Withdrawal of a writ petition challenging a GST show-cause notice-cum-demand allowed the taxpayer to submit a reply within seven days and participate in the scheduled personal hearing before the adjudicating authority. The taxpayer had already received notice of the personal hearing. The adjudicating authority may pass orders in accordance with law after hearing the parties. No adjudication occurred on the merits of the proposed tax demand, interest, or penalty, and the writ petition was dismissed as withdrawn.

Bogus-purchase disallowance was restricted to 6% where purchases originated from undisclosed sources but invoices were obtained from non-genuine suppliers. In accommodation-entry transactions, tax liability is confined to the income component or benefit embedded in the purchases rather than the entire invoiced value. The percentage was supported by the material and financial figures and aligned with earlier treatment of transactions involving the same group. The restriction was sustained because no substantial question of law justified interference.

Exporters may seek correction of SB-005 GST invoice and shipping-bill invoice mismatches for all past shipping bills, irrespective of filing date, through permanent officer-interface rectification. The prescribed procedure requires payment of Rs. 1,000 for correlation and verification and submission of a Concordance Table mapping GST invoices to corresponding shipping-bill invoices. Exporters must certify the accuracy of particulars, export of invoiced goods, and filing of relevant GST invoices in GSTR-1 or GSTR-6A for verification and refund.

Depreciation on a vehicle purchased and paid for by a company, but registered in its director's name, was not pursued as a substantial question of law because depreciation had previously been accepted on the same facts. High Court dismissed the depreciation-related question while admitting the appeal on the remaining substantial questions of law. The stated position treats company payment and accepted depreciation as material circumstances despite registration standing in the director's name.

Rejection of books of account under section 145(3) requires income to be computed on a best-judgment basis under section 144, without relying on the rejected book results. Retaining returned income as the starting point and separately disallowing allegedly unverifiable or bogus expenses is not a valid post-rejection assessment method. Income must instead be estimated by applying an appropriate gross-profit or net-profit rate prevalent in the relevant industry. The assessment was restored for fresh computation on that basis.

Digital savings account opening through video KYC enables remote onboarding without a branch visit, physical paperwork, or printed forms. Individuals holding valid Aadhaar and PAN may submit basic particulars, complete a live video interaction, upload identity documents digitally, select account preferences, and activate the account for transactions. Video Banking also provides live assistance for KYC completion, account queries, and service requests. Savings deposits earn daily balance-based interest paid monthly, with tiered rates, while a digital calculator estimates prospective interest earnings using current rate slabs.

Metric Million British Thermal Unit is added as a standard commercial unit of quantity for import and export declarations. Recognised for measuring natural gas by energy content, it is used in commercial negotiations, invoices and ship ullage survey reports. The unit is accepted in the Customs EDI System, and import and export declarations using it must apply the unit quantity code MBT.

Proposed amendment of Section 46 of the Customs Act, 1962 would mandate advance filing of Bills of Entry, subject to enactment of the Finance Bill, 2021. Importers would be required to file a Bill of Entry by the end of the day preceding arrival of the carrying vessel, aircraft or vehicle. The Board may prescribe different time limits in specified cases, but not beyond the day of arrival. Relaxation is under consideration for certain land, airport, neighbouring-country and short-haul imports.

Agentic AI-enabled credit assessment uses alternative financial and commercial data to support formal credit access, including rural payment records, UPI transactions, GST data, trade data and banking data. Lending functions include automated assessment, AI-assisted underwriting, data intelligence and document processing. AI applications also support fraud and anti-money-laundering investigations, data-protection compliance, insurance operations, customer servicing and collections actions subject to compliance and policy guardrails.

Sales tax subsidy received under an identical scheme retains its capital-receipt character and is not taxable as revenue where that character has already been determined between the same parties. The prescribed method for disallowing expenditure related to exempt income may be applied only after the Assessing Officer examines the accounts and records specific dissatisfaction with the taxpayer's claim. A broad discussion is insufficient; the absence of an identified nexus between interest expenditure and exempt-income investments prevents recomputation under that method.

Advance filing of Bills of Entry is required to support pre-arrival processing and assessment of imported goods. The general deadline is the end of the day preceding arrival of the carrying vessel, aircraft or vehicle. Sea imports from specified neighbouring countries, and all imports arriving by airport or through a Land Customs Station, may be filed by the end of the day of arrival. Bills of Entry may continue to be presented up to 30 days before expected arrival.

