In a significant ruling for the e-commerce and logistics sector, the West Bengal Authority for Advance Ruling (WBAAR) has rejected Flipkart India’s attempt to classify its proposed delivery model as a Goods Transport Agency (GTA) service under GST law.

The ruling means that Flipkart’s proposed “GT Charges” structure for delivery of goods to retail consumers would not qualify for GST exemption. The WBAAR has held that applicable rate of GST (18%) is payable by Flipkart, for transport services.

This New Year ushered an exciting set of events on the public policy front in India, with India signing/agreeing FTAs with the EU and the US and the annual Budget unfolding with a host of new policies and promises, even as these developments coincided with heightened geopolitical volatility, disrupted global supply chains, and persistent geoeconomic headwinds. In a tough negotiating climate with strong geopolitical developments, the FTAs have ushered in a sense of relief for exporters with the promise of greater market access and lower tariffs. At the same time, ongoing global uncertainties continue to impact trade flows, logistics costs, and investment decisions, and the Indian market is set for more aggressive competition as tariff barriers are lowered and the competitiveness of Indian goods gets tested. Accumulated GST credits are locked capital at a time when manufacturers need liquidity and agility.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) system is facing what businesses are calling a "success problem".

The country's indirect tax framework is collecting more money than ever before. Gross GST collections hit a record Rs 22.08 lakh crore in FY25. In April 2026 alone, collections touched an all-time high of Rs 2.43 lakh crore, rising 8.7 per cent year-on-year despite global disruptions linked to the Iran war. As per the data, released earlier this month, import-related GST collections remained a key driver of growth.

But behind these strong numbers lies a growing concern among businesses, tax experts, and compliance professionals: can India's GST infrastructure handle the sheer scale of transactions now flowing through the system every day

The debate is no longer about GST adoption. That phase is over. The next challenge is ensuring the technology backbone can support a rapidly formalising economy without disruptions.

In a matter having "large ramifications," the Supreme Court on Thursday said that it will examine whether goods and services tax (GST) under reverse charge basis can be levied on companies for payments made to municipal bodies for repair and restoration work of roads and pavements after laying down the electricity distribution lines.

A bench led by Justice Manoj Misra sought a response from Torrent Power on an appeal by the GST department seeking to tax the transactions made to Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) for road restoration work.

In September, the Gujarat High Court ruled that the reimbursement of road restoration charges by an electricity distribution company to a civic body was not a taxable service. It said that it was mandatory for the distribution licensee to make compensation for damage caused while laying down the distribution lines by digging up the road.

In a bid to make the GST refund system more automated, the government is introducing an Annexure-B offline utility in place of the earlier PDF-based Annexure-B in Form GST RFD-01, making the refund filing process more streamlined, structured and system-driven.

With this enhancement, businesses claiming GST refunds on unutilised Input Tax Credit (ITC), particularly exporters and taxpayers operating under an inverted duty structure, are expected to benefit from improved data accuracy, faster processing and greater transparency in refund applications. The revised utility is also likely to enable stronger system-based validation and reduce manual intervention, thereby improving efficiency and ensuring smoother processing of refund claims.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has made a representation to the secretariat of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council to resolve long-standing tax issues faced by investors trading in physically settled commodity derivatives.

“There are problems that we have flagged in commodity derivatives physically settled in general, which has got some real GST issues and we want the GST council to look at them and we have some solutions that we have posed to the Revenue Department, which is a secretariat for the GST council,” said Sebi chief Tuhin Kanta Pandey on the sidelines of the IMC Capital Markets Conference 2026 on Monday.

Pandey said Sebi has proposed an integrated GST mechanism for physically delivered commodity derivatives, replacing the current state-level GST framework.

The ruling aligns with the government’s stance that coaching centres are commercial entities and not educational institutions eligible for tax exemption

Cost for coaching of middle or high school students unlikely to see a reduction, as a ruling by Gujarat’s Authority for Advance Ruling (GAAR) holds that 18 per cent GST applies to this as ‘supplementary education.’

“The academic coaching services provided by Friends Classes, Surat to students of Standards 5 to 12 (GSEB/CBSE curriculum) are covered under ‘Education Services’ at Sr.No.30 of Notification No.11/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017, falls under Entry No.599 ( Service Code (Tariff) 999293) of Annexure to Notification No.11/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017 as ‘commercial training and coaching services’ and is liable to GST at 18 per cent (9 per cent CGST + 9 per cent SGST),” GAAR said in its recent ruling.

