Gujarat GST e-invoicing requirements are amended by replacing the reference to "a financial year" with "any preceding financial year from 2017-18 onwards." The relevant supply coverage is also extended to exports, in addition to supplies of goods or services or both to registered persons. The amendments operate under rule 48(4) of the Gujarat Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017, and are deemed effective from 30 September 2020.

Gujarat GST Rules permit SMS and OTP-based filing of nil GSTR-3B, GSTR-1 and GST CMP-08 filings, revise HSN disclosure requirements, and make pre-notice communication discretionary. GSTR-2A is replaced with a dynamic auto-drafted inward-supplies statement covering supplier invoices, amendments, notes, ISD credit, TDS/TCS credit, imports and SEZ supplies. Annual-return, reconciliation, non-resident taxpayer, refund, assessment, demand, recovery and payment forms are also revised, including reporting and ITC-related instructions for financial year 2019-20.

The amendments introduce the Invoice Furnishing Facility for eligible quarterly return filers, allowing first- and second-month reporting of supplies to registered persons without repetition in quarterly GSTR-1. They also introduce monthly FORM GSTR-2B as an auto-drafted input tax credit statement identifying available, reversible and unavailable credit from supplier filings, input service distributor filings and import data. Eligible persons may furnish GSTR-3B quarterly, subject to electronic option, return-filing compliance, turnover eligibility and monthly tax deposits through FORM GST PMT-06 for the first two months of each quarter.

The Foreign Assets of Small Taxpayers Disclosure Scheme provides an electronic mechanism for declaring specified undisclosed foreign assets and foreign income, subject to aggregate-value eligibility limits. Fair market value is generally the higher of acquisition cost and market value, with separate methods for bank accounts, securities, immovable property and partnership interests. Form 1 requires asset, income, valuation and supporting details. The income-tax authority determines tax, penalty or fee in Form 2; payment and proof are furnished in Form 3. Timely payment is required, with limited interest-bearing extension. Form 4 certifies validity, settlement and the specified statutory protection.

Substantial questions of law were identified concerning the genuineness of a baggage receipt, the acceptance of retraction statements, and the validity of absolute confiscation of gold biscuits. The appeal was admitted for consideration of those questions and directed to be heard with a connected appeal.

Judicial review of an interim tender clarification was premature because the communication sought commercial justification for quoted discounts to assess their sustainability and prevent disruption of medicine supply. Technically qualified bidders had submitted responses and supporting material, but no bid had been rejected or disqualified and no decision on the bids had been made. The tendering authority was required to consider that material and communicate a reasoned decision. The petitions were disposed of, preserving an aggrieved bidder's right to pursue available legal remedies after a final bid decision.

Corporate guarantees furnished by holding companies for subsidiaries constitute taxable supplies of services between related persons, including where provided without consideration. A guarantee is not an actionable claim, and a share-pledge arrangement may also amount to a guarantee where its operative terms secure the subsidiary's obligations. Gratuitous guarantees are not continuous supplies, but annual accounting disclosure may determine yearly valuation based on outstanding guaranteed debt. Rule 28(2) remains valid, but the requirement to adopt the higher of deemed value and actual consideration is read down where an actual commission is ascertainable. The valuation rule cannot apply to guarantees executed before its introduction, altho.....

GST portal service of a show-cause notice is invalid after cancellation of registration because the taxpayer cannot be expected to monitor the portal and must be served through an alternative permissible mode. Personal hearing is mandatory under section 75(4) of the CGST Act when requested in writing or when an adverse decision is contemplated, reflecting the audi alteram partem requirement. Failure to provide valid notice and hearing renders GST adjudication vulnerable. The adjudication order was quashed, with fresh notice and adjudication permitted in accordance with law, including a personal hearing if requested.

Penalty proceedings under Section 122 of the UPGST Act are subject to the proper-officer mechanism under Section 127, despite Section 122 not using the expression "proper officer". State circulars assign jurisdiction to the Deputy Commissioner for businesses above the prescribed turnover threshold, supporting the officer's authority to issue the show-cause notice. Although jurisdictional objections may be raised in writ proceedings, discretionary writ relief is ordinarily unavailable where the taxpayer participated on merits without objecting and later seeks to bypass the statutory appeal. The taxpayer was relegated to the appellate remedy and may seek Limitation Act protection if its requirements are met.

Section 35F does not require mandatory pre-deposit in legacy service tax appeals to be paid exclusively in cash or prohibit use of validly transitioned CENVAT credit. Credit carried forward under transitional provisions remains a vested credit, and its entry in the Electronic Credit Ledger preserves the right to utilise it. An administrative instruction requiring cash payment cannot restrict that statutory entitlement where no requirement exists to use the Electronic Cash Ledger. Debit of transitioned credit, resulting in credit to the Government, therefore satisfies the pre-deposit requirement. The Tribunal's contrary order was quashed, and the appeal was directed to be heard on merits.