Revision under Section 263 requires an assessment order to be both erroneous and prejudicial to Revenue interests. A different preference of the revisional authority, inadequate detail in the assessment order, or alleged inadequacy of inquiry does not justify revision where the Assessing Officer made inquiries, considered the material and adopted a legally sustainable view. For a builder using the project-completion method, interest on borrowed capital used for stock-in-trade is revenue expenditure. Disclosure and explanation of that method, interest expenditure and fixed-deposit interest during assessment supported validity of the assessment; revision was invalid because no omitted necessary inquiry or legal unsustainability was established.

Supply-chain flexibility, interoperable data systems and strategic use of logistics infrastructure are central to the next phase of logistics development. Flexible warehousing can help businesses adjust capacity to changing demand and inventory needs, while specialised third-party logistics providers may add sector-specific value. Digital integration is necessary before artificial intelligence can effectively support forecasting, visibility and route planning. Geopolitical disruption also increases the importance of inventory optionality, rerouting capacity, Special Economic Zones and Free Trade Warehousing Zones.

Deficiency memos for drawback claims under Section 74 of the Customs Act, 1962 must use the standardised format prescribed in Annexure-I to CBIC Circular No. 31/2026-Customs. Immediate adoption is required for all such claims to ensure uniformity, transparency and timely disposal. Supervisory officers must sensitise staff, ensure strict compliance and communicate the requirements through official channels.

Resolution-plan approval under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code is confined to verifying compliance with the statutory conditions in Sections 30(2) and 31 after approval by the requisite Committee of Creditors voting share. The plan addressed insolvency-resolution costs, operational-creditor payments, post-approval management, implementation and supervision, and met the applicable requirements of Regulations 37, 38 and 39(4) of the Insolvency Resolution Process Regulations. Communication of the approval order to group-company stakeholders did not make implementation conditional on approval of their separate resolution plans. The plan was therefore treated as compliant and approved under Section 31(1).

Brand Rate of Drawback applications must be scrutinised by the Brand Rate Fixation Cell, supported by verification where required, and submitted with a clear recommendation for final rate determination. Original duty-paid documents are generally not required for post-facto endorsement, subject to risk-based random cross-verification. Sanction requires timely filing, completed exports, positive value addition, prescribed professional certification, shipping-bill declaration of the drawback code, compliance with applicable input-output and market-value conditions, and a verified drawback calculation worksheet.

Imported air cargo delayed by Customs or statutory processes may be considered for storage under Section 49 of the Customs Act, 1962. Officers should promptly notify importers or authorised Customs Brokers of this facility, while Custodians must issue reminders where cargo remains uncleared and maintain communication records. Complete storage applications should ordinarily be processed within three working days, subject to necessary consultation and legal, operational, revenue, security and regulatory considerations. Detention or demurrage waiver certificates may be issued only where legally admissible, after verification, and must specify the relevant waiver period and process details.

Unsecured loan additions as unexplained cash credits require consideration of evidence establishing the transaction and discharge of the assessee's initial statutory burden. Lender confirmation, income-tax records, bank statements, audited accounts, balance-sheet disclosure, and supporting documents furnished by the lender substantiated the loan despite non-delivery of a notice to the lender. As the addition did not address this material, the unsecured loan was not treated as unexplained cash credit and the addition was deleted.

Import container scanning requirements exclude empty containers manifested by shipping lines at import and international transshipment containers carrying cargo not intended for clearance in India. Examination, including scanning, may still occur on specific intelligence from revenue intelligence or field formations. These excluded categories are not to be scanned even if selected through the National Committee for Targeting Cargo, subject to applicable central indirect-tax and customs instructions. Stakeholders must ensure compliance.

SEZ units receiving taxable input services for authorised operations retain the substantive service-tax exemption where receipt and authorised use are established. Recipient-premises registration at the invoice date, invoice address differences, and non-production of original invoices are procedural defects under the refund mechanism and do not add substantive conditions for exemption. Refund limitation is governed by the period and extension mechanism in Notification No. 12/2013-ST, rather than the general limitation under the Central Excise refund provision. The competent authority must consider its power to extend the filing period before rejecting a claim as time-barred.