S.74 CGST | Plea in Supreme Court Challenges GST Demands On Allegations Of Fraud In Cases Where Dept Alleges No Supply

A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the invocation of Section 74 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, a provision that allows tax authorities to raise demands of tax, interest, and penalty in cases of fraud or suppression, in situations where the department itself alleges that no taxable supply of goods or services ever took place. A Division Bench of Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Justice Vijay Bishnoi took up the matter on January 30. The Bench directed...

Baggage Rules 2026 Allow Returning Indians To Bring Jewellery Upto 40 Gram Duty-Free

The Central Government has notified the Baggage Regulations, 2026, giving a limited category of international passengers a special duty-free allowance for jewellery. Under the Regulations , Indian residents and tourists of Indian origin who have lived abroad for more than one year can bring jewellery over and above their personal effects into India without paying customs duty, within specified limits. The allowance is upto 20gms for male passengers a 40gm for female passengers. Jewellery...

Supreme Court Allows ₹2.9 Crore GST Refund On Coal To SAIL, Rejects Revenue Challenge

The Supreme Court on 23 January 2026 dismissed a Special Leave Petition filed by the Revenue, challenging a refund of about Rs. 2.9 crore granted to the Steel Authority of India's (SAIL) Bokaro plant in the initial years of the GST rollout. A Division Bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice K.V. Viswanathan upheld a decision of the Jharkhand High Court that allowed the refund of unutilised Input Tax Credit (ITC) of Compensation Cess on coal, despite a gross delay of 676 days. The Bench...

GSTAT Delhi Confirms ₹2.5 Lakh Profiteering By Kumar 70 MM For Ticket Price Hike Despite GST Cut

The Delhi Principal Bench of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) on 30 January 2026 held Hyderabad-based Kumar 70 MM cinema hall liable to deposit Rs. 2,50,148.39 for failing to pass on GST rate reduction benefits to customers. A Bench comprising Judicial Member Justice Mayank Kumar Jain found that the theatre had raised ticket prices above normal MRP despite a GST rate reduction from 18% to 12% for tickets up to Rs. 100 and from 28% to 18% for tickets above Rs. 100. The...

No Service Tax On Government-Supplied Water For Industrial Use: CESTAT Kolkata

The Kolkata Bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) has clarified that service tax is not leviable on water charges paid to the Government of Odisha for the supply of water drawn from a natural source for industrial purposes. The Tribunal ruled that such transactions amount to the supply of water and not the grant of a taxable licensing service. Bench comprising Judicial Member Ashok Jindal and Technical Member K. Anpazhakan, delivered the ruling in an appeal...

Karnataka High Court Quashes GST Demand On Solar Plant For Lack of Personal Hearing, Remands Matter

The Karnataka High Court has held that the denial of Input Tax Credit (ITC) on capital goods and input services used for setting up a captive solar power plant is unsustainable where the adjudicating authority acted without jurisdiction and in violation of the mandatory requirement of granting a personal hearing under Section 75(4) of the CGST Act. A Single Judge Bench of Justice Lalitha Kanneganti, passed the order on 21 January 2026, setting aside the GST demand raised against Shri Keshav...

Indirect Tax Weekly Round-Up: January 26 - February 01, 2026

SUPREME COURTSupreme Court Upholds Odisha Entry Tax Act, Dismisses Tata Sponge Iron's ChallengeCase Title : Tata Sponge Iron Ltd. vs the State of Odisha & Ors. Case Number : SLP(C) NO. 13502/2019 CITATION : 2026 LLBiz SC 24The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed Tata Sponge Iron Limited's challenge to the constitutional validity of the Odisha Entry Tax Act, 1999, and upheld the Orissa High Court's refusal to entertain the plea. The company had also sought a refund of entry tax collected by...

Direct Tax Weekly Round-Up: January 26 - February 01, 2026

SUPREME COURTSupreme Court Issues Notice In Appeal Against Order Quashing IT Assessments On Entities Merged Into Reliance IndustriesCase Title : Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax, Special Range-18, Mumbai v. Reliance Industries Limited Case Number : Diary No. 67659-2025The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice on an appeal filed by the Revenue challenging a Bombay High Court ruling that had quashed income tax assessments against Reliance Polyethylene Ltd. and Reliance Polypropylene Ltd....

IT Reassessment Notices Issued After Limitation Period Invalid Despite Ashish Agarwal Ruling: Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court has recently held that reassessment proceedings initiated after the expiry of the statutorily surviving period of limitation under the Income Tax Act are invalid. This remains so even where the revenue seeks to sustain the reassessment notice on the basis of the Supreme Court's directions in Union of India v. Ashish Agarwal. In Ashish Agarwal, the Supreme Court protected reassessment notices issued under the old law during the transition to the new reassessment regime...

CESTAT Sets Aside Rejection Of Declared Import Value Over Inadmissible Statements, Emails

The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) at New Delhi Bench recently held that customs authorities cannot reject the declared value of imported furniture by relying on investigation statements and email printouts unless mandatory legal safeguards are followed. The coram comprised President Justice Dilip Gupta and Technical Member Hemambika R. Priya. The tribunal said that statements recorded during an investigation do not automatically qualify as evidence and can be...

Budget 2026-27 Proposes Tax Holiday Till 2047 For Foreign Cloud Services Using Indian Data Centres

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Union Budget 2026–27, proposed a long-term tax holiday for foreign companies providing cloud services from India using domestic data centre infrastructure. Announcing the measure in her Budget speech, the Finance Minister said, “Recognising the need to enable critical infrastructure and boost investment in data centers, I propose to provide tax holiday till 2047 to any foreign company that provides cloud services to customers globally by...

Supreme Court Refuses To Entertain Ola Parent ANI's Plea Against Delayed Service Tax Order

The Supreme Court of India has declined to interfere with a Bombay High Court order directing ANI Technologies Private Limited, the parent company of Ola Cabs, to pursue a statutory appeal against a service tax demand. A Bench of the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi held that no valid ground was made out to disturb the High Court's decision. The court agreed that the writ petition was rightly not entertained. The dispute relates to a service tax adjudication order...