Mumbai, Sep 24 (PTI) Markets regulator Sebi on Thursday approved a slew of reforms to deepen market participation, widen investment avenues and simplify regulatory norms, including an overhaul of portfolio management rules, greater access for FPIs to commodity derivatives and allowing depository receipts against REIT and InvIT units. The Sebi board approved the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Portfolio Managers) Regulations, 2026, replacing the existing 2020 framework, and permitted ... ... ...

GST treatment of MDR charged on UPI merchant payments above Rs 2,000 is to be considered by the GST Council. The MDR framework imposes a merchant-borne charge for payment processing and settlement. As these activities are services, MDR may attract GST at 18 per cent, subject to the Council's view. Merchants paying GST on MDR may claim input tax credit, potentially reducing their net tax burden.

Finance-department advice treats fiscal indicators as grounds for restraint in approving additional expenditure rather than as evidence that funds are unavailable. Funding new projects may be difficult until additional resources are mobilised or allocations already approved are reallocated. Project proposals lacking budgetary provision or earmarked funding may create cash-flow pressures and fiscal-management challenges, requiring deferment until resources are finalised.

Amounts deposited during customs investigation under protest retain their character as investigation deposits when the related duty demand is annulled, despite later appropriation. They are distinct from statutory appellate deposits under Section 129E; consequently, Section 129EE's notified 6% interest rate does not govern them. Where no statutory rate applies, entitlement to restitutionary interest depends on applicable binding judicial precedent. Jurisdictional precedent supported 12% interest on the refundable investigation deposit, while confining the 6% rate to amounts actually deposited under Section 129E. Section 27's protest exception and Section 27A's delayed-refund framework require separate assessment according to the payment's legal character.

Section 31 finality under the IBC requires approved resolution plans to determine the treatment of operational-creditor claims and bind all stakeholders. Although Section 3(6) permits disputed and unadjudicated payment rights to enter CIRP, such inclusion does not by itself preserve related civil or arbitral proceedings after plan approval. Claims recorded at a notional value must be read with the final creditor list, distribution provisions, release clauses, cut-off dates and any express preservation mechanism. Unquantified pre-plan liabilities and proceedings are extinguished where the plan provides for discharge and abatement; a payment pool does not reserve funds for them without express terms. Section 238 gives this framework primacy over inconsistent remedies.

GST registration may be cancelled for continuous non-filing of returns under Section 29, but cancellation does not extinguish pre-cancellation tax liabilities. Rule 22 requires notice and an opportunity to respond; where pending returns are filed and tax, interest and late fee are fully paid before cancellation, the officer must drop proceedings. Post-cancellation revocation under Rule 23 requires compliance with prescribed filing, payment and limitation conditions, while appellate authorities cannot exceed statutory condonation limits. Defective notices, absence of reasons, denial of meaningful hearing, or unexplained retrospective cancellation may invalidate the process. Conditional restoration may be available in appropriate non-fraud cases upon full regularisation of returns, tax, interest, late fee and penalty.

Article 8 of the India-UK DTAA confines treaty protection to profits from international aircraft operations, qualifying pool participation, and activities directly connected with the enterprise's own transportation. Engineering and ground-handling services supplied to other airlines constitute taxable third-party commercial service income where they lack that direct nexus and do not arise from a qualifying pool. An IATP arrangement requires evidence of its substantive pooling character, including applicable arrangements and reciprocal operations; its label or aviation-related nature is insufficient. Treaty-specific wording controls: provisions in other DTAAs concerning pools, joint businesses or reciprocal facilities cannot expand the India-UK definition, and OECD commentary cannot override an express treaty definition.

Section 143(2) requires a notice to be served within the statutory limitation, communicate scrutiny, and require attendance or evidence supporting the return. CBDT-prescribed scrutiny formats bind departmental authorities administratively, but non-use does not itself create a jurisdictional defect where the notice otherwise meets statutory requirements and no actual prejudice is established; Section 292B may cure formal defects. Section 292BB separately addresses objections to service, timeliness, or manner of service. Limited scrutiny remains confined to selected issues unless prescribed conversion safeguards are followed, and a later information notice cannot validate unauthorised expansion. Format non-compliance may nevertheless entail administrative accountability.

Extended limitation under Section 74 applies only where unpaid or short-paid tax, erroneous refund, or wrongly availed or utilised input tax credit is attributable to fraud, wilful misstatement, or suppression of facts intended to evade tax. Audit under Section 65 and return scrutiny under Section 61 are distinct processes, and either may lead to proceedings under Section 73 or Section 74. A prior audit-based proceeding does not automatically bar a later Section 74 demand founded on a materially distinct discrepancy in return or reconciliation data. The notice must specify its factual grounds, and duplication must be assessed by comparing the factual basis, periods, source material, and legal allegations.

