Tax alerts

8 January 2026

The Maharashtra government has notified the Maharashtra Industries, Investment and Services Policy 2025 on 31 December 2025. The policy's vision centres on establishing Maharashtra as a premier global business destination, aiming to attract substantial investments, foster innovation and accelerate technology adoption.

19 September 2025

The Bombay High Court (HC) has held that payments to consultant doctors, come under the purview of section 194J of the Income-tax Act 1961 (ITA) as professionals and not as employees under section 192 of the ITA, as there did not exist an employer‑employee relationship.

30 June 2025

The Government of India introduced the scheme to promote manufacturing of electric passengers cars in India (SPMEPCI) in March 2024 to attract investments from global electric vehicles (EV) manufacturers, generate employment opportunities, achieve the goal of ‘Make in India’ and promote India as a manufacturing destination for EV.

The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) has released the operating guidelines for the scheme on 2 June 2025. The application window is open from 24 June 2025 and will remain active till 21 October 2025.
 

10 July 2025

The Mumbai Bench of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal has held that in case of a commercial property which is vacant for the whole year, its annual value is to be taken as ‘Nil’ under section 23(1)(c) of Income-tax Act (ITA).

8 July 2025

The Delhi Bench of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), based on facts, has held that the taxpayer was entitled to benefit under Article 13(4) of the India-Mauritius tax treaty in respect of capital gains from sale of shares of an Indian company, prior to 1 April 2017.
 

21 July 2025

The Lok Sabha has tabled the suggestions received from the Select Committee report in the Income-tax Bill, 2025 with certain changes.

23 July 2025

The Mumbai Bench of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has held that waiver of deferred sales tax liability [in excess of Net Present value (NPV)] holds the character of revenue under section 2(24)(xviii) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (ITA) and thus, amounts to benefit taxable under section 28(iv) of the ITA.
 

24 July 2025

The Mumbai Bench of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal has held that interest on refunds is to be calculated by first adjusting the amount of refund already granted towards the interest component and the balance, if any, shall be adjusted towards the tax component.
 

25 July 2025

The Supreme Court (SC) has held that business carried on by a UAE-based taxpayer, through hotel premises in India, by exercising substantive operational control and implementation over business operations, constitutes fixed place permanent establishment (PE) in terms of Article 5(1) of the India-UAE tax treaty.

5 August 2025

The Hyderabad Bench of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has held that based on the facts of the case, the goodwill created on account of amalgamation of the taxpayer with its wholly owned subsidiary, was not real or genuine. Hence, the taxpayer was not entitled to depreciation on the same.
 

14 August 2025

Parliament has passed the Income-tax (No. 2) Bill, 2025 on 12 August 2025.
 

18 August 2025

The Parliament has passed the Taxation Laws Bill, 2025, to amend the Income-tax Act, 1961 and the Finance Act, 2025.
 

26 August 2025

The Mumbai Bench of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has held that provisions of MLI (multilateral instrument) cannot be brought into the relevant tax treaty in the absence of a specific notification by the government, under section 90(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961. Further, it was also held that the taxpayer was formed in Ireland for commercial objectives and not to principally obtain tax benefit under the tax treaty. Hence the taxpayer is entitled to benefit under the India-Ireland tax treaty.

29 August 2025

The Supreme Court (SC) has dismissed the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the Petitioner against the ruling of the Gujarat Hugh Court (HC), wherein it was held that pre-deposit under central excise law is mandatory for filing appeal before the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), even in the case of financial hardship.
 

10 September 2025

The Bombay High Court has rendered its decision that ITAT cannot rectify its original order [under section 254(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961] based on a subsequent ruling by the Supreme Court.
 

11 September 2025

The Chennai Bench of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has held that salary received in India, for administrative convenience, by a non-resident employee, in respect of services rendered in China is not taxable in India under Article 15 of India-China tax treaty.
 

25 September 2025

The Delhi High Court (HC) has held that non-disclosure of investor names in the original trust deed did not render a trust indeterminate for tax purposes; the taxpayer (a Category III AIF) was a determinate trust as the identity of investors and their income share was determined in accordance with the contribution agreements executed post the Trust Deed.
 

25 September 2025

The Hyderabad Bench of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal has rendered its decision that a taxpayer would be eligible for exemption under section 54EC of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (ITA), on sale of land which was part of slump sale covered under section 50B of the ITA.
 