Bombay high court on Thursday quashed and set aside a show cause notice issued in 2022 to Tata Sons for a demand of Rs 1,524 crore as Integrated Goods and Service Tax (IGST).
Justices Girish Kulkarni and Aarti Sathe on Thursday also agreed with Tata Sons that following the final settlement in 2017, Docomo's withdrawal of proceedings it had filed earlier in UK courts, did not constitute any 'independent agreement' to mean 'supply of services' that would attract the CGST Act.
The IGST was sought for damages worth over Rs 8,400 crore that Tata Sons, the holding company of Tata Group, paid in 2017 to Japanese company, Docomo. The damages followed settlement of disputes that emerged over a 2009 Share Holders Agreement (SHA) between the two companies. The HC held that the DG GST Intelligence was not justified in proposing to levy IGST on settlement of arbitral award in the proceedings adopted by Docomo.
On 15 Feb 2022, the department said that the damages, interest, legal and arbitration costs paid to Docomo on 30 Oct 2017 and 7 Nov 2017 under an arbitral award, attracted GST under the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. Tata Sons moved HC in 2023 to challenge the demand as absurd, arbitrary and without authority.

India's gross GST collections for April reached a record high of Rs 2.42 lakh crore, up 8.7% compared with the same month last fiscal year, according to official data released on Friday. The data indicates no immediate disruption to business activity, even as global uncertainties persisted, pointing to underlying momentum in the economy at the start of the new financial year.

The previous high was collections for the month of April 2025, at Rs 2.37 lakh crore.

Collections are typically strong in April, reflecting year-end book reconciliations by businesses in March.

Net GST collections stood at Rs 2.11 lakh crore in April 2026, marking a 7.3% year-on-year increase.

Total refunds rose 19.3% year-on-year to Rs 31,793 crore, leading to a net GST revenue of Rs 2,10,909 crore for the month.

The growth was supported by strong import-linked revenues. Gross import revenue jumped 25.8% to Rs 57,580 crore, while gross domestic revenue rose a more modest 4.3% to Rs 1.85 lakh crore.

The Invoice Management System (IMS) was introduced on the GST portal from the October 2024 tax period enabling the taxpayers to take actions on invoices uploaded by their suppliers through GSTR-1, GSTR-1A, or IFF, including accepting, rejecting, or keeping such records pending in the system.

To continuously enhance the taxpayer convenience and facilitate ease of compliance, an IMS Offline Tool has now been introduced in the GST system. The said offline tool is based on MS excel making it easy to use by the taxpayers and it enables them to undertake actions on both individual as well as bulk invoices in an efficient manner.

The Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) says that they regret the technical difficulties experienced in GSTR-3B return filing yesterday. Many chartered accountants and advocates yesterday voiced their concerns about being unable to file GSRT-3B montly return for March 2026 tax period.

GSTN said on the GST portal: "Based on feedback from GSTN, Govt is considering extension of filing date of monthly GSTR 3B (20th April) by one day (21st April)."
For those who don't know, Form GSTR-3B is a simplified summary return and the purpose of the return is for taxpayers to declare their summary GST liabilities for a particular tax period and discharge these liabilities. A normal taxpayer is required to file Form GSTR-3B returns for every tax period.

Please click on the link below to access the detailed advisory for taxpayers wherein the system-calculated interest for the February 2026 period which has been wrongly calculated and auto-populated in the March 2026 GSTR-3B. The advisory elaborates the process that needs to be followed by taxpayer for correct calculation of the interest.

GST system has introduced a new tool called IMS Offline Utility (v1.0) which will help taxpayers to work on IMS (Invoice Management System) data without staying online all the time. This utility is Excel-based, so users can download their IMS data, make changes or take action in Excel, and then upload it back to the GST portal later. This will make the work more easy, specially...

Additional Commissioner Namrita Dogra chairing a workshop at Jammu on Monday.
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 13: Jammu and Kashmir State Taxes Department (STD) today organized a comprehensive training workshop for representatives of Common Service Centers (CSCs) operating across Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts.

