Practical Guide to Emerging Areas in GST with Draft Replies to Show Cause Notices by All India Federation of Tax Practitioners and A Jatin Christopher – Edition 2026

Practical Guide to Emerging Areas in GST with Draft Replies to Show Cause Notices is one of the most strategic, litigation-ready, and conceptually advanced GST publications. It is not a routine commentary on the Act. Instead, it identifies the precise areas where GST disputes are intensifying nationwide, in audits, scrutiny, investigations, and adjudications. It provides a principled, evidence-backed, draft-ready framework to defend taxpayers. The book is organised in two integrated parts:

• Part I decodes the law through first principles, case law, inter-statute comparison, and administrative law doctrines. It explains not only what the law is, but why certain departmental approaches are erroneous or ultra vires
• Part II operationalises these principles by meticulously drafting replies to the very SCNs that taxpayers are currently receiving, making this the first book to bridge high-level legal analysis with practical drafting templates.

The result is a publication that redefines how GST disputes are understood and handled, equipping readers to respond with clarity, authority, and procedural precision.

This book is intended for the following audience:

• GST & Indirect Tax Practitioners – Professionals who advise, represent, or defend clients in audits, investigations, adjudications, and appeals, including those appearing before GSTAT
• Corporate Tax, Finance & Compliance Leaders – CFOs, tax heads, controllers, and compliance teams dealing with complex valuation, ITC, cross-charge, contract interpretation, and credit distribution issues
• Litigators & Dispute-resolution Specialists – Advocates needing a statute-backed, case-law-supported, and ready-to-adapt drafting resource
• GST Officers & Administrators – Officers (Central and State) seeking doctrinal clarity on jurisdiction, proper officer roles, audit vs investigation boundaries, confiscation prerequisites, and due-process limitations
• Scholars & Advanced Students of Taxation – Researchers studying GST’s structural architecture, interplay with allied laws, and modern principles of tax administration

The Present Publication is the Latest Edition, commissioned by the All-India Federation of Tax Practitioners (AIFTP) and published exclusively by Taxmann. It is authored by CA. A Jatin Christopher and edited by CA. Janak Vaghani, with the following noteworthy features:

• [Advanced Treatment of GST’s Most Litigated Areas] The book identifies and analyses the ‘pressure-point issues’ that consistently appear in SCNs, audit objections, and adjudication orders. These include:
  • Deemed supplies and free-issue material
  • Discounts & pricing structures
  • Cross-charge vs ISD (post-2025 amendments)
  • Corporate guarantees (post Rule 28(2))
  • ESOPs & cross-border employee cost allocations
  • Section 194R perquisites & barter structures
  • Non-genuine suppliers & ‘fake ITC’ disputes
  • Section 16(4) time-barred credits
  • Confiscation vs seizure, interest computation, and jurisdictional lapses
  • The author provides not only the statutory interpretation but also the logical, contractual, and evidentiary framework that determines the GST consequence
• [Most Complete Exposition of Departmental Powers & Limitations] It thoroughly explains:
  • What scrutiny can and cannot examine
  • How audit differs from investigation
  • Why Section 67 powers cannot be used for routine verification
  • What constitutes ‘reasons to believe’
  • How the jurisdiction of the ‘Proper Officer’ is established
  • Why linear comparisons (GSTR-1 vs 3B; 2A/2B vs 3B; EWB vs 3B) are jurisprudentially unsound
  • How to challenge invalid authorisations, defective SCNs, incorrect service, and overreach
  • Each chapter functions as a practical defence manual for disputes
• [Draft Replies that Practitioners can Deploy Immediately] Every reply is:
  • Richly reasoned
  • Statutorily anchored
  • Supported by CBIC circulars, instructions, and press releases
  • Aligned with evidence, law and administrative law doctrines
  • Structured exactly as adjudicating authorities expect replies to be structured
  • Templates cover 15+ scenarios, including mismatches, ITC objections, e-way bill disputes, late fee/penalty, interest-only demands, RCM alleged short payments, ‘other income’ disputes, SPL-1 to SPL-4 amnesty replies, and non-genuine supplier allegations
• [Litigation Strategy Woven into Every Chapter] The book explains to the reader:
  • When not to reveal facts prematurely
  • How ‘without prejudice’ is misused and how to avoid self-damage
  • How to shift the burden of proof back to the department
  • Why SCN defects are fatal and cannot be cured in adjudication (Section 75(7))
  • How to prepare strategically for Tribunal, keeping in mind the limitations, interest cost, and probability analysis
  • Why remand, revision, and enhancement require strict statutory compliance
• [Robust Case-law Integration] Includes an extensive catalogue of landmark decisions such as:
  • Govind Saran, Oryx Fisheries, Nazir Ahmad, Brindavan Beverages, Binapani, Menaka Gandhi, Mafatlal, Ramlal, KM Cheria Abdulla, Gannon Dunkerley, Bhayana Builders, NM Goel, etc.
  • These are embedded in reasoning and drafting