Pre-notice payment of the entire reverse-charge service-tax liability bars a recovery notice for that amount under the Finance Act, 1994. Following introduction of the negative-list regime, service descriptions no longer determine tax liability. Therefore, an incorrect service category in an ST-3 return does not by itself establish non-payment where the tax has been credited to the Central Government. Tax paid under an incorrect category may be adjusted against reverse-charge tax on services actually received, avoiding a fresh service-tax demand.

Cash payments for agricultural produce purchased directly from farmers fall within the Rule 6DD(e)(i) exception to cash-payment disallowance where direct purchases are supported by farmers' confirmations and land records. Accordingly, such payments are not subject to disallowance under Section 40A(3). Gross-profit estimation based on the average gross-profit rate of earlier years remains undisturbed where no basis exists to alter that estimation.

Ad hoc disallowance of site-wage expenditure requires an evidentiary basis showing that the claimed wages are excessive, non-genuine, or unsupported. Cash payments and alleged gaps in supporting details do not, by themselves, justify disallowance where signed wage registers, worker identification, cash-withdrawal reconciliations, and project-site transfer records support the expenditure. Comparable profit-margin material and remand verification must disclose a specific defect before an estimated disallowance can be sustained. On these facts, deletion of the ad hoc disallowance of site wages was justified.

Approval under Section 151 of the Income-tax Act must be granted by the statutorily competent authority before reassessment proceedings may validly commence. Sanction from an authority lacking statutory competence creates a fatal jurisdictional defect. Reassessment founded on such invalid approval is invalid and subject to quashing because the required precondition for jurisdiction remains unmet.

Section 69A addition for an alleged bogus entry was deleted where banking records established receipt of an interest-free unsecured loan, the lender confirmed the advance, and the entire amount was repaid through banking channels in instalments. The documented receipt, lender confirmation, and repayment substantiated the loan transaction, preventing its treatment as unexplained money.

Transfer-pricing benchmarking requires non-operating other income to be excluded when applying an ITES service-income filter. A company whose operating service revenue is entirely from ITES may remain comparable, while expenses directly attributable to rental income, including relevant depreciation and property costs, must be verified and excluded from operating expenses when calculating the Profit Level Indicator. Functional comparability of an outsourced publishing-services provider is determined primarily from its own annual-report profile; group-level prospectus descriptions do not establish high-end content, product-development, or knowledge-process functions.

Sections 250(6) and 251 of the Income-tax Act require the Commissioner (Appeals) to determine the points arising from an assessment order through a written, reasoned decision. An assessee's non-participation does not remove the appellate authority's statutory duty to adjudicate the grounds on their merits. The Commissioner (Appeals) cannot summarily dismiss an income-tax appeal for non-prosecution and must pass a speaking order after providing appropriate opportunity.

IT support and management-service charges paid by an Indian branch to its head office are deductible where they are genuine business expenses, satisfy section 37 conditions, and are not among the Protocol-specified excluded payments; Article 7 supports their deduction in determining permanent establishment profits. Regional managerial, consultancy, back-office and IT support payments to Singapore and Australian group entities are not treaty fees for technical services unless they make available independently usable technical capability. Recurring services requiring continued human intervention fail that test, preventing withholding obligations and section 40(a)(i) disallowance. An actuarially determined reserve for unexpired risk, reduced from premium income, is an ascertained liability outside section 115JB book-profit add-backs.

Advance-tax obligations require taxpayers to estimate savings-bank interest that is accrued, received and ascertainable during the year through regular quarterly credits. Interest for default in payment of advance tax applies to such income because uncertainty over future bank balances or interest rates does not remove the duty to make a reasonable estimate. This interest is compensatory, mandatory and automatic rather than penal. Reduction or waiver may be available only on specified grounds under the statutory power to grant such relief.

Route mismatch in goods transport supported an inference of intended unauthorised delivery where the vehicle travelled substantially beyond the stated destination from the unloading point. Precedents involving an inadvertent wrong route by a driver unfamiliar with the local language were factually distinguishable. Writ jurisdiction was not considered appropriate for reassessing the route evidence and factual controversy, which could instead be pursued through the statutory appellate process. The impugned demand therefore remained undisturbed pending any appellate challenge.

Tenure of eight NCLAT members is extended on their existing terms and conditions. Each extension operates for five years from the date of appointment or until the member reaches sixty-seven years of age, whichever occurs first. The extension applies to both Judicial Members and Technical Members, maintaining their appointments subject to the stated maximum age condition.