Prior approval under Section 153D for a search assessment must be final and unconditional. Approval containing directions for further verification, consideration of confidential material, rechecking credits, or compliance with further instructions indicates that the draft assessment order was not final. Where the revised final order is not placed before and validly approved by the competent authority, the statutory approval requirement is not met. Any subsequent alteration or reworking of an approved draft requires valid approval of the final assessment order; otherwise, the assessment under Sections 143(3) and 153A is void.

Retail sale price-based valuation is extended to declared-price supplies of pan masala, specified tobacco products, cigarettes, tobacco substitutes, and specified tobacco or nicotine inhalation products. Retail sale price includes all taxes, duties, surcharges and cesses, with the highest of multiple declared prices applying. Any increased declared price is treated as the retail sale price, while area-specific prices apply to goods intended for sale in the relevant area. Customs Tariff classifications and interpretative rules govern product coverage.

Time of supply for road construction and maintenance services in National Highways Authority of India national projects executed under the Hybrid Annuity Mode is clarified for purposes of the Delhi Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The corresponding central tax clarification applies mutatis mutandis in Delhi, with the measure being clarificatory in character.

Appeals before the Appellate Tribunal are governed by separate filing limits according to the date of communication of the challenged order. Where an order was communicated before 1 April 2026, an appeal may be filed up to 30 June 2026. Where an order is communicated on or after 1 April 2026, the appeal may be filed within three months from the date of communication to the person preferring the appeal.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal set aside the Tribunal's decision after considering historical corporate records and contemporaneous material, rejecting allegations of financial impropriety concerning the private placement and share transfers. It upheld the relevant corporate decisions and transactions. The Supreme Court declined to interfere with the appellate determination, concluding the prolonged challenge brought by Bhagwati Developers Private Limited.

CBDT Circular No. 19/2019 requires a computer-generated Document Identification Number (DIN) in communications relating to assessments and approvals. A communication without DIN is permitted only where prescribed exceptional conditions are met, including recorded reasons, prior approval and specified disclosure. Approval under section 153D lacking both DIN and the required particulars for a manual communication is non-compliant, invalid and deemed never issued. Consequently, an assessment founded on that approval cannot survive and is liable to be quashed.

Monetary limits for filing departmental appeals or applications before the GST Appellate Tribunal, High Courts and the Supreme Court are applied mutatis mutandis under the Delhi Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The corresponding central-tax framework is adopted for uniformity and reduction of Government litigation. The measure is clarificatory, and implementation difficulties may be brought to the Commissioner of State Tax, Delhi.

Jammu and Kashmir SGST rate schedules replace specified tariff-classification entries in Schedule I, attracting 2.5%, and Schedule III, attracting 20%. Schedule I substitutes the entries for serial numbers 150 and 151, while Schedule III substitutes entries for serial numbers 2 and 3. The revised tariff classifications are deemed effective from 1 May 2026.

Enforcement Directorate used PMLA information-sharing powers to seek a police FIR over alleged bribery, sham consultancy payments, and laundering of funds linked to CMRL and Exalogic Solutions. The allegations concern purported payments for IT consultancy services, use of Exalogic Solutions as a corporate vehicle for routing payments, and alleged transfers of funds to Dubai. The investigation also draws on allegations of fictitious corporate expenditure that generated cash for unlawful payments.

Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act permits the Enforcement Directorate to share criminal-investigation findings with law-enforcement agencies for registration of a fresh FIR or complaint. A police case registered on that information can form the basis for a PMLA case. In the reported investigation, FIR registration was sought on evidence gathered during the PMLA probe and searches concerning alleged consultancy payments.

Under TNMM, foreign associated enterprises may serve as tested parties for software-service transactions when they are the less complex entities, reliable comparable data is available, and sufficient information is provided for verification. Tested-party selection is not restricted to an Indian entity. Performance guarantees linked to a taxpayer's own contractual obligations, where associated enterprises receive no independent benefit, fall outside the scope of an international transaction. These principles govern arm's-length benchmarking of software services and the transfer-pricing treatment of guarantees.

