New Delhi, Sep 19 (PTI) Domestic LPG consumers will have to complete biometric Aadhaar authentication to book refills at the regulated retail selling price with applicable subsidy from October 1, the government said on Saturday, as it seeks to ensure subsidised cooking gas reaches only eligible households. Consumers who have already completed the authentication will not need to take any further action. As of September 19, 27.43 crore active domestic LPG consumers, or 89.9 per cent of the tota... ... ...

Depreciation treatment is queried for fixed assets acquired by a non-profit Section 8 company partly through a government grant or subsidy. The grant is recorded as a liability and the full asset cost is recognised. The issue concerns treatment under applicable Accounting Standards or ICDS and the resulting effect, if any, on the Income and Expenditure Account.

Directors of District Central Cooperative Banks and Central Cooperative Banks are subject to a maximum 10-year tenure under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, as amended by the Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025. RBI directed removal of a director ineligible to continue under section 10A(2A)(i), read with section 56, following concerns that directors of Latur District Central Cooperative Bank had exceeded the permitted tenure.

GST classification distinguishes petroleum exploration, mining and drilling support under heading 9986 from professional, technical and business services under heading 9983. Operational oil and gas extraction support includes well-related and extraction-unit activities, but excludes geological, geophysical and related consulting. Geological and geophysical consulting and mineral exploration or evaluation fall within heading 9983. Services outside these specified entries must be classified under their respective headings and taxed accordingly.

Input tax credit on debit notes is determined, from 1 January 2021, by the financial year in which the debit note is issued rather than that of the underlying invoice. For ITC availed on or after that date, the amended rule governs debit notes issued either before or after that date. Where an e-invoice is generated in the prescribed manner, electronic production of the QR code containing the embedded Invoice Reference Number is sufficient instead of a physical tax invoice during movement of goods.

Upon expiry of the temporary global measure, an India-targeted 10 per cent Section 301 tariff, linked to forced-labour concerns, replaced it; the effective charge for most covered exports remained MFN duty plus 10 per cent. The current regime applies the Section 301 tariff to Indian exports except specified goods, with separate sectoral duties on steel, aluminium and auto components. Smartphones, medicines and energy products are exempt.

Income-tax Rules, 2026 now permit faceless assessment, reassessment or recomputation communications to be issued by electronic communication rather than by affixing a digital signature. Recovery-of-tax procedures are revised by deleting specified provisions, omitting an exception for arrest and detention, and correcting a cross-reference. The deadline in the valuer-registration and authorised income-tax-practitioner registration rules is extended to 31 March 2027. Revised Form 169 requires asset-specific valuer applications, eligibility and disqualification disclosures, supporting qualifications and a declaration of impartiality; revised Form 171 requires practitioner eligibility, qualifications, registration and disqualification particulars. The procedural amendments to rules 160, 176 and 225 apply from 1 April 2026, while the remaining changes apply from 17 September 2026.

Risk-based selective physical boarding of vessels at Paradeep, Dhamra and Gopalpur ports will be based on advance profiling of compliance history, voyage details, ports of call, itinerary, cargo, and declarations concerning crew effects, stores and satellite devices. Port operators must provide weekly berth lists, while the Boarding Section must assess risk and report physical boardings with recorded justifications. Where physical boarding is not selected, the master and shipping agent remain responsible for accurate, complete and truthful electronic declarations and compliance with customs requirements for onboard stores. Masters must safeguard declared stores and prevent unlawful unloading or consumption, while agents must promptly report logistical, itinerary and documentation changes. Cargo discharge and sailing operations proceed upon Entry Inward and advance port clearance.

Sea Cargo Manifest and Transhipment Regulations, 2018 will be operationalised across ports in phases from 1 September 2026. Cochin Port is scheduled for implementation from 21 September 2026. Shipping lines, shipping agents and other stakeholders operating through Cochin Customs must comply with the framework and timely file prescribed electronic messages through the Customs Automated System to facilitate smooth cargo operations and clearance.

Search-based assessments require estimated additions to rest on search material or valid rejection of books, while computation must use income actually returned. Key principles also include the presumption that sufficient own interest-free funds finance advances; limits on disallowances for tax-deduction defaults and cash payments; prevention of duplicate purchase disallowances; and treatment of operational compensation creating no enduring asset as revenue expenditure. Projected bank statements and loose papers require corroboration where books and recorded explanations support the transactions. These principles concern the sustainability of corresponding income-tax adjustments.

