The Kolkata Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal is intended to expedite tax-dispute resolution across 12 states, including seven northeastern states, while advancing impartial, accessible and swift justice. Its administrative role includes improving justice delivery, reducing pendency and pursuing AI-driven digital transformation. The Income Tax Department and the Tribunal seek reduced litigation and improved taxpayer services through technology-driven measures, including faceless assessment and electronic filing.

Footwear having a sale value not exceeding Rs. 1,000 per pair is removed from Schedule I, which attracted 2.5% State tax, and inserted in Schedule II, attracting 6% State tax. The revised classification takes effect from 1 January 2022 and supersedes the earlier rate treatment.

Arunachal Pradesh State GST rate classification is corrected by limiting tariff heading 6305 to exclude tariff item 63053200. Sacks and bags used for packing goods are correspondingly defined to exclude woven and non-woven polyethylene or polypropylene strip bags and sacks, whether laminated or not, and flexible intermediate bulk containers.

Arunachal Pradesh amends the State Tax (Rate) exemption table under section 11 of the Arunachal Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The tariff-heading entry against serial number 4 is substituted with "4414", and that against serial number 29 is substituted with "7419 80". The amendments take effect from 1 January 2022.

Proper officer powers under the Delhi Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 are conferred upon a specified GST officer in relation to M/s Royal Swastik Marbles. The powers cover arrest-related action, summons, access to business premises, and tax determination proceedings, including matters involving fraud, wilful misstatement, or suppression of facts. The conferral remains effective for 120 days from issuance or until further orders, whichever is earlier, and prevents the jurisdictional proper officer from exercising those powers for the specified taxpayer during that period.

Arunachal Pradesh makes Schedule amendments under the State Tax (Rate) framework, effective from 1 January 2022. The amendments revise product classifications and descriptions for specified fish products, provisionally preserved vegetables and fresh nuts. Serial number 97A is inserted for tender coconut water, with the stated unit-container and brand-name formulation, including voluntary foregoance of enforceable brand rights subject to Annexure I conditions. Serial number 101 is omitted, and the classification for serial number 141 is replaced with heading 8807.

GST regularisation on an "as is" or "as is, where is" basis accepts lower-rate GST payment, including qualifying nil-rate exemption positions disclosed in returns, as full discharge of liability for the regularised period where genuine classification or rate doubts existed. No differential tax is payable merely because a higher rate is subsequently clarified. GST paid at a higher rate is not refundable. The regularisation does not cover complete non-payment where the applicable tax position requires payment, and tax remains recoverable in such cases.

Powers relating to arrest, summons, inspection, determination of unpaid or short-paid tax, and tax determination involving fraud or suppression are conferred on the specified Proper Officer for M/s R.R. Tools & Equipment under the Delhi Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The authority operates for 120 days from issuance or until further orders, whichever is earlier. During that period, the jurisdictional Proper Officer cannot exercise those powers in respect of the identified taxpayer.

GST Portal validation restricting appeals against demand orders showing NIL or Zero demand has been removed where a liability dispute exists and the taxpayer made payment before issuance of the demand order. Taxpayers may challenge such orders by filing an appeal in Form GST APL-01, and may raise a ticket with the GST Helpdesk if filing difficulties arise.

Open API integration for Certificates of Origin enables eligible exporters to connect ERP, accounting and other business software with the Trade Connect e-Platform for electronic application submission. The facility covers preferential and non-preferential certificates, provides authentication, file-submission and certificate-verification APIs, and maintains a transaction ledger for application tracking. Security measures include digital signatures, password hashing, IP whitelisting and time-limited access tokens. Relevant origin criteria, fields and validation rules are automatically applied according to the selected trade agreement or certification scheme.

Retrospective input tax credit eligibility allows credit for specified earlier financial years through returns filed up to the prescribed extended date and provides separate relief where cancelled registration is later revoked. Pending investigations, adjudication, appeals and revision proceedings must consider the revised eligibility. A special electronic rectification procedure applies to unappealed demand orders denying credit solely for breach of the general limitation period, subject to prescribed particulars and consideration of other denial grounds. No refund is available for tax paid or credit reversed solely due to retrospective eligibility, except refundable appeal pre-deposits where appeals succeed.

