New Delhi, October 8 (Daily Kiran) : The 57th GST Council meeting commenced in New Delhi on October 8, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The council is set to discuss the next phase of GST reforms being implemented by the government.
Chief Ministers from Delhi, Goa, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Meghalaya are participating in the meeting. Additionally, Deputy Chief Ministers from Manipur and Telangana, along with finance ministers and senior officials from various states and union territories, are also in attendance. Key figures include the Secretary of the Revenue Department and the Chairman and members of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).
Sources indicate that the proposed reforms aim to expedite the refund process, simplify company registrations, and remove a significant number of offenses from criminal provisions to promote trust-based administration.
The proposals focus on five major areas: procedural reforms, structural changes, ease of doing business, e-commerce, and export of services. Under the procedural reforms, there is a recommendation to accept refunds within ten days. After obtaining necessary information automatically through customs and banking systems, 90 percent