4 June 2025

The Delhi Bench of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, based on facts of the case and on documents on record, has rendered its decision that the taxpayer was eligible for exemption under Article 13 of the India-Cyprus tax treaty for the sale of shares. 

9 June 2025

The Supreme Court has held that the provisions of section 80-IA(9) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (ITA) do not affect the computation of deduction, but merely restrict the allowability of deductions computed under any other provisions under heading ‘C’ of Chapter-VI-A, to the extent of profits and gains of the business.

12 June 2025

The Mumbai Bench of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has rendered its decision that Rights Entitelement (RE) is not covered under Article 13(4) and Article 13(5) of the India-Ireland tax treaty; it falls under Article 13(6) and is taxable only in the resident state i.e. Ireland. 

13 June 2025

The newly unveiled Global Capability Centre (GCC) policy, marks a transformative step in positioning Uttar Pradesh (UP) as a premier destination for GCCs. The policy aims to make the state, the innovation nerve centre for India, helping companies establish centres of excellence (‘CoE’) in emerging sectors such as advanced manufacturing, digital engineering, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology.
 

16 June 2025

The Special Bench of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has held that private discretionary trusts whose income is chargeable to tax at maximum marginal rate (MMR), surcharge has to be computed on the income-tax having reference to the respective slab rates prescribed in the Finance Act.

27 January 2026

India and the European Union (EU) on 27 January 2026, jointly announced the conclusion of the India–European Union Free Trade Agreement (India-EU FTA) at the 16th India–EU Summit held in New Delhi.

14 January 2026

The High Court (HC) of Tripura has held that the recipient would be eligible to claim input tax credit (ITC) where tax has been paid to the supplier and benefit of ITC cannot be denied to the recipient due to default on the part of supplier to deposit tax. Applying the principle of reading down, the HC held that Section 16(2)(c) of the CGST
Act should only be applied where the transaction is found to be not bona fide or is a collusive/fraudulent transaction to defraud the revenue.

9 January 2026

Supreme Court (SC) has set aside the CESTAT (Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal) order and held that aluminium shelving, imported for mushroom cultivation, is correctly classified as ‘Aluminium Structures’ under Customs Tariff Item (CTI) 76109010; the classification under CTI 84369900 (parts of agricultural machinery) has been rejected.

24 December 2025

The larger bench of CESTAT has held that unutilized credit of education cess (EC), secondary and higher education cess (SHEC) and Krishi Kalyan Cess (KKC) (cess) cannot be transitioned to GST regime and refund of unutilized credit of cess cannot be claimed.

23 December 2025

The Gauhati High Court (HC) has read down amendment to Section 16(2)(aa) of the Central Goods and Service Tax, 2017 (CGST Act) introduced w.e.f. 01 January 2022, which prescribes the condition for reporting of invoice/debit note by the supplier in GSTR-1 return and also in turn gets communicated to the recipient. The HC held that input tax credit (ITC) benefits cannot be denied to a bona fide purchaser due to supplier non-compliance.

17 October 2025

The Supreme Court (SC) has upheld that bona fide purchasing dealers are entitled to input tax credit (ITC) where tax was paid to registered sellers, irrespective of the sellers’ subsequent default in depositing the tax.

18 July 2025

The Machinery and Electrical Equipment Safety (Omnibus Technical Regulation) Order, 2024 (OTR) is a regulatory framework introduced to mandate Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification for a wide range of industrial machinery and electrical equipment. It was released on 28 August 2024 and is scheduled to come into effect from 1 September 2026.

In view of the same, the BIS has released detailed guidelines for the grant of such certification under Scheme-X for products covered under the OTR. These guidelines are applicable to both domestic and foreign manufacturers and are aimed at ensuring conformity to safety and technical standards. 

25 July 2025

The Bombay High Court allows inter-state transfer of unutilized Input Tax Credit (ITC) of Integrated GST and Central GST, from transferor company located in one state to the transferee company, located in another state, post-amalgamation.
 

25 July 2025

The Karnataka High Court (HC) quashed GST demand on salaries paid to seconded employees by the petitioner as the same does not constitute a taxable supply of manpower services.