Revisionary jurisdiction under Section 263 could not be sustained against a cooperative society's deduction claim for interest income under Section 80P(2)(d) where the issue and facts were identical to the preceding assessment year. The applicable precedent had already led to quashing of the earlier revisionary order on the same deduction issue. Applying that precedent consistently, the revisionary proceedings were unsustainable and the deduction issue was resolved in favour of the cooperative society.

Open API integration enables eligible exporters to connect their software systems with the Certificate of Origin platform for electronic application submission, issuance, and verification. Access requires onboarding credentials, IP whitelisting, a configured document signer, authenticated token generation, and compliance with prescribed technical specifications. The CoO File API supports submission of applicant, certificate, product, shipment, supporting-document, and declaration data, with dynamic validation based on the selected trade agreement. Digital signatures protect data integrity, sender authentication, and non-repudiation, while ledger records track transaction status and the verification API confirms certificate validity.

Assessments pending on the search date abate under section 153A and must be completed as regular assessments; consequently, incriminating material is not determinative of additions. Disclosure of investments in balance sheets does not establish their source, and the assessee must explain the source of investment. Family-member gifts supported only by declarations require verification where they cannot be independently verified and have not been examined by the assessing authority. Additions for unexplained investments were therefore set aside for verification of the claimed gifts.

Electronic commerce operators liable to pay tax on specified platform-mediated services under section 9(5) need not proportionately reverse input tax credit on related inputs and input services. The tax liability for such specified services must be paid entirely through the electronic cash ledger, and input tax credit cannot be used for that payment. The credit may nevertheless be used to discharge tax liability arising from the operator's own platform services, including services supplied for platform fees or commission.

India's international economic engagement through free trade agreements and strategic partnerships was identified as a means of sustaining economic growth amid geopolitical disruption. Economic cooperation was described as extending across defence, technology, energy, investment and trade. Nine free trade agreements were stated to have been concluded by 2026, with further trade arrangements proposed with other countries. Pursuit of free trade agreements was linked to increasing trade and to reported first-quarter GDP growth in the financial year 2026-27.

Powers under sections 69, 70, 71, 73 and 74 of the Delhi Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 are conferred on a designated Proper Officer for M/s Capital Foam Traders and M/s Avon Foam Centre. The authorisation operates for 120 days from issuance or until further orders. During that period, the jurisdictional Proper Officer is precluded from exercising powers under those provisions in relation to the specified taxpayers.

Foreign Portfolio Investors investing only in Government Securities are exempt from furnishing investor group details. The exemption extends beyond investments under the Fully Accessible Route to all FPIs whose investments are limited to Government Securities. Withdrawal of the concentration-limit requirement for investments through the General Route makes investor-group identification no longer relevant. Depositories, custodians and Designated Depository Participants must update their systems, and the revised framework takes effect immediately.

Books of account and quantitative stock records maintained regularly and audited should not be rejected merely by applying gross-profit rates or reasoning from earlier search-related years. Rejection and estimated trading-profit additions require specific defects or adverse evidence relating to the relevant assessment year; each year must be independently examined. Where no current-year deficiencies are identified, book results for gold and silver bullion sales should be accepted and estimated gross-profit additions deleted. Delay in filing an appeal may be condoned where the explanation, supported by affidavits, is accepted as sufficient and no defect is shown in the exercise of appellate discretion.

Input tax credit under Ex-Works contracts may be claimed when goods are handed by the supplier to the recipient or the recipient's transporter at the supplier's premises, where property in the goods passes under the contract. Physical receipt at the registered person's business premises is not required for satisfying the receipt condition. Credit remains subject to all other statutory conditions, including business use, and is unavailable for non-business diversion, loss, theft, destruction, write-off, gifts or free samples.