Stories
GST Council Approves Major Reforms to Ease Compliance and Limit Physical Checks
- •The 57th GST Council approved sweeping process reforms covering registration, returns, refunds, and enforcement, set to take effect from April 1, 2027.
- •GST registration and routine amendments will be further automated and simplified, reducing bureaucratic hurdles for businesses.
- •Refund processes are streamlined, cutting the acknowledgement period to 10 days and automating 90% of claims based on risk assessments within three working days.
- •Physical inspections of goods in transit are heavily restricted, requiring specific intelligence and prior authorization from a Joint Commissioner.
- •The power of arrest is being removed from GST, the prosecution threshold is raised to ₹5 crore, and general penalties are reduced to ₹10,000.
Key Questions Answered
The 57th GST Council approved process reforms ensuring that GST registration applications for low-risk applicants are granted within three working days without officer intervention, while automated routine amendments cover trade name and address updates. For refunds, the acknowledgement period is reduced from 15 to 10 days, the system will sanction 90% of claims based on risk assessment within three working days, and excess cash-ledger refunds will become fully automatic.
The power of arrest is being removed from GST, and the threshold for criminal prosecution is being raised from ₹1 crore to ₹5 crore. Furthermore, the minimum punishment has been removed to leave sentencing entirely to judicial discretion, and the general penalty is reduced from ₹25,000 to ₹10,000.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that all approved GST process reforms will officially take effect from April 1, 2027.
