Tax liability of deceased persons continues through legal representatives and executors until estate distribution is completed.
Tax liability of a deceased person survives in respect of the estate: Section 159 makes the legal representative liable for tax on income up to the date of death, with obligations to file returns and pay taxes limited to the estate; Section 168 makes executors assessable on income from the date of death until distribution, treating a sole executor as an individual and multiple executors as an Association of Persons, and requiring assessments to continue until complete distribution of the estate. (AI Summary)

Management representations for GST audits confirm compliance on supplies, input tax credit, returns, and recordkeeping obligations.
The sample Management Representation Letter compels management to confirm, for GST audit purposes, provision of audited financials and registrations, correct classification and HSN application, proper recording and valuation of outward and inward supplies, compliance with reverse charge and time-of-supply rules, and declaration of supplies in returns. It requires confirmation of ITC eligibility and procedural compliance, correct CGST/SGST/IGST classification and statutory reversals, transitional credit and anti-profiteering compliance, refund and job-work filings, maintenance of statutory records and issuance of invoices, and reconciliation of returns with books including Form GSTR-9C. (AI Summary)

Retrospective application of amended limitation periods cannot revive time barred tax demands; vested rights remain protected.
The Finance Act, 2016's extension of limitation periods for issuing show cause notices is presumptively prospective and, lacking express retrospective language or clear legislative intent, cannot revive demands which had become time barred under the earlier law; procedural amendments will not be construed to impair vested rights or open up barred liability where doing so would offend the presumption of prospectivity and the doctrine of fairness. (AI Summary)

Time of supply under GST clarified for JDA: supply arises on transfer of possession or right by conveyance.
Determination of the time of supply for construction services under a JDA was uncertain because builders do not issue invoices or receive payment from landowners and landowner recognition of units is indeterminate. A tax notification clarified that the time of supply arises when the builder transfers possession or the right in the constructed property to the person supplying development rights by execution of a conveyance deed or similar instrument, aligning the GST rule with prior practice and resolving the supplier's timing uncertainty. (AI Summary)

GST Council constraints limit indirect tax changes, focusing Budget reform on direct taxes and revenue risks.
Budget 2018 commentary explains that the implementation of GST limits central authority over indirect taxes because the GST Council controls decisions, concentrating legislative space in Part B on direct taxes; indirect changes will largely be confined to basic customs duties outside GST. The piece warns that lower GST collections pose fiscal consolidation risks and anticipates targeted direct-tax amendments and non-specific signals about GST in the Budget speech. (AI Summary)

Health care exemption: supplies to admitted patients treated as composite healthcare services, including ancillary hospital charges.
The GST Council clarified that all supplies of goods or services to admitted patients are to be regarded as healthcare services for exemption: services by doctors/consultants/technicians engaged by hospitals are exempt; the entire amount charged by hospitals, including retention money and payments to doctors, is for healthcare services and exempt; and food supplied to inpatients on medical advice is part of the composite healthcare supply and not separately taxable, while food to non admitted persons is taxable. (AI Summary)