Strategic Advisory Board appointments add Mr. Rajaram and Mr. Bala Swaminathan to UpTik's advisory leadership for its invoice discounting and alternative credit operations. Their respective experience in structured finance, regulatory compliance, banking operations, treasury and institutional finance is intended to strengthen governance, risk oversight, compliance, credit-management frameworks and institutional partnerships. The appointments support expansion of transparent and responsible alternative credit access for MSMEs.

Pending operationalisation of the Appellate Tribunal, recovery of the balance confirmed demand stands stayed where a taxpayer pays an amount equal to the prescribed pre-deposit through the electronic liability register and undertakes to file the Tribunal appeal within the applicable timeline. Failure to pay the equivalent pre-deposit, furnish the undertaking, or timely file the appeal permits recovery. Amounts inadvertently paid through FORM GST DRC-03 may, on filing FORM GST DRC-03A, be adjusted against the relevant demand and counted towards appellate pre-deposit, subject to stated conditions.

Second Special All-India Drive against fake GST registrations operates through coordinated Central and State tax action to verify suspicious or high-risk GSTINs and remove fake billers from the GST ecosystem. GSTN-supported risk analysis and locally developed intelligence may identify cases for time-bound verification. Where a taxpayer is non-existent or fictitious, officers may suspend or cancel registration, block input tax credit, identify recipients of credit passed through invoices without underlying supplies, and initiate recovery action. Cross-jurisdictional recipient cases require prompt referral through nodal officers, supported by evidence and prescribed reporting.

Proceedings concerning delayed real-estate projects require a fresh comprehensive proposal addressing possession, refunds, delayed-possession compensation, and enforcement-related claims of all homebuyers across the developer's group entities. An inadequate proposal may lead to appointment of a High-Powered Committee to assume relevant responsibilities. Frozen bank accounts remain under restraint, and a request by the Insolvency Resolution Professional to operate an account for company affairs was not entertained. The proceedings also raise concerns over enforcement of real-estate regulatory directions and protection of homebuyers facing prolonged delays.

Proper Officers handling refunds, assessments, cancellation, demands and recovery must follow prescribed procedure and issue reasoned and speaking orders addressing all issues in the matter. Orders concerning show-cause notices and other cases require detailed consideration and must not merely reproduce standard passages without addressing the issues involved. Recording reasons supports quasi-judicial decisions in disputed claims and demonstrates that decisions rest on legal principles.

Income from eligible shipping operations computed under the Tonnage Taxation Scheme is determined independently of the actual receipts, revenue and expenditure of the shipping business. Transfer-pricing adjustments concerning interest on ship purchases, ship acquisition prices and hire charges therefore do not affect tonnage income, where those transactions relate to the eligible shipping business. A negative lien over shares, although it creates no repayment obligation or direct financial commitment, provides lender comfort and remains subject to arm's-length benchmarking. The benchmarked charge was restricted to 0.25%, requiring recomputation of the related adjustment.

Audit under section 44AB is recommended where a partnership firm proposes to declare actual book profit that is low in relation to the presumptive-tax framework, even though turnover is below Rs. 1 crore. The low-profit trigger under section 44AB(e), read with section 44AD, requires examination beyond turnover alone. The position depends on verification of the firm's section 44AD history and the nature and composition of its receipts.

Inspection-based adjudication under Section 67 of the TNGST Act, 2017 is allocated according to the revenue effect in the show-cause notice. Cases exceeding Rs. five crore are assigned to an Assistant Commissioner (State Tax), while cases up to Rs. five crore are assigned to a State Tax Officer. For multi-year inspections, where any one financial year exceeds Rs. five crore, all years must be transferred together to an Assistant Commissioner; otherwise, the case is transferred to a State Tax Officer.

Solar cookers operating on solar energy and grid electricity, all sprinklers including fire water sprinklers, and parts of poultry-keeping machinery attract GST at 12%. Agricultural farm produce supplied in packages exceeding 25 kilograms or 25 litres is excluded from "pre-packaged and labelled" and does not attract the 5% GST levy. Past-period classification issues are regularized on an "as is where is" basis. Regularization for specified government distribution supplies requires certification and reversal of relevant input tax credit.