Zero-rated supplies entitlement: IGST refund cannot be denied solely because exporter claimed higher drawback; statutory rules prevail.
The statutory refund regime treats the shipping bill as a deemed application for IGST refund on exports and allows withholding of refund only in the specific, enumerated circumstances provided by the rules. Administrative circulars cannot override the statute; availing a higher duty drawback or technical limitations in departmental systems do not, without falling within the prescribed withholding contingencies, defeat an exporter's entitlement to IGST refund for zero-rated supplies.

Input Tax Credit time limit: GSTR 3B is a temporary stopgap and does not fix the statutory monthly return deadline.
The Court held that GSTR 3B was implemented as a temporary stopgap and was not intended to replace the statutory monthly return; an administrative press release treating GSTR 3B filing as the outer date to avail Input Tax Credit conflicted with the statutory time limit provision and the rules prescribing the monthly return form and manner.

Rates for deduction of income-tax at source from salaries set and applied to advance tax and special-case assessments.
Part III of the First Schedule prescribes rates for deduction of income-tax at source from salaries and for computation of advance tax for the financial year 2019-20; those rates also apply to charging income-tax on current incomes in special assessment cases such as provisional assessment of non-resident shipping profits, assessments of persons leaving India, persons likely to transfer property to avoid tax, and short-duration bodies.

Income-tax rates and surcharge rules set slab-based taxation with a graduated surcharge and limits on surcharge impact.
Slab-based income tax rates are prescribed for individuals, HUFs, AOPs, BOIs and artificial juridical persons with separate resident senior citizen slabs; computed tax is subject to a graduated surcharge for higher incomes, accompanied by a cap mechanism preventing the total tax-plus-surcharge on an income from exceeding the tax at the relevant bracket threshold by more than the excess income above that threshold.

Tax rates for co-operative societies remain unchanged; a surcharge with a cap applies to high income societies.
Rates of income-tax for co-operative societies remain as specified in Paragraph B of Part III of the First Schedule to the Finance Bill, unchanged from the prior year. A surcharge applies to the income-tax of societies exceeding a high-income threshold, subject to a cap that prevents total tax and surcharge from exceeding the tax at the threshold by more than the excess income.

Firm tax rate unchanged; surcharge applies to high income firms with a statutory cap limiting surcharge on excess income.
Rate of tax for firms for TDS and advance tax remains unchanged from the prior year; a surcharge of twelve per cent is levied where a firm's total income exceeds one crore rupees, subject to a cap that limits the aggregate income tax and surcharge on income above the threshold to not exceed the tax on the threshold amount by more than the excess income.

Surcharge on local authority income applies above a threshold, with a statutory cap limiting aggregate tax increase.
The income-tax rate for local authorities is maintained at the prior year's level for purposes of TDS and advance tax; a statutory surcharge is levied where total income exceeds a prescribed threshold. A statutory cap limits the combined income-tax and surcharge so that the aggregate tax on income above the threshold does not exceed the income-tax payable as if income equalled the threshold by more than the excess income.

Corporate tax rate revised, varying by domestic status; surcharge and health and education cess apply.
Income tax rates for companies distinguish domestic and other companies, with domestic companies below a specified turnover threshold subject to a lower rate and others taxed at a higher rate. Surcharge is levied in graded bands for domestic and non domestic companies, with marginal relief caps limiting excess tax attributable to incomes above prescribed thresholds. Certain specified company cases attract a prescribed surcharge rate. A Health and Education Cess is levied on tax including surcharge, and marginal relief is not available in respect of that cess.

TDS on individual and HUF payments to contractors and professionals: new withholding applies above threshold; PAN may be used instead of TAN.
Section 194M imposes withholding on payments by individuals and Hindu undivided families to resident contractors and professionals where the aggregate annual payments exceed the statutory threshold; tax is to be deducted at the prescribed withholding rate and may be deposited using the payer's Permanent Account Number, relieving such payers from the requirement to obtain a Tax Deduction Account Number.

TDS on transfer of immovable property now covers ancillary charges, expanding 'consideration' to include fees incidental to sale.
The Explanation to Section 194-IA is amended to state that consideration for immovable property includes ancillary charges payable by the buyer-such as club membership, car parking, electricity and water facility fees, maintenance fees, advance fees and other similar incidental charges-thereby making these amounts part of the taxable base for TDS on transfer of immovable property other than agricultural land.

Deemed accrual of gifts: transfers by Indian residents to nonresidents treated as taxable in India under new provision.
Gifts of money or property made by a person resident in India to a person outside India, where the property is situated in India or sums are paid, are deemed to accrue or arise in India for tax purposes when made on or after 5 July 2019; existing statutory gift exemptions continue to apply and applicable DTAA provisions remain operative. The amendment takes effect from 1 April 2020 and applies to assessment year 2020-21 onward.

