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 cost of acquisition of gifted unlisted equity shares arises as an income-tax issue where a private discretionary trust sells shares received by gift from its settlor. The settlor had himself received the shares as a gift from his mother. The question is whether, in calculating gains on the trust's sale, the cost attributable to the original owner may be claimed, even though that owner precedes the settlor in the chain of ownership. The applicable tax treatment is not determined.

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.

Disallowance relating to exempt income raises questions about whether it can exceed the exempt income and whether a reduction in the disallowance is justified. The Revenue's appeal was dismissed because the questions were regarded as already settled; no independent adjudication established the applicable limit or the justification for reducing the disallowance.

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.

Under new rule 110A, the President, or an authorised Vice-President, may transfer an appeal to a single-member bench within the State, on their own motion or a party's application, if it involves no question of law. If the bench considers that a question of law may arise, it must record reasons and return the appeal for reconsideration. Where the same issue for the same taxable person in the State has already been heard or decided by a bench comprising a Technical Member and a Judicial Member, whether for the same or a different tax period, that composition must hear the appeal.

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.

Intra-State supplies of specified goods are exempt from the whole of Bihar state tax under section 9 of the Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, with effect from 22 September 2025. The exemption is exercised under section 11(1), subject to the relevant goods description, tariff classification and any entry-specific conditions. The 2017 State Tax (Rate) exemption instrument is superseded, without affecting things done or omitted before supersession. Classification follows the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, including its applicable interpretative rules, notes and explanatory notes.

Supplementary IGM/EGM filings under the Sea Cargo Manifest and Transhipment Regulations (SCMTR) are permanently disabled at all remaining ports, including Custom House Kandla, with effect from 12 August 2026. Amendments after that date are accepted only through standard SCMTR amendment messages, SAA or SDM. Trade stakeholders, shipping lines and agents operating under Kandla customs jurisdiction must process all adjustments, amendments and supplementary details through the standard SCMTR messages. Legacy or manual supplementary formats are not accepted after 12 August 2026.

Article 12 of the India-UK tax treaty distinguishes treaty taxation of interest from business-income treatment where interest is effectively connected with a permanent establishment. Income-tax refund interest without such an effective connection is taxable as income from other sources at 15% of the gross amount. The distinction is relevant where Indian projects have closed and no project revenue arises during the relevant year.

The time limit for GST assessment orders under section 73(9) of the Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, is extended to 30 April 2024 for financial year 2018-19 and to 31 August 2024 for financial year 2019-20. The extension applies to the period specified under section 73(10) for orders concerning recovery of tax not paid or short paid, or input tax credit wrongly availed or utilised.

International transshipment of full-container-load (FCL) containers between the port terminal and designated container freight stations (CFSs) at Kandla is limited to cargo affected by maritime disruptions. For movement to a CFS, shipping lines must file the Import General Manifest using the Transshipment Cargo code, notify the terminal, submit a consolidated container list to Docks Preventive and obtain movement permission for communication to the terminal and CFS. The CFS arranges transport under a Custodian-Cum-Carrier Bond. Containers must be received with original seals intact and stored exclusively in the Customs-approved, physically demarcated area. Opening, examination, stuffing changes, re-containerisation and other reworking are prohibited under this procedure.

Reassessment cannot be initiated on a mere change of opinion where the Assessing Officer considered the issue during the original assessment and the proposed reopening relies on the same facts already on record, without fresh material. In those circumstances, reopening is impermissible because a different opinion on previously considered facts is not a basis for reassessment.

Order 29 Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure permits specified corporate officers to sign and verify pleadings but does not itself authorise them to institute a suit for the company. Authority to sue must be established, including through the company's constitutional documents or a board resolution. Sections 63 and 65 of the Indian Evidence Act govern secondary evidence and require a foundation for admitting photocopies, including an explanation for missing originals where relevant. A disputed commission debt requires admissible supporting evidence; an unsigned account without underlying records or its preparer's testimony, and an unsupported exchange rate, leave the claim unsubstantiated.

Single Unified Multi-Purpose Electronic Bonds under Ekal Anubandh provide an all-India alternative to transaction-wise customs bonds submitted by importers and exporters at different ports. Importers and exporters may select their obligations in a common bond format and submit it electronically through ICEGATE at a port of their choice. Additional obligations or bond amounts may be included later. Electronic bank guarantees may be linked online and verified by the issuing bank. Existing manual or paper-based bonds continue until their validity expires.