Government companies implementing publicly funded railway infrastructure may qualify for charitable income exemption where their dominant purpose is advancing general public utility rather than making profit. Receipts or incidental surplus alone do not establish a profit motive. The nature and dominant purpose of the activities determine whether the restriction concerning trade, commerce or business applies. Administrative cost allocations and the application of interest and surplus towards charitable objects are relevant to that assessment. Incorporation in a form other than a non-profit company is not, by itself, a bar to exemption.

Manager determinations are valid for three years and recognised by managers in the same group; investment advisers and research analysts may rely on them but cannot determine status independently. A manager outside the group must determine status afresh on onboarding. The manager records and confirms the status, accreditation date and validity in writing. The agency route remains available, and a valid agency certificate must be accepted without fresh determination. Agency certificates also last three years from accreditation; existing certificates retain their unexpired validity. An investor accredited at onboarding retains that status for the scheme's remaining life.

Central GST clarifications on imitation zari thread or yarn and certain services apply, with necessary modifications, to implementation of the Odisha Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The Commissioner of State Tax, Odisha, extended the clarifications on 28 November 2023 to promote uniformity in implementing the State GST framework. They are clarificatory in nature, and implementation difficulties may be brought to the Commissioner.

Scheme-level net settlement of funds is permitted for outright cash-market transactions of mutual fund schemes from April 1, 2027, while securities continue to settle gross. Netting is confined to the same scheme and settlement cycle, with no adjustment between schemes or portfolios. Where eligible purchases exceed eligible sales, the scheme must fund the residual obligation. Excess eligible sale proceeds cannot be applied to non-outright purchase obligations, which remain separately funded on a gross basis.

The commencement date should be properly recorded and communicated to the taxpayer because it starts the three-month audit period. Where completion within that period is not expected, an additional six months should be obtained from the Commissioner of CT and GST before the initial period expires. The audit report should not be issued with the word "draft" left unchanged alongside Form ADT-02; approval should be obtained through a forwarding letter or in the record. When adjournments are granted for producing required documents, the taxpayer's acknowledgment or signature should be obtained on the order sheet.

The Odisha Commissioner of State Tax withdrew ab initio the matching GST circulars issued under letter Nos. 9363/CT dated 19 July 2019 and 13232/CT dated 4 October 2019. The withdrawal was made under section 168(1) of the Odisha Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The earlier guidance under letter No. 9363/CT addressed doubts concerning the GST treatment of supplies of information technology-enabled services (ITeS). The withdrawal followed representations to CBIC expressing apprehensions about the implications of its guidance and was intended to support uniform implementation of the law across field formations.

Domestic clients and foreign portfolio investors may take long or short positions in Indian rupee currency derivatives without establishing underlying exposure, up to a single USD 5 million equivalent in outstanding notional value, aggregated across all rupee currency pairs and recognised stock exchanges. Foreign portfolio investors must also keep their short positions across all foreign currency-rupee contracts and stock exchanges within USD 5 million. Their long positions above USD 5 million across those contracts require underlying exposure to Indian debt or equity securities, including units of equity or debt mutual funds.

The special procedure for furnishing returns by a class of registered persons is amended under section 148 of the Tamil Nadu Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, on the recommendations of the Council. In the first proviso to the third paragraph of the 2019 provision, 31 August 2020 is substituted for 15 July 2020.

Optional filing of the annual GST return for financial year 2019-20 applies to small taxpayers with aggregate turnover below Rs. 2 crore. The financial-year reference is expanded from 2017-18 and 2018-19 to include 2019-20, extending the existing optional-filing arrangement to that year. It takes effect retrospectively from 15 October 2020.

For normal income computation, the disallowance for expenditure relating to exempt income is calculated by excluding interest incurred for specified business purposes, netting taxable interest income against remaining interest expenditure, and considering only investments that yielded exempt income during the relevant year. For minimum alternate tax, expenditure relating to exempt income is computed separately under clause (f) of Explanation 1 to section 115JB. The disallowance calculated under section 14A and Rule 8D cannot automatically be added to book profit.