5 August 2025

The Patna High Court has clarified that the limitation period of two years for claiming refund of GST wrongly collected and paid to the Government, would start from the date of payment of correct tax and not from the date of payment of wrong tax.
 

11 August 2025

The Delhi High Court (HC) has upheld the validity of a consolidated show cause notice (SCN) for multiple financial years in a case of fraudulent availment / utilization of input tax credit.
 

12 August 2025

The Kerala Authority of Advance Ruling has held that input tax credit shall be eligible in respect of construction of freshwater storage tank and effluent guard pond, that holds an integral role in the manufacturing process, subject to its classification as ‘plant and machinery’ and its integral use in manufacturing process.
 

12 August 2025

The Supreme Court (SC) has dismissed the Revenue’s special leave petitions (SLPs) challenging the Delhi High Court (HC) judgment which had held mobile towers to be in nature of ‘movable property’ and eligible for input tax credit (ITC).
 

14 August 2025

The Gujarat Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling (AAAR) has held that input tax credit (ITC) shall be eligible on inputs and input services used for construction of concrete tower supporting the manufacturing activities of the appellant.
 

19 August 2025

The Supreme court (SC) has held that the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017 does not permit issuance of a second provisional attachment order after the initial order has lapsed after expiry of a year.
 

22 August 2025

The Supreme Court (SC) has held that the proper office is mandatorily required to issue a final reasoned order in respect of detention of goods under GST law, regardless of payment of tax / penalty by the taxpayer to preserve the right to appeal. 

12 September 2025

The division bench of Sikkim High Court has ruled that refund of unutilized input tax credit (ITC) is not permissible in the event of business closure under the GST law, thereby overruling a single bench order which permitted the refund.
 

30 September 2025

The Bombay High Court at Goa (HC) has held that the taxpayer is entitled to claim refund of unutilized input tax credit (ITC) of compensation cess on export of goods undertaken with payment of IGST.                                      

6 June 2025

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has notified Special Economic Zones (Amendment) Rules, 2025 to further amend the Special Economic Zones Rules, 2006.

16 January 2026

Amendment of the definition of “Small Company” increases financial thresholds for paid-up capital and turnover, thereby expanding the scope of companies eligible for lesser compliances and regulatory exemptions.

5 January 2026

Repealing and Amending Act, 2025 removes the mandatory probate requirement under Section 213 of the Indian Succession Act.

2 July 2025

The Madras High Court (HC) has held that, based on facts, the fair market value (FMV) of the asset on the date of distribution to shareholders pursuant to liquidation should be taken as the cost of acquisition while computing capital gains on transfer of such asset.

30 June 2025

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued a circular dated 26 June 2025 revising the Industry Standards, superseding the earlier version issued on 14 February 2025.

In response to substantive feedback from various industry stakeholders, SEBI has revised the Industry Standards with a heightened focus on the nature and materiality of Related Party Transactions (RPTs). The intent is to bring an optimal balance – ensuring robust regulatory oversight while simultaneously fostering ease of doing business, reinforcing sound corporate governance principles. 

3 July 2025

The Union Cabinet has approved the Employment Linked Incentive (ELI) Scheme to boost job creation, especially in the manufacturing sector. The scheme aims to generate over 3.5 crore jobs in two years (from 1 August 2025 to 31 July 2027), including 1.92 crore first-time employees.
 

7 July 2025

The Gujarat High Court allows refund in case of export transactions where foreign currency is received net of forex payments, as per RBI approval, which is also certified by independent Chartered Accountant.
 

22 August 2025

The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, was passed by the Parliament on 21 August 2025, marking a significant legislative development in India’s online gaming sector. The Bill aims to provide a legal framework to ban online money games, while simultaneously promoting and regulating e-sports, educational, and social gaming. The intent of the legislation is to shield citizens, particularly youth and economically vulnerable individuals, from the financial, psychological, and societal harm associated with gambling and addictive digital platforms.
 

1 September 2025

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has published a policy for sharing data from the National Transport Repository (NTR), establishing a structured framework for transport-related data to be shared with governmental bodies, enforcement agencies, academicians, citizens and the private sector, while ensuring compliance with applicable laws and with necessary safeguards. The policy seeks to balance data sharing and compliance with data protection laws, particularly the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act).
 

15 September 2025

The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) recently issued a circular to simplify the process of settlement of claim of a deceased member by relaxing the requirement to furnish a Guardianship Certificate, subject to conditions.
 

