Realtime Updates

23/04/2026

*REALTIME* Updates:

1. *Jaipur ITAT* has given a second chance to a Jaipur-based individual who delayed filing his appeal by over 600 days, citing lack of knowledge of online procedures. In the case of Kishan Lal Meena vs ITO, the tribunal condoned a delay of 631 days and restored the matter to the Assessing Officer (AO), stressing that a taxpayer’s right to be heard should not be denied due to technical or procedural limitations. What was the case about? The matter relates to Assessment Year 2009–10, where the Income Tax Department reopened the case after detecting credit card expenses of Rs 15.75 lakh through financial transaction data.

2. *ITAT Kolkata* has now stepped in with a clear message: a taxpayer cannot be punished for the employer’s fault. The case involved Deepak Kumar Ruia vs DCIT (Kolkata ITAT, order dated May 20, 2024) for Assessment Year 2016–17. The taxpayer, a salaried employee of Falcon Tyres Pvt Ltd, had TDS of Rs 17.97 lakh deducted from his salary. However, the employer failed to deposit this TDS with the government and eventually went into liquidation.

3. *Central Goods and Services Tax Act,* 2017(12 ot 2017), the Commissioner, on the recommendations of the GS Council, hereby extends the due date for furnishing the return in FORM GSTR-3B for the month of March, 2026 till the twenty-first day of April, 2026, for the registered persons who are required to furnish return under sub-section (1) of section 39 read with clause (i) of sub-rule (1) of rule 61 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017. This notification shall come into effect from 20th day of April, 2026.

4. *Calcutta High Court* has set aside an adjudication order in the case of Duakem Pharma Pvt. Ltd. vs. The Deputy Commissioner of Revenue, ruling that the order travelled beyond the scope of the Show Cause Notice (SCN). The SCN was issued for ITC reversal relating to exempt supplies under Section 17(2) of the CGST Act, but the adjudication order introduced a new ground of product classification, violating Section 75(7) of the CGST Act .

With best regards

*CA Prabina Kumar Moningi*
Founder REALTIME Updates
Platform of 21000+ Professionals
Hyderabad
📞9866431188

20/04/2026

*REALTIME* Updates;

1. The *Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT),* Nagpur, has ruled that not every bank credit or entry in the Annual Information System (AIS) is taxable. In the case of Shashi Vasant Shastri Vs ACIT (AY 2013-14), the Tribunal held that mere receipt of money, such as an advance against an unexecuted property sale, does not constitute income unless it falls within the definition under the Income-tax Act.

2. New *HRA Rules 2026:* From April 1, 2026, salaried employees claiming House Rent Allowance (HRA) must disclose their relationship with the landlord in Form 124 if the annual rent exceeds ₹1 lakh. This new rule aims to increase transparency and reduce misuse of HRA claims.

3. *GST Registration Cancellation* Set Aside Due to Non-Consideration of Illness Reason: Case Name : G.B. Traders Vs Union of India & Ors. (Bombay High Court).

4. The *Reserve Bank of India* has opened an exclusive foreign exchange window for supplying dollars to state-run refiners, easing pressure on the spot exchange rate, currency analysts, bankers and traders told ET. It’s likely routed through state-run lenders such as the State Bank of India, they said.

With best regards

*CA Prabina Kumar Moningi*
Founder REALTIME Updates
Platform of 21000+ Professionals
Hyderabad
📞9866431188

23/03/2026

*REALTIME* Updates:

1. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has called on tax officials to shift their approach, prioritizing taxpayer ease and leveraging technology to tackle evasion. The new Income Tax Act, effective April 1, 2026, aims to simplify compliance, reduce litigation, and promote transparency .

2. Key highlights of the new Act include:
Simplification*: Reduced word count from 5.12 lakh to 2.6 lakh, with 39 new tables and 40 formulas for clarity. Reduced Litigation*: Focus on minimizing disputes and promoting taxpayer-government collaboration.
Local Outreach*: Awareness sessions in local languages to educate taxpayers.
Tech-Driven Enforcement*: AI and data tools to track and curb tax evasion.