Rectification under Section 254(2) is confined to a mistake apparent from the record: an evident error on which no two views are possible. It cannot be used to review merits or reconsider matters requiring factual evaluation, legal interpretation, or debate. Adjudicating a deduction claim under Section 80P(2)(d) despite no corresponding ground in the appeal constitutes such an apparent mistake. The resulting remedy is recall of the earlier order and restoration of the appeal for fresh adjudication.

Unsecured-loan additions and consequential interest disallowances require verification where a joint overdraft account does not clearly identify individual loan transactions. Bank statements, ledgers and supporting records require examination to establish the nature and source of sums and each creditor's identity, creditworthiness and genuineness. The account's purpose and transaction trail require clarification before a reasoned appellate determination, with a remand report where necessary.

Foreign-leg LTC/LFC reimbursements fall outside the income-tax exemption for travel within India. Employers settling such claims possess the relevant travel particulars and must estimate taxable income and deduct tax at source; failure to do so may trigger assessee-in-default liability and interest. Separately, the statutory limitation for orders treating a deductor as an assessee in default depends, where relevant, on filing of TDS statements. Additional evidence establishing those filings may be admitted under the Tribunal Rules when material to an unadjudicated limitation ground, requiring fresh first-appellate determination for the relevant assessment years.

Cash deposits attributed to opening cash and family savings require material evidence to establish their source. Unsupported claims cannot explain deposits. Bank-certified cash withdrawals made by cheque on the taxpayer's behalf constituted an available source for part of the deposits; consequently, the unexplained-cash addition was partly sustained and partly deleted.

Cash deposits made during demonetisation were not unexplained money where salary slips and bank statements evidenced past salary savings and withdrawals. Assumptions that cash could not be retained for years or deposited in multiple instalments did not rebut the supporting documentary evidence. The addition under section 69A was therefore deleted for the depositor.

Section 12A registration is the statutory basis for assessing a charitable trust as a registered trust rather than as an association of persons, subject to applicable exemption conditions. Registration cannot be denied merely because original departmental records are untraceable where contemporaneous official records, attested certificates and subsequent assessment records recognise its existence and no cancellation order is shown. Exemption under sections 11 and 13 remains conditional on statutory compliance. Delay in filing Form 10B, including possible condonation under CBDT Circular No. 10/2019, and the evidentiary basis for cash deposits require examination on a complete factual record with an effective opportunity to provide supporting material.

Survey surrender arising from business advances, godown construction and stock discrepancies is taxable as business income where it is recorded in the books and audited financial statements and has a direct nexus with the taxpayer's established trading activity. Sections 69 and 69C do not apply without material showing a parallel business, an outside source of funds, or another unexplained source. The enhanced tax treatment under Section 115BBE applies prospectively from assessment year 2018-19 and does not govern assessment year 2017-18; the surrendered income is therefore taxable at normal rates.

Section 153A additions in a completed assessment require incriminating material seized during search; where seized material and search statements indicate undisclosed income, additions remain sustainable. Income additionally declared in the return responding to a search notice may corroborate undisclosed income, and discovery of incriminating material permits other connected additions in the search assessment. Pursuit of a rectification application constitutes sufficient cause for delayed appeal only if pursued bona fide, without negligence or deliberate delay; a vexatious application does not excuse delay or require merits review.

Enhanced taxation under section 115BBE does not apply retrospectively to assessment year 2017-18; the restricted unexplained-money addition remains taxable at normal rates. Cash-intensive brick-kiln operations, including cash sales and expenditure, together with accepted presumptive taxation in the preceding year, support limiting an addition for demonetisation-period cash deposits to an estimated portion rather than treating the entire deposit as unexplained money. Illness, pandemic disruption and death may constitute sufficient cause for condoning delay in filing a first appeal.

Payments for Global Brand, Global Communications, and Global Technology/Knowledge Management services under a shared-services arrangement do not constitute royalty under Article 13(3) of the India-UK tax treaty where they confer no right to use or commercially exploit trademarks, copyrights, confidential know-how, or other intellectual property. Internal access to third-party software, databases and technology tools remains use of a copyrighted article where reproduction, sublicensing, transfer and commercial-exploitation rights are absent. Routine strategy, training, coordination, advisory and communication support does not impart specialised proprietary commercial experience. The payments are therefore not chargeable to tax in India, and no withholding obligation arises under section 195.