The 57th meeting of the GST Council has been rescheduled for October 8, a day after its previously scheduled date, with the Secretariat citing “unavoidable circumstances”.According to an office memorandum issued by the GST Council Secretariat on October 5, the meeting will now be held from 11 am at the Summit Room of Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. The meeting was earlier scheduled for October 7.This is the second time the meeting has been rescheduled. It was originally scheduled for September 12 but was later deferred to October 7, with the earlier change linked to the BRICS summit held in New Delhi on September 12 and 13.The Council, chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and comprising state and Union Territory representatives, is expected to discuss changes to GST registration, returns and refunds, along with measures to resolve disputes and improve the flow of input tax credit.The meeting is also expected to consider a package of GST process and enforcement reforms aimed at simplifying compliance and making tax administration more proportionate.Arrest powers, prosecution threshold likely on agendaOne of the key proposals under consideration is to take away the power of GST officers to arrest taxpayers and require judicial authorisation for any arrest, as reported by PTI sources on Sunday. The proposal concerns Section 69 of the Central GST Act, under which the Commissioner can currently authorise an officer to arrest a person when statutory conditions are met.The Council may also consider raising the threshold for launching criminal prosecution from Rs 1 crore to Rs 5 crore. The proposals would narrow the range of GST offences that can lead to criminal proceedings, with routine disputes over issues such as classification, valuation and input tax credit potentially being kept outside the criminal process.Another proposal seeks to protect genuine buyers’ input tax credit when an upstream supplier defaults on tax payments, with recovery action instead directed at the defaulting seller.The Council may also consider easing GST registration requirements for small e-commerce sellers, including allowing platform warehouses to serve as registered places of business in states where sellers do not have their own premises. The proposal could help small sellers access wider markets.Other proposals reportedly include allowing employers to claim input tax credit on GST paid on employee insurance premiums, simplifying GST registration and annual returns, and reducing low-value litigation.The proposed measures are part of the next phase of GST reforms, with the focus shifting from rate rationalisation to simpler compliance, faster administration, wider access to input tax credit and more targeted enforcement. The Council’s 56th meeting in September 2025 had approved the major GST rate overhaul, while the upcoming meeting is expected to focus largely on process and administrative reforms.
