Indian Customs EDI System (ICES 1.5) processing for import and export clearance commences at ICD Hirnoda, Jaipur (INHDA6), enabling computerized processing of Bills of Entry and Shipping Bills. M/s Hasti Petro Chemicals and Shipping Ltd. is appointed custodian and Customs Cargo Service Provider for the ICD and is permitted to commence operations after fulfilling applicable customs and cargo-area requirements. State Bank of India, SMS Highway Branch, is authorised to collect customs duty and make duty drawback and refund payments under the EDI system.

Dividend income of a life-insurance company remains exempt where the special computation regime for insurance business does not displace the statutory dividend exemption. Section 44 governs computation of insurance-business profits only to the extent of the provisions specified and does not exclude the exemption available for dividend income. The special scheme under section 44 and the First Schedule also governs insurance-business computation, so disallowance of expenditure relating to exempt income under section 14A read with Rule 8D does not apply to an insurance company.

QualityKiosk Technologies has established a Hyderabad engineering hub to expand AI reliability engineering, AI assurance and agentic engineering capabilities. The centre supports engineering, marketing, branding, analyst-relations and advisory functions, while serving enterprise demand for AI reliability, product engineering, CloudOps and automation. It advances an AI reliability operating framework covering AI for reliability, reliability of AI, agentic engineering, shift-right engineering, frontier-system reliability, observability and platform-based delivery to promote governance, resilience, operational trust and assurance in AI-powered systems.

Post-supply discounts granted through tax credit notes may be excluded from taxable value only when the recipient reverses input tax credit attributable to the discount, in addition to the requirements of a pre-supply agreement and invoice linkage. Pending portal-based verification, suppliers may obtain a CA/CMA certificate, or a recipient undertaking or certificate where the aggregate tax involved is within the prescribed threshold. These records must identify relevant credit notes, invoices, and reversal details, and are admissible evidence in scrutiny, audit, investigation, and other proceedings, including for prior periods.

Refund claims for courier imports under Section 27 of the Customs Act, 1962 are automated through the ECCS Refund Module. Authorised Couriers may electronically file claims with supporting records and bank details, receiving a Refund Request Number for processing and tracking. The Proper Officer must communicate deficiencies within 10 days, issue acknowledgements after rectification, and electronically communicate show-cause notices and speaking orders. Manual or ECCS filing is allowed until 30 September 2026; thereafter, fresh claims for Courier Bills of Entry must be filed through ECCS unless written approval permits manual filing.

Supplying coffee, tea and milk through vending machines at clients' premises for per-cup charges falls within taxable outdoor catering service. Catering includes direct or indirect supply of food, edible preparations and non-alcoholic beverages, and service provided at a location other than the caterer's own premises is treated as outdoor catering. The arrangement's predominant character is beverage provision at clients' premises; procurement and supply of ingredients remain incidental. VAT paid on ingredients does not remove service-tax liability because VAT applies to the goods component while service tax applies separately to the service component. The service-tax demand is therefore sustainable.

For reverse-charge supplies received from unregistered persons, the relevant financial year for the input tax credit limitation period is the year in which the registered recipient issues the required self-invoice, not the year of receipt of supply. The recipient must issue the invoice and pay reverse-charge tax in cash. Credit is available on the prescribed tax-paying document, subject to tax payment and applicable input tax credit conditions and restrictions. Delayed self-invoicing and tax payment require payment of interest, and delayed issuance may attract penal action.

Ex parte confirmation of a penalty without merits-based consideration warranted remand where explanations and supporting material on loan transactions had already been furnished. The first appellate proceedings began substantially after the appeal was filed, hearings intervened during the pandemic, and dismissal for non-substantiation occurred without adjudicating the material on record. The matter was remitted to the first appellate authority for fresh merits-based adjudication after providing the assessee a reasonable opportunity to present its case.

The special procedure requires manufacturers to report final-packing machine details in FORM GST SRM-I. Make and model are optional, but machine number is mandatory and may be self-assigned where unavailable. Electricity-consumption rating may be certified by a practicing Chartered Engineer where machine records do not provide it. The procedure excludes Special Economic Zone units and specified manual packing operations. It applies to job workers and contract manufacturers, while the principal manufacturer bears compliance responsibility for an unregistered job worker or contract manufacturer.

Ad hoc additions for cash deposits during demonetisation require a speaking appellate determination explaining why the deposits remain unexplained. Sustaining an addition without recorded reasons or a reasoned basis for rejecting the explanation cannot be maintained. The unsupported sustained addition was deleted in favour of the assessee.