3. Sitharaman emphasized, "Make paying tax so easy that honesty becomes the natural choice. But those who are wilfully evading, technology must catch them"

4. The new Act doesn't introduce new tax rates but simplifies language, removing redundant provisions and archaic language. It reduces sections from 819 to 536 and chapters from 47 to 23.

5. Entire Receipts Cannot Be Treated as Unexplained if Income Already Offered: Case Name : Suraj Vijay Kulkarni Vs ITO (ITAT Mumbai).

With best regards

*CA Prabina Kumar Moningi*
Founder REALTIME Updates
Platform of 21000+ Professionals
Hyderabad
📞9866431188

17/02/2026

*REALTIME Updates*

1. *Income Tax Act, 2025*: Starting April 1, 2026, several income tax forms like Form 26AS, Form 16, Form 13 and others will be renamed as the new Income Tax Act, 2025 will be effective from this date. Over time, names like Form 26AS, Form 16, and others became quite familiar to salaried employees, pensioners, senior citizens and others.

2. So, switching to the new form numbers under the Income-tax Act, 2025 might cause some initial hiccups, especially in the early days of the rollout. Some new names of tax forms The Income-tax Act, 2025 read with the Draft Income Tax Rules 2026 has updated the numbering of several statutory forms, with the corresponding changes notified under the Draft Income-tax Rules, 2026.

3. *Karnataka High Court* examined the validity of ex-parte assessment orders for assessment years 2018-19 and 2019-20 passed against the petitioner. The petitioner contended that it could not respond to the show cause notices because the notices were sent to the email ID of an employee who had left the company, and therefore it had no knowledge of the proceedings. The Revenue argued that the notices were sent to the email address furnished by the petitioner and that any internal employment changes could not invalidate service of notice.

4. *India’s global capability centres (GCCs)* continued to hire at scale in 2025 even as selective layoffs took place. Around 5,500–6,000 roles were cut across India’s GCC ecosystem in 2025, according to UnearthIQ data estimates. One large event at Technicolour alone accounted for more than 3,000 of those roles, while the remaining reductions were spread across roughly 20 GCCs. “Around 5,500 to 6,000 roles were laid off.

5. *UDIN Directorate* of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India announced implementation of field-level validation across all sub-categories under Section 44AB (clauses a to e) at the time of UDIN generation under the “GST and Tax Audit” category. The Council, at its 442nd meeting in May 2025, had approved a ceiling of 60 tax audits per member, effective April 1, 2026, with corresponding restrictions on UDIN generation for Forms 3CA and 3CB categories.

6. *In line with this decision, the UDIN portal* will enforce the ceiling from April 1, 2026. Additionally, field-level validations have been introduced immediately to ensure compliance with statutory thresholds such as turnover limits, gross receipts criteria, cash transaction percentages, presumptive taxation conditions, and applicability of Sections 44AD, 44ADA, 44AE, 44BB, and 44BBB. UDIN generation will proceed only upon satisfying specified validation logic. Members have been advised to take note and ensure accurate data entry while generating UDINs.

With best regards

*CA Prabina Kumar Moningi*
Founder REALTIME Updates
Platform of 21000+ Professionals
Hyderabad
📞9866431188

13/02/2026

*REALTIME Updates*

1. *Income Tax Collections*: Net direct tax collections for the current financial year rose 9.4% year-on-year to Rs 19.43 lakh crore as of February 10, reflecting steady growth in revenue mobilisation compared with the same period last year. The increase signals continued momentum in tax compliance and economic activity during the ongoing fiscal.

2. *Income Tax Collections*: Data released by the Income Tax Department showed that net corporate tax collection grew 14.51 per cent to Rs 8.90 lakh crore, while taxes from non-corporates, including individuals and Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs), rose 5.91 per cent to about Rs 10.03 lakh crore. Securities Transaction Tax collection stood at Rs 50,279 crore between April 1 and February 10, almost flat as compared to the same period last year.