The coverage of the book is as follows:

• Part I – Essential Aspects of GST Law | A doctrinal, example-rich, litigation-oriented analysis covering:
  • Contractual Architecture of GST Liability
    • Why GST disputes must begin by reading the commercial contract; how to detect sham contracts; interaction with RERA, NHAI, Stamp Act, Legal Metrology rules, and accounting disclosures
  • Classification of Supplies, Fiction & Non-fiction
    • Clarifies misunderstood concepts of ‘deemed supply’, ‘deeming fiction’, ‘distinct persons’, and the limits of Schedule I
  • Valuation Challenges – Discounts, FIM, Guarantees, ESOPs
    • Each area is analysed with illustrations, court precedents, and statutory logic, resolving common misconceptions that lead to flawed SCNs
  • Powers of the State vs. Rights of the Taxpayer
    • A tour of Sections 59, 61, 62, 63, 65, 67, 69, meticulously explaining their boundaries, preconditions, procedural safeguards, and consequences of breach
  • Interest, Confiscation, Remand & Revision
    • Demystifies interest computation under Rule 88B, establishes the ‘seizure → custody → confiscation’ chain, clarifies when remand is appropriate, and warns against revision being misused as a second adjudication
  • GSTAT Procedures & Future of GST Litigation
    • A deep review of the new GSTAT Procedure Rules 2025, hybrid hearings, registry powers, filing defects, and how litigation strategy must evolve
  • Death of the Taxpayer
    • A sophisticated discussion on abatement of proceedings when a taxpayer (individual or company via merger) ‘dies,’ and the limits of recovery from legal heirs or successors
• Part II – Draft Replies to Emerging Issues | A complete ready-to-use drafting suite covering:
  • GSTR-1 vs 3B
  • GSTR-2A vs 3B
  • GSTR-2B vs 3B
  • GSTR-7 (TDS) mismatches
  • Section 16(4) denial of ITC
  • Fake ITC/non-genuine supplier allegations
  • Free-of-cost supplies, expenditure-based supply allegations
  • E-way bill mismatches
  • RCM disputes
  • Interest-only demands
  • Late fee & general penalty
  • Mandatory CGST-SGST issues (Section 77)
  • SPL-1, SPL-2, SPL-3, SPL-4 replies under Amnesty Scheme
  • Each draft contains robust statutory argumentation, procedural objections, and a legally sound ‘Relief Sought’ section

The structure of the book is intentionally problem-solution oriented:

• Problem – What kinds of SCNs are being issued?
• Principles – Which legal doctrines apply (contract law, evidence law, administrative law, allied laws)?
• Process – Which statutory procedures must Revenue follow, and where is overreach occurring?
• Protection – Which rights, safeguards and jurisprudential tools does the taxpayer have?
• Practice – A ready-to-deploy reply draft structured as per real adjudication expectations