Overview
- The GST Council, meeting on October 8, is formally considering proposals to take arrest powers away from tax officers and require court authorisation for any arrest.
- The package would raise the monetary threshold for criminal prosecution from Rs 1 crore to Rs 5 crore and cut or remove several GST offences while removing minimum prison terms.
- Process reforms under consideration include a single multi‑state registration application, automatic three‑day or deemed 10‑day acknowledgements for filings, and faster refunds with 90% of eligible claims paid after automated risk checks.
- Measures aim to protect genuine buyers’ input tax credit when an upstream supplier defaults, bar GST notices for demands below Rs 10,000, and let small e‑commerce sellers use platform warehouses for state registration.
- If approved the changes will need GST Council sign‑off, legal amendments and state concurrence and are planned for phased implementation through 2027, preserving civil recovery tools such as tax collection, interest and penalties.