3. *FDI*: Government has created a special window for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of up to 20% in Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) through changes in the FDI Policy. This FDI in LIC has been allowed through the automatic route. The amendments to the FDI Policy by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) through Press Note 1 of 2026.

4. *FDI*: The changes in the policy would also allow for FDI up to 100% in an insurance company through an automatic route. Closing the Float Gap FDI limit will aid the offer for sale (OFS) in LIC, a large stock which commands a market cap of around Rs 5.6 lakh crore. The OFS is required to help the company meet the minimum public shareholding norms.

5. *GST Refund*: Rajasthan High Court disposed of a batch of writ petitions by a common order, taking facts from B. Civil Writ Petition No. 12413/2025. The petitioner, a proprietorship concern based in Karnataka, is engaged in trading arecanut and makes taxable supplies in the State of Karnataka. The dispute arose from an order dated 08.07.2025 passed under Section 130 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (CGST Act), whereby penalty and fine aggregating to Rs. 53,33,125/- were imposed.

6. *GST Refund* Delay Beyond One Year Requires Decision Within Fixed Time: Case: ITPreneurs Technology Private Limited Vs Joint Commissioner & Anr (Delhi High Court)

With best regards

*CA Prabina Kumar Moningi*
Founder REALTIME Updates
Platform of 21000+ Professionals
Hyderabad
📞9866431188

09/02/2026

*REALTIME UPDATES*

Income Tax Update

1. Compare Old Act (1961) vs. New Act (2025) in One Click. As we transition to the Income-tax Act, 2025 (effective April 1, 2026), the biggest challenge for professionals is finding the new section numbers for old provisions.

2. To solve this, the Income Tax Department has launched a Section-to-Section Mapping Utility.

3. Features of the Utility:

4. Instant Mapping: Select a Section from the Old Act (1961), and it shows the corresponding Clause in the New Act (2025).

5. Reverse Search: You can also search from New Act to Old Act.

6. No Login Required: Open to all.

7. Access the Utility Here: https://incometaxindia.gov.in/Pages/income-tax-navigator-utility-2025.aspx


8. Income-tax Act, 2025 is to come into force from the 1st of April, 2026. Draft Income-tax Rules, 2026 and forms forming part of these Rules have been framed. These Rules are required to be notified shortly. Prior to the said notification, it has been decided to place the draft Income-tax Rules, 2026 (and Forms) in public domain so as to seek the feedback/comments from stakeholders and public.


9. The draft rules and forms shall remain in public domain for a period of 15 days i.e. upto 22nd of February, 2026. All stakeholders and members of public are requested to go through these draft rules and forms and provide considered feedback on the same so as to make the exercise of framing of subordinate legislation more participative and effective.

10. The drafting of new Income-tax Rules and forms has followed the same philosophy as that of the new Income-tax Act 2025. The language of the rules has been simplified to the extent possible. Formulas and tables have been provided wherever necessary. Redundancy in the Income-tax Rules, 1961 has been sought to be eliminated. While preserving the larger content of the policy, certain changes have been introduced in line with the changes in the Income-tax Act, 2025.

11. The forms which are part of the draft rules have also been simplified to a large extent for the ease of the taxpayers. Standardization of common information has been done across the forms with a view to reducing the compliance burden of the taxpayers. Forms have been designed in a smart way so as to provide for automated reconciliation and also prefill capabilities so as to make filing more intuitive and less error-prone.

12. These smart forms would considerably ease the filing and enhance the user experience. They would also enable centralised processing and data driven decision making so that the technology is used to provide better services to the taxpayers. The language of the forms has also been simplified so as to avoid any operational, administrative or legal ambiguity. Notes to forms have been simplified.

With best regards

*CA Prabina kumar Moningi*
Founder REALTIME Updates
Platform of 21000+ Professionals
Hyderabad
📞9866431188

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