High Level Committee on Banking for Viksit Bharat is proposed to comprehensively review the banking sector and align it with India's next phase of growth. It is intended to safeguard financial stability, financial inclusion and consumer protection, while providing views and recommendations to the Government on banking-sector development and reform.

Service of a GST show cause notice solely through the common portal, without acknowledgement of receipt or a reply from the assessee, was treated as insufficient to sustain ex parte adjudication. Applying the principle in Luxmi Traders, the High Court restored the proceedings to the show cause notice stage and required a fresh adjudication after allowing the petitioner to file a reply and be heard. The adjudicating authority must consider any reply and pass a fresh order in accordance with law, while retaining the ability to consider proceedings under the fraud provision.

Statutory appellate remedy against cancellation of GST registration was restored after dismissal on limitation. Applying the terms of an earlier High Court decision, the writ petition was disposed of without adjudicating the merits of the cancellation proceedings. The appeal must be decided on merits and cannot be rejected on limitation, thereby reinstating access to the prescribed appellate process.

Building-plan sanction charges require statutory authority and, as regulatory fees, a reasonable correlation with services rendered. The development authority could exercise Municipal Commissioner powers only upon State notification, while its governing statute did not independently authorise scrutiny fee, ground rent or security deposit; those demands were quashed, subject to the pending writ appeal. Labour welfare cess remained payable, but requiring payment upfront before construction contravened the prescribed collection mechanism for construction extending beyond one year; a fresh demand had to follow Rule 4. Building-plan sanction involved neither a supply of goods nor services, so CGST and SGST on sanction charges were also quashed.

Polypropylene or polyethylene plastic twine (sutli) manufactured through extrusion, slitting, orientation and twisting is classified as an article of plastics under sub-heading 39269099. The manufacturing process does not make it a textile material for Heading 5607, and the product is not a container or packing article within Heading 3923. In the absence of a more specific Chapter 39 classification, residuary Heading 3926 applies. Plastic twine under Heading 3926 attracts GST at 18 per cent, comprising 9 per cent CGST and 9 per cent SGST.

Pure-agent exclusion under Rule 33 requires satisfaction of every prescribed condition, including contractual authority to procure third-party services on the end customer's behalf. Hotel booking charges could not be excluded where the third-party booking agent invoiced the facilitator, indicating that it received and used the service in supplying its own hotel booking service, and where the recovered amount included a service charge not known to or authorised by the customer. The booking service is classified under SAC 998552 as reservation services for accommodation, cruises and package tours. CGST and SGST apply at 9% each on the entire consideration received from end customers.

Bright Line Test is not a legally sanctioned method for transfer pricing adjustments relating to advertising, marketing and promotion expenses. Following the established position in Sony Ericsson and Maruti Suzuki, the High Court rejected the Department's use of that test for the impugned adjustment. The pendency of challenges to those precedents before the Supreme Court did not justify a different approach, although any contrary law subsequently declared in those proceedings would apply correspondingly.

Article 289(1) immunises the property and income of a State from Union taxation, overriding an inconsistent charge under the Income-tax Act. A State-controlled conservation society, governed and staffed by State functionaries, financially and functionally dependent on the State, and discharging environmental conservation obligations linked to Article 48A, falls within State instrumentality principles. Statutory, ring-fenced conservation funds and incidental interest constitute public funds held in trust rather than ordinary commercial receipts. Such income cannot be charged to tax, and tax-recovery action lacks jurisdiction. Bank-account attachment for recovery under the Income-tax Act was therefore unsustainable and quashed.

Gujarat GST registration applications require biometric authentication, photographs and prescribed KYC or document verification, subject to applicable exemptions. Cancellation and suspension mechanisms extend to wrongful input tax credit, return mismatches, excess outward-supply reporting and electronic credit ledger breaches. Significant discrepancies may trigger electronic suspension intimation and a notice seeking explanation, with refunds barred during suspension. The amendments also restrict unmatched input tax credit, block outward-supply reporting for specified return defaulters, limit electronic credit ledger use in prescribed cases, and expand e-way bill validity and restrictions.

Reassessment following a completed scrutiny assessment was initiated on alleged inflation of Special Economic Zone export profits through non-payment of interest on partners' capital and below-market gold purchases from a sister concern. Relevant transaction particulars had been available during the original assessment, while the amended partnership deed-specifically brought to the Assessing Officer's attention-had rendered the interest-payment clause inoperative. The reopening nevertheless relied on the original deed. Objections concerning the rate and fineness of gold were also not addressed. The reassessment notice and the order rejecting objections were quashed, and the writ petition succeeded.