57th GST Council Meeting to Discuss Compliance and Process Reforms

The meeting was shifted from Wednesday to Thursday due to unavoidable circumstances, according to an office memorandum issued by the GST Council Secretariat.

The Council is expected to consider changes to the GST registration, returns and refunds processes, along with measures to streamline dispute resolution and improve the availability and flow of input tax credit. The proposed changes are aimed at reducing the time and costs involved in complying with GST requirements for businesses and taxpayers.

The proposals are understood to be part of wider recommendations made by the GST Council's Law Committee, which has examined ways to simplify GST provisions and draw a clearer distinction between deliberate tax evasion and instances where tax payments were missed without intent to evade.

The meeting is also expected to consider reforms that could make GST compliance easier for businesses, including suppliers operating through e-commerce platforms.

Under the existing GST framework, the Commissioner can authorise an arrest under Section 69 of the Central GST Act when there are grounds to believe that a person has committed specified offences under Section 132. These include certain cases involving tax evasion and fraudulent claims of input tax credit.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier this week said the next phase of GST reforms would focus on making compliance simpler and improving the refund mechanism, measures aimed at providing businesses with greater confidence to invest and expand.

Sitharaman has also indicated that the next stage of GST reforms would focus on simplifying registration, returns, refunds, dispute resolution and input tax credit procedures.

The GST Council meeting was initially scheduled for September 12 but was subsequently postponed. The schedule was later shifted to October 7, before being rescheduled again to Thursday.