Hybrid Annuity Model road construction and operation-and-maintenance obligations constitute a single continuous supply of services and cannot be split merely because payments are staggered. If an invoice is issued by the contractual specified date or event-completion date, tax liability arises on the earlier of invoice issuance or payment receipt. If not, liability arises on the earlier of the contractual payment due date, treated as the service-provision date, or payment receipt. Interest included in annuity or instalment payments is includible in taxable value.

Cash deposits during demonetisation attributable to cash sales recorded in regular books cannot be treated separately as unexplained cash credit where sales, purchases, quantitative stock records and VAT records support the transactions. The sales proceeds and resulting profit were already reflected in the accounts and returned income. Without defects in those records or evidence that the sales were bogus, taxing the deposited sale proceeds again would duplicate income already brought to tax. The addition of deposits arising from undisputed recorded cash sales was therefore deleted.

"Ekal Anubandh" enables importers and exporters to execute a Single All-India Multi-Purpose Electronic Bond through ICEGATE instead of separate transaction-wise customs bonds. Users may select applicable obligations, upload supporting documents, pay stamp duty electronically and complete Aadhaar-based e-signing through NeSL after customs approval. Electronic bank guarantees issued by NeSL-integrated banks may be linked to electronic or physical bonds after validation of the applicant, authorised signatory and bond reference. Manual bonds and guarantees remain an exceptional interim option for documented technical failures, subject to prior approval and limited permissions.

Breach of the prescribed investment conditions by a charitable trust under Section 13(1)(d) affects only income attributable to the offending investment, rather than withdrawing Section 11 exemption for the trust's entire income. An unproved advance for purchase of property was treated as an investment outside the permitted modes under Section 11(5). The income referable to that advance is subject to denial of exemption and taxation at the maximum marginal rate, while the trust remains entitled to exemption for its remaining income.

The amendments extend the period under regulation 3(3) to 60 days and require defective commitment applications to be returned for curing and refiling within 10 working days. Original application fees may be adjusted upon refiling, while failure to cure defects makes the application invalid. The period for conclusion of commitment proceedings is extended to 180 days, excluding time taken for information, clarification, or responses; if not concluded within that period, the inquiry resumes. References are also updated to the CCI (General) Regulations, 2024.

Closure of proceedings for failure to deduct tax at source, after finding that overseas transactions were at arm's length and the assessee was not in default, removed the basis for disallowance of the related payments. The disallowance under Section 40(a)(i) was therefore deleted. The Tribunal correctly applied binding jurisdictional precedent, as no contrary binding decision was identified, and the deletion was sustained in favour of the assessee.

Sea Cargo Manifest and Transshipment Regulations compliance requires all cargo and manifest amendments to be filed through prescribed SCMTR amendment messages from 12 August 2026. Supplementary Import General Manifest and Export General Manifest filings are permanently disabled from that date. Sea carriers, shipping lines, agents, transshippers, terminal operators, custodians, freight forwarders, importers, exporters and customs brokers must ensure that their systems and processes are enabled for SCMTR-based filing and amendment.

The amendments strengthen GST registration and compliance through PAN-linked contact verification, biometric Aadhaar authentication and document verification for risk-identified applicants. They require reversal of input tax credit where suppliers fail to furnish corresponding returns, subject to later re-availment. Electronic reconciliation of differences between outward-supply statements and returns requires payment or explanation through FORM GST DRC-01B, with recovery consequences for unresolved differences. The changes also revise refund evidence for unregistered persons, appeal filing and withdrawal procedures, and GSTR-1 reporting for electronic commerce supplies.

Money-laundering investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act led to searches of premises associated with the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust, its university, linked companies, promoters and a chartered accountant. The inquiry concerns alleged diversion of government contract funds through private contractors and their alleged subsequent use, including for creating assets of the Trust and university. Separate planning-law issues concern allegations that most university buildings were constructed without approved plans.

The amendment requires registered persons to furnish bank-account details within the prescribed period and restricts FORM GSTR-1 filing or invoice furnishing facility access for non-compliance. Registration may be suspended for significant return-data anomalies or breach of bank-account requirements. Rule 88D introduces electronic intimation in FORM GST DRC-01C where input tax credit availed in FORM GSTR-3B exceeds credit reflected in FORM GSTR-2B beyond prescribed thresholds, requiring payment with interest or a reasoned response within seven days. Unresolved differences may be subjected to demand proceedings.