The initiative aimed at enhancing awareness and strengthening compliance in Goods and Services Tax (GST) procedures.
Chaired by Additional Commissioner Administration and Enforcement Jammu, Namrita Dogra, the participants were sensitized about various aspects of GST, including registration procedures, return filing and overall compliance requirements.

Department's officials also educated CSC operators on different types of fraud that may occur during the registration and return filing processes, emphasizing the need for vigilance and adherence to prescribed norms.
The participants were further apprised of the legal implications and consequences of any wrongdoing under the GST framework, encouraging them to maintain transparency and integrity in their operations.

In a significant ruling, the Karnataka High Court has held that pigmy agents—engaged in collecting deposits for banks—are to be treated as employees and not independent contractors, thereby exempting their remuneration from Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The order was passed by a single-judge bench of Justice M. Nagaprasanna while hearing a petition filed by Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank challenging a show-cause notice issued by the Deputy Commissioner of the State Commercial Taxes Department. The court not only ruled in favour of the bank but also quashed the show-cause notice.

The bench observed that pigmy agents function under the complete control and supervision of banks, much like regular employees. They are required to maintain security deposits with the bank and are assured minimum remuneration. Additionally, they are entitled to benefits such as gratuity, which are typically associated with employment rather than contractual arrangements.

Revenue from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue in the Commercial Taxes Department in Telangana increased 15 percent over the past three months.

Disclosing this at a meeting of a Cabinet Sub-Committee on revenue generation here on Friday, Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu said the Registration Department has also recorded revenue growth. The actual numbers on revenue are yet to be released.

The use of modern technologies like AI, continuous monitoring of tax revenues across departments, and systematic administration led to increased revenue generation.

The state govt plans to create an Al defence as rising GST input tax credit (ITC) scams cost the state exchequer thousands of crores of rupees. The models based on Al and machine-learning (ML) will help the govt detect fraudulent entities and transactions.
The commercial tax division of the state's finance department has tied up with BISAG-N (Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo- informatics) to develop a comprehensive system to detect ITC scams. Official sources said that with crores of transactions getting registered every year, the use of Al and ML to identify fraudulent ones has become the need of the hour.
A key govt source said that about 29 crore transactions related to input credit get registered in the state every year. "It is almost impossible to manually check and verify the authenticity of every transaction. The govt has decided to seek the services of BISAG to find a workable solution to malpractices in ITC," sources said.

While filing an appeal in Form APL-01 on the GST portal, the pre-deposit percentage is auto-populated as 10% in accordance with Section 107(6) of the CGST Act, 2017, and was previously non-editable. Due to this restriction, taxpayers faced difficulties in cases where the pre-deposit had already been made through other means or where the demand amount was incorrectly reflected under the appropriate head.

To address these issues, GSTN has now made the pre-deposit field editable at the time of filing the appeal, from April 6th, 2026. This allows taxpayers to modify the pre-deposit percentage as applicable to their specific case and calculate and pay the required amount accordingly while submitting the appeal. The appellate authority will subsequently verify the correctness of the pre-deposit amount and the mode of payment during the adjudication of the appeal.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council is likely to meet in late June or July after the current round of state elections is completed, and new governments are sworn in.

Sources familiar with the development said that as of now, there are no meetings of the GST Council scheduled. “The meeting of the GST Council will take place once the process of state elections and formation of governments is over. The new finance ministers from these states will be members of the Council,” the source pointed out, adding that a meeting is likely not before late June.

Four states and one Union Territory—Tamil Nadu, Assam, Keralam, West Bengal and Puducherry—are set to go to polls this month. Voting in Assam, Keralam and Puducherry is taking place on April 9. Counting of votes for all four states and UT is scheduled on May 4, following which government formation will take place.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on Friday conducted a hybrid outreach programme in the national capital to familiarise stakeholders with the Duty Deferment Scheme for Eligible Manufacturer Importers (EMI), a key trade facilitation measure announced in the Union Budget 2026-27.

The session, organised in New Delhi, brought together senior officials and industry representatives to discuss the framework, benefits and operational aspects of the scheme, according to a statement issued by the finance ministry, reported news agency ANI.
Yogendra Garg. Member (Customs), CBIC, Manish Kumar, Chief Commissioner, Delhi Customs; Sanjay Gupta, Chief Commissioner, Delhi Customs (Preventive) Zone; and Akhil Kumar Khatri, Chief Commissioner, DIC, were among those present, along with representatives from trade bodies and industry.