New Delhi: The 57th GST Council meeting, chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, concluded in New Delhi with the Council approving a series of enforcement and procedural reforms. With the tax rate structure largely settled, the focus has shifted toward improving day-to-day operations under the Goods and Services Tax framework, aiming to simplify compliance for businesses across litigation, input tax credit, registration, returns, and refunds.
To address frequent operational hurdles, the Council proposed a common standard for issuing and serving GST notices, giving pre-notice intimations, alleging fraud, conducting hearings, and drafting orders. Additionally, no notices will be issued for cases involving amounts below Rs 10,000. A Committee of Officers has also been tasked with examining protections for genuine buyers who possess proper invoices, received goods, and paid suppliers in full, ensuring they do not lose input tax credit.
Input tax credit rules have been expanded to cover health and life insurance for employees, telecommunication towers, pipelines laid outside factories, free samples, and stock written off after expiry where statutory destruction is required. To eliminate double taxation, services bought and sold again in the same line of business will carry tax once instead of twice, covering hotel accommodations up to Rs 7,500 per night booked through agents, restaurant and catering services, and passenger transport.
Refund procedures are also set for major overhauls. Businesses facing an inverted rate structure will now be allowed refunds on tax paid on input services starting November 1, 2026. Furthermore, the exclusion of tax paid on plant and machinery for exporters and inverted-structure businesses will be removed beginning April 1, 2027, with refunds calculated monthly over the asset's working life to support working capital in sectors like pharma and FMCG.
Registration and business closure processes are moving toward greater automation. Low-risk applications already receive automated approval within three working days, and application forms will be updated to display only relevant fields. Amendments involving trade names, directors, partners, or additional business addresses will now be accepted automatically. Similarly, business cancellations will be automated in stages, and final returns will merge directly into the closure application rather than requiring a separate step.
To reduce administrative friction over minor return discrepancies, the system will allow sellers to adjust sales statements directly so changes properly reach buyers. Input tax credit will be systematically settled through the Invoice Management System, helping to minimize unnecessary system-generated notices and streamline overall tax administration.