17 October 2025

In a landmark ruling, the Madras High Court has adjudged that employees of exempted establishments are also entitled to higher pension under the Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995 (‘EPS 1995’), irrespective of the restrictive Provident Fund (‘PF’) Trust Rules. The Hon’ble Madras High Court has set aside an Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (‘EPFO’) circular dated 18 January 2025 and directed acceptance of joint option applications (filed up to 31 January 2025) with permission to re-deposit differential contributions along with interest, for availing higher pension benefit.

23 October 2025

The Ministry of Labour & Employment issued a press release on 13 October 2025 on simplification and liberalization of EPF partial withdrawal provisions, introduction of Vishwas scheme to reduce litigation, and providing digital life certificate services (DLC) to pensioners, among other initiatives.

17 October 2025

Teaser: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (“CBDT”) has published its Seventh annual report presenting numerical data and a detailed analysis of the performance of the advance pricing agreement (“APA”) program in India.

30 June 2025

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued a circular dated 26 June 2025 revising the Industry Standards, superseding the earlier version issued on 14 February 2025.

In response to substantive feedback from various industry stakeholders, SEBI has revised the Industry Standards with a heightened focus on the nature and materiality of Related Party Transactions (RPTs). The intent is to bring an optimal balance – ensuring robust regulatory oversight while simultaneously fostering ease of doing business, reinforcing sound corporate governance principles.

13 August 2025

While deciding the Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the much-awaited matter concerning the applicability of the time limit under Section 153 for issuance of final assessment orders read with Section 144C, a Bench of the Supreme Court comprising J. B. V. Nagarathna and J. Satish Chandra Sharma has delivered a split verdict and referred the matter to the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India for constitution of a larger bench.

17 October 2025

Teaser: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (“CBDT”) has published its Seventh annual report presenting numerical data and a detailed analysis of the performance of the advance pricing agreement (“APA”) program in India.

24 June 2025

As per a ruling of the Calcutta High Court, the period during which an employee worked as a trainee/probationer/full time apprentice must be included when calculating the total service period for the purpose of payment of gratuity, in the absence of an apprenticeship agreement.

7 July 2025

On 30 June 2025, the Government of Karnataka released the draft Karnataka Platform-based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Rules, 2025. The draft rules have been issued pursuant to the Karnataka Platform based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Ordinance 2025 (‘Ordinance’) which was promulgated by the Governor on 27 May 2025. The Ordinance shall come into force on such date as may be notified by the state government in the Official Gazette. Once brought into effect, the Ordinance is required to be laid before the Karnataka Legislative Assembly and Council within 6 (six) weeks of their reassembly, as per constitutional requirements.
 

5 August 2025

The Bombay High Court has clarified that employers may legally enforce a retirement age of 58 years if it is supported by a valid and binding settlement agreement with the employee.

22 September 2025

The Employment Linked Incentive Scheme was first announced in Union Budget 2024–25 as a flagship program to boost job creation, formalize the workforce and the social security across all sectors, with special focus on the manufacturing sector. The Scheme has since been named as Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana (‘PMVBRY Scheme’). Recently, the Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India issued guidelines for the PMVBRY Scheme. The scheme will be implemented by the Ministry of Labour & Employment through the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (‘EPFO’).
 

15 October 2025

In a significant move aimed at reducing compliance burden and enhancing operational flexibility for businesses, the Government of Maharashtra on 1 October 2025, issued amendments on applicability threshold and in working and overtime hours. This amendment aligns with the broader objective of enhancing Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Living, while continuing to safeguard workers’ rights.

17 June 2025

The Chennai Bench of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal has held that, based on facts, the taxpayer was a resident in India within the meaning of section 6 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (ITA) and accordingly, the global income of the taxpayer was taxable in India.

7 January 2026

The Central Government notified the effective date of four Labour Codes viz. the Code on Wages, 2019, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Code on Social Security, 2020 and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 - as 21 November 2025. Pursuant to that, on 30 December 2025, it pre-published the draft central rules under the four Labour Codes, inviting objections and suggestions for the Code on Industrial Relations (Central) Rules by 30 January 2026 and by 14 February 2026 for the Rules on the other three Codes. This paves the path for the operationalisation of the Codes.