Mandatory return filing for high-value transactions expands to include transaction and rollover-based filing triggers.
Amendments mandate filing of income tax returns by individuals who, during the previous year, undertake specified high-value transactions-including large current account deposits, significant foreign travel expenditure, or substantial electricity consumption-or meet other prescribed conditions; and require persons claiming capital gains rollover exemptions on reinvestment in specified assets to file returns when their pre-rollover total income exceeded the basic exemption limit, even if post-claim income is below that limit.

Inter-changeability of PAN and Aadhaar: Aadhaar may be quoted in lieu of PAN and recipients must ensure authentication.
Proposed amendments allow a person required to quote PAN to furnish an Aadhaar number in lieu of PAN and provide that persons entering certain prescribed transactions who lack a PAN must apply for one; recipients of documents must ensure PAN or Aadhaar is duly quoted and authenticated, and a penalty provision is amended to enforce compliance.

PAN-Aadhaar linkage: failure to intimate Aadhaar renders PAN inoperative while preserving prior transactions under proposed amendment.
Failure to intimate Aadhaar will result in the PAN being made inoperative in the prescribed manner rather than being deemed invalid, with an express provision preserving the validity of transactions previously carried out through that PAN; the amendment is prospective and will take effect from the notified effective date.

Statement of Financial Transactions reporting: expanded mandatory reporting, threshold removed and penalties broadened to enhance tax pre-filling.
Mandatory reporting under the Statement of Financial Transactions is widened to require additional prescribed persons to furnish SFTs, the existing aggregate transaction threshold for reporting is removed to include small-value transactions, defects unrectified within the prescribed time will be treated as furnishing inaccurate information, and penalty provisions are expanded to cover all reporting entities; these amendments take effect from 1st September, 2019.

Electronic payment requirement extended to include prescribed electronic modes, altering payment compliance and tax treatment from specified effective dates.
Amendments add "other electronic mode as may be prescribed" to the list of acceptable non cash payment modes across multiple income tax provisions, so payments or receipts through prescribed electronic instruments will satisfy statutory conditions for donation exemption, capital expenditure recognition, disallowance avoidance, actual cost determination, stamp duty linked valuation, presumptive taxation eligibility, and employment related deductions. The changes apply from specified effective dates: most tax treatment provisions from 1 April 2020 and the prohibitions on specified cash receipts/repayments from 1 September 2019.

TDS on cash withdrawals to apply when annual cash withdrawals exceed a threshold, with specified institutional exemptions.
Section 194N creates a TDS obligation on cash payments from a recipient's account by banks, cooperative banks and post offices when annual aggregate cash withdrawals exceed a prescribed threshold, targeting reduction of cash transactions; specified institutional recipients are exempted, and the Central Government may notify further exemptions in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India, with a statutory commencement provision.

Mandatory electronic payment acceptance requires businesses above a turnover threshold to provide prescribed digital payment facilities, with daily penalties.
A new provision requires persons carrying on business whose total sales, turnover or gross receipts in the immediately preceding previous year exceed a specified turnover threshold to provide facilities for accepting payments through the prescribed electronic modes. Failure to provide such prescribed electronic payment facilities attracts a daily monetary penalty, subject to proof of good and sufficient reasons, with penalty imposition by the Joint Commissioner. A consequential amendment prohibits banks and system providers from imposing any charge for using the prescribed electronic payment modes.

IFSC tax incentives expand tax-neutral transfers and exemptions to promote external borrowing and extended profit-linked deductions.
Proposed IFSC tax measures include treating transfers of specified securities by Category III AIFs with all non-resident unit-holders as not constituting transfer, empowering notification of additional securities, exempting interest payable to non-residents on borrowings by IFSC units, extending tax neutrality to dividends paid out of accumulated IFSC income, exempting distributions by mutual funds in IFSC with all non-resident unit-holders from additional tax, ensuring full access to profit-linked deductions for IFSC units by removing restrictive computation conditions, and increasing the one-hundred-per-cent deduction to any ten consecutive assessment years within a fifteen-year window.

Interest recognition rule extended to regulated NBFCs, with deductions allowed only when interest is actually paid by return-filing deadline.
The accrual-exception that taxes interest on bad or doubtful debts when credited or received is extended to include deposit-taking NBFCs and systemically important non-deposit-taking NBFCs; correspondingly, interest deductions for payments to these NBFCs are allowable only if actually paid on or before the due date for filing the return of income, aligning their tax treatment with other regulated financial institutions.