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Notification No. S.O. 3985(E) Dated:- 21-7-2026 Labour laws
The Central Government constitutes the Central Advisory Board under the Code on Wages, 2019, superseding the earlier notification while preserving prior acts and omissions. The Board is chaired by the Minister for Labour and Employment and includes independent members, State Government representatives, employer representatives and employee representatives. The Joint Secretary of the Wage Division serves as Member Secretary, establishing a representative advisory structure involving government, employers and employees.
Circular No. Public Notice No. 41/2025 Dated:- 23-9-2025 Trade Notice Dated:- 23-9-2025 Trade Notice
First-time importers must undergo identity and compliance verification by submitting prescribed personal, business, banking, tax, and incorporation documents to the concerned Assessing Group. They must file Bills of Entry through ICEGATE with applicable supporting documents, ensure correct classification, valuation, import-policy compliance, duty declaration and online payment, and preserve records for audit. Customs Brokers must verify client identity, IEC correctness, antecedents, and functioning at the declared address. Importers already verified at another port, and who are not newly entering import activity, need not undergo further verification.
Circular No. Public Notice No. 48/2025 Dated:- 3-10-2025 Trade Notice Dated:- 3-10-2025 Trade Notice
The Single Unified Multi-Purpose Electronic Bond framework enables importers, exporters and customs brokers to execute an all-India electronic bond and link an electronic bank guarantee through ICEGATE and NeSL. Users submit entity, bond scenario, supporting-document and authorised-signatory details, complete Aadhaar validation, and undergo Customs officer scrutiny before stamp-duty payment and Aadhaar-based electronic signing. The system supports multiple prescribed Customs bond scenarios, tracks application status, and permits integrated-bank electronic guarantees to be linked to electronic or physical bonds after validation of applicant and bond-reference details.
Circular No. PUBLIC NOTICE No.11/2025 Dated:- 11-3-2025 Trade Notice Dated:- 11-3-2025 Trade Notice
The Single Unified Multi-Purpose Electronic Bond framework permits importers and exporters to use one all-India electronic bond instead of separate transaction-wise customs bonds at different ports. Users may select obligations, add obligations or bond amounts later, pay stamp duty electronically, and execute bonds with electronic signatures without notarisation. The system also provides online linking and verification of electronic bank guarantees through ICEGATE, with phased implementation supported by detailed advisories.
Pure reimbursement of common legal and professional expenditure, without an income element in the recipient association's recovery, does not attract tax deduction at source; accounting labels do not determine the payment's true character. The related disallowance was deleted because the association had apportioned actual member costs and had deducted tax when paying legal professionals. Where tax was deducted and deposited subsequently on professional-fee payments, the expenditure was not allowable in the relevant year but could be claimed in the subsequent year subject to statutory verification. Year-end provisions require party-wise evidence showing that each liability was ascertained, accrued and incurred for business purposes; the provision issue was remanded for fresh examination.
Charitable registration requires a public benefit founded on altruism, not reciprocal advantages within a closed membership. A residents' welfare association that collects member contributions and provides maintenance, security, housekeeping and common facilities solely to residents of one housing complex operates on mutuality and provides reciprocal services, rather than pursuing a charitable purpose. The absence of profit motive does not convert members' mutual convenience into charity. Its objects and activities therefore did not meet the charitable-purpose requirement for registration under section 12AB. Although only one hearing was provided, remand was unnecessary because the admitted nature of its activities made further evidence immaterial. Registration was rejected and no remand was directed.
Periodic charitable-registration renewal under Form 10AB is described as a limited enquiry into the genuineness of activities and compliance with material laws for achieving charitable objects. The notes state that, under the periodic-registration regime and Rule 17A(2)(g), scrutiny for renewal is confined to the immediately preceding three financial years for which registration was held under the new regime. Material, financials or allegations relating to pre-1 April 2021 periods cannot be called for or relied upon to reject renewal. The discussion also states that unexamined responses and evidence, reliance on retracted statements or unrelated third-party material, and failure to identify current non-genuine activities do not support rejection. Registration and consequential approval were directed to be granted.
Foreign exchange fluctuation loss on year-end restatement of an external commercial borrowing used to acquire capital assets remains in the capital field. The notes state that, although the borrowing from the parent company was subsequently converted into equity shares, the loss retained its capital character because the borrowing was obtained for capital assets. Following earlier Tribunal orders in the same taxpayer's case, the loss could not be claimed as business expenditure under the Act. The disallowance was sustained and the appeal was dismissed.
Under the India-Singapore DTAA, research management support services qualify as fees for technical services only where they make available technical knowledge, skill, know-how or processes, or develop and transfer a technical plan or design that enables independent use by the recipient. Continued dependence on the service provider and merely incidental benefits do not establish such technology transfer. The notes state that the receipts were therefore business profits and not taxable in India without a permanent establishment. They also record that the limitation challenge to final assessments following the draft-assessment procedure failed because retrospectively operative provisions governed the assessment-completion period. Reopening and DIN-related issues remained open.
