting write-off as bad debt.
Reversal of an asset and related income recognised under ICDS X must conform to the Income-tax Act where conflicts arise; the Act's tax-deduction treatment applies, allowing write-off as a bad debt rather than simply reversing the original accounting recognition entry.

Set-off of provisions: expenditures may be set off only against the original provision, not provisions for different purposes.
Under ICDS X, expenditures must be set off only against the original provision for which they were recognised; expenditures cannot be offset against provisions recognised for a different event or purpose, as that would conceal the separate financial effects of distinct events and undermine transparent disclosure of provisions, contingent liabilities and contingent assets.

Employee post retirement benefit provisioning excluded from ICDS X, governed by specific statutory provisions for income computation.
Provisioning for employee post retirement benefits covered by AS 15 shall continue to be governed by specific provisions of the Act and are not dealt with by ICDS X; ICDS X does not apply to liabilities otherwise falling within AS 15.

Borrowing costs capitalization requires capitalizing interest for qualifying assets; inventory only when production is prolonged.
Borrowing costs directly attributable to acquisition, construction or production of tangible and intangible assets must be capitalized as part of the asset cost. Inventory borrowing costs are capitalized only when the inventory requires an extended period to become saleable. Specific borrowings for a qualifying asset require capitalization of actual borrowing costs incurred during the qualifying period. For general borrowings, a formulaic allocation apportions borrowing costs to qualifying assets based on the ratio of qualifying assets to total assets.

Inventory preparation processes define activities included in inventory cost when making goods fit and saleable under accounting standards.
Activities necessary to prepare inventory for its intended sale include all processes required to make inventory functional for its intended use and to render it saleable, notably quality control to verify fitness for use and primary packing where goods are normally sold in packed condition.

Borrowing cost capitalization must exclude portions disallowed by specific statutory provisions, only allowable amounts may be capitalised.
Borrowing costs capitalised under ICDS IX must exclude amounts disallowed by specific provisions of the Act; only the portion of borrowing cost that remains allowable under the Act may be capitalised, because specific statutory disallowances override ICDS treatment.

Capitalization of borrowing costs: general borrowing must be allocated to qualifying assets and capitalized on an asset-by-asset basis.
General borrowing costs computed under the ICDS-IX formula must be apportioned among qualifying assets and capitalized on an asset-by-asset basis, so that each qualifying asset's capitalized borrowing cost reflects its proportionate share of general borrowing under the standard.