Overview
- The GST Council, which met Thursday, approved removing officers' power to arrest, raised the prosecution threshold from ₹1 crore to ₹5 crore, and set a ₹10,000 floor below which show‑cause notices will not be issued.
- The council shortened refund acknowledgement from 15 days to 10 days, set a target to sanction 90% of eligible refunds within three working days, and scheduled input‑service refunds from Nov. 1, 2026 with plant and machinery relief from April 1, 2027.
- Input tax credit scope was widened to cover items such as employee health and life insurance, telecom towers and certain free samples, while contested ITC issues including Section 16(2) were referred to a committee of officers to report in about three months.
- Administration will be more automated: routine registration changes will be auto‑accepted, an optional annual‑return with quarterly payments was approved in principle for B2C firms up to ₹5 crore turnover, and inspections of goods in transit will be limited to origin or destination states with senior authorization.
- The package is being rolled out in phases and requires legal amendments and IT upgrades, so final impact will depend on rule drafting and system readiness and will determine how quickly businesses see working‑capital and litigation relief.