Registration under section 12AB requires examination of an educational institution's objects, the genuineness of its charitable activities, and compliance with laws materially connected to those objects. The enquiry should not become a roving review of administration, accounts or governance unless those matters directly affect charitable character or activity genuineness. Alleged legal breaches and accounting discrepancies require cogent evidence, while financial arrangements with a sponsoring agency, control of contributions, and operational autonomy may require factual verification. Existing registration cannot be rendered ineffective through renewal proceedings; cancellation requires a specified violation and the separate statutory procedure. Approval under section 80G is consequentially reconsidered with the registration matter.
Section 115BAC permits a person with business or professional income to continue under the new tax regime in subsequent assessment years once the option has been validly exercised in the prescribed manner, unless it is withdrawn under the statutory proviso. The text explains that a valid Form 10-IE filed for an earlier assessment year sustains the option, and an inadvertent error in a later return stating an incorrect first year of exercise should not negate that continuing entitlement. It notes that tax computation for the relevant year should therefore follow the new regime where no withdrawal has occurred.
Expenditure relating to exempt income is discussed as being disallowable under section 14A read with Rule 8D only by reference to investments that actually generated exempt income during the relevant year; the computation was restricted accordingly. Corporate social responsibility expenditure incurred by a statutory port authority under Ministry guidelines is treated as deductible where the Companies Act exclusion does not apply and earlier-year treatment was consistent. Payments to meet an actuarially certified superannuation-fund deficit are distinguished from ordinary annual contributions subject to Rule 87 limits. Software expenditure supported by invoices, banking payments and tax deduction evidence is treated as genuine despite the payee's non-compliance. Accrued expenses recorded under the prescribed accrual-accounting framework are treated as ascertained liabilities.
For AY 2024-25, the notes state that section 87A contained no express exclusion for tax on short-term capital gains taxable under section 111A where a resident individual is governed by section 115BAC(1A). The express statutory restriction applicable to long-term capital gains under section 112A could not be extended to short-term capital gains. The Finance Act 2025 amendment limiting the rebate to tax computed under section 115BAC(1A), effective from AY 2026-27, is described as prospective; therefore, it does not restrict the rebate under the earlier law. The stated effect is that eligible taxpayers may claim section 87A rebate against such short-term capital gains tax for AY 2024-25.
Supplier tax-payment condition for input tax credit applies to bona fide purchasers, with credit re-availment after liability discharge.
Section 16(2)(c) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 requires the supplier to pay tax before a purchasing dealer may avail input tax credit, including where the purchaser is bona fide. The GST input tax credit framework materially differs from the Delhi VAT regime and does not permit parity with protections available to bona fide purchasers under that framework. The scheme permits reversal and later re-availment of credit once the supplier's tax liability is discharged, including through mechanisms for tax determination and recovery. The provision is described as constitutional and not requiring a reading down.
Input Tax Credit under Section 16(2)(c) of the CGST Act remains conditional on the supplier's payment of tax, even where the purchasing dealer asserts bona fides. The text distinguishes the CGST framework from the Delhi VAT regime because CGST provides for reversal and subsequent re-availment of credit after the supplier discharges the tax liability. A purchaser therefore cannot claim parity with a bona fide purchaser under Delhi VAT when its supplier defaults. The condition was upheld as constitutional and not liable to be read down, and the challenge to its validity was rejected.
Notification No. G.S.R. 674(E) Dated:- 28-7-2026 Customs -Tariff
The corrigendum corrects the Gazette reference in the English version of Notification No. 28/2026-Customs dated 10 July 2026. The reference "G.S.R. 615(E)" is to be read as "G.S.R. 613(E)".
FEMA / RBI
Dated:- 29-7-2026
PTI
Foreign exchange market conditions supported an early appreciation of the rupee against the US dollar. A weaker US dollar, lower crude oil prices relative to earlier levels, positive domestic equity sentiment, and foreign institutional investors' net purchase of Indian equities were identified as key influences. The dollar index weakened ahead of a monetary policy announcement, while crude prices rose amid renewed geopolitical tensions. Domestic benchmark equity indices also advanced in early trade.
GST
Dated:- 29-7-2026
PTI
Alleged bribery connected with unblocking Input Tax Credit arose after an electronics trader received a show-cause notice and had its ITC blocked. A private tax consultant allegedly conveyed that a State GST officer demanded illegal gratification for unblocking the credit and encouraged the trader to settle the demand. Following a complaint, a trap operation allegedly led to the apprehension of the officer and consultant, with further legal action in progress.
Sales commission paid to an associated enterprise was supported by a written inter-company agreement and export-chain records, including purchase orders, supply instructions, invoices and shipping documents. The commission was linked to sales procured through the associated enterprise and became payable after third-party supply orders were received; the arm's length price was therefore not treated as nil. For delayed associated-enterprise receivables, the accepted TNMM operating margin and working-capital adjustment were considered to neutralise delayed realisation. As no differential credit benefit or real, determinable notional income was shown, a separate notional-interest adjustment was considered unwarranted. Both transfer-pricing adjustments were deleted.
Primary documentation establishing investor identity, creditworthiness and transaction genuineness is described as sufficient to discharge the initial burden for preference share capital credited under section 68. The notes state that additions cannot rest on suspicion where the Revenue produces no material showing that the assessee's own funds were routed back through investor entities. They further state that directors' adverse statements cannot sustain an addition when effective cross-examination is unavailable and documentary evidence remains undisplaced. On these stated facts, the preference share capital addition was deleted.