Under the Odisha GST Act, job work means treatment or processing undertaken by a person on goods belonging to another registered person. Entry (id) applies to services satisfying that definition, other than services covered by entries (i), (ia), (ib) and (ic). Entry (iv), which carries an 18% GST rate, covers manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by persons not registered under the Odisha GST Act. It excludes services covered by entry (id) and the other specified entries, namely (i), (ia), (ib), (ic), (ii), (iia) and (iii).

Registered persons with aggregate turnover of up to 1.5 crore rupees in the preceding financial year or the current financial year must furnish outward supply details in FORM GSTR-1. Quarterly details for October to December 2020 must be furnished by 13 January 2021, and those for January to March 2021 by 13 April 2021. The time limit for furnishing details or returns, as applicable, under section 38(2) for October 2020 to March 2021 is to be notified subsequently in the Official Gazette.

The trust received the shares from its settlor, an individual, by gift in financial year 2022-23; the settlor had received them by gift from his mother in financial year 2007-08. Where both transfers are gifts, the trust may claim the mother's original purchase cost, identified as incurred in financial year 2007-08, against the sale of the shares. The cost is traced through the intermediate gift to the last non-gift previous owner, rather than being confined to the settlor, who was also a recipient by gift.

GST guidance covers the procedure for extending the time to apply for revocation of cancellation of registration; GST on food supplied in Anganwadis and schools, road construction with consideration paid by deferred annuity, and services supplied by Central and State Boards; and tax rates for construction services to government entities. It also addresses GST on milling wheat or paddy for public distribution, State Government guarantees of loans taken by their undertakings, and rates on laterals and parts of sprinkler or drip irrigation systems.

Expenditure attributable to exempt income was the subject of a dispute over whether the resulting disallowance could exceed that income. The Revenue's appeal was dismissed without independent adjudication of that question.

Petroleum Wharf Budge Budge Jetty No-03 is designated as a customs area under Section 8 of the Customs Act, 1962, exclusively for loading dry fly ash onto barges for export to Bangladesh through the riverine protocol route via Hemnagar LCS. The designation is subject to strict compliance with the Customs Act, Public Notice No. 37/2018 dated 27 April 2018 and other circulars, orders or public notices issued under the Act.

At NSD, KPD and Haldia docks, applications for examination, loading and sealing are made to the concerned preventive superintendent. A preventive inspector examines the goods and supervises barge loading and sealing; the superintendent certifies the examination report. Shipping bill filing and assessment are handled by the Commissioner of Customs (Preventive), West Bengal, Kolkata, based on the application signed by customs officers at the loading point. Officers at Hemnagar issue the Let Export Order after inspecting the Kolkata Customs (Port) seal on the cargo.

Single-member Bench appeals may be transferred within the relevant State where they involve no question of law, following scrutiny by the President or an authorised Vice-President, either on their own motion or on a party's application. If the single-member Bench considers that a question of law may arise, it must record reasons and return the appeal for reconsideration. Where the same issue concerning the same taxable person in the State has already been heard or decided for the same or another tax period by a Bench comprising a Technical Member and a Judicial Member, the appeal must be heard by such a Bench.

Under Article 5 of the India-Australia tax treaty, platform installation without rights over the oil or gas wells is treated as an installation permanent establishment rather than a natural-resource permanent establishment. Article 7 permits taxation of business profits attributable to the permanent establishment. Where a composite installation contract separately identifies offshore and Indian work and consideration, offshore work is performed outside India, and supplies are billed directly to the customer, offshore supply receipts not attributable to the Indian permanent establishment are excluded from the taxable base under section 44BB.

The designated customs officer in paragraph F(i) of Public Notice No. 53/2026 (Port), dated 8 October 2026, is changed from the Assistant Commissioner of Customs, Import Noting, Customs (Port), Kolkata, to the Assistant/Deputy Commissioner of Customs, EDI, Customs (Port), Kolkata. The designation concerns implementation of ICES Advisory Nos. 37/2026 and 38/2026 on amendments to CSN (SCA), SAM (SAA) and related SCMTR messages. All other contents of the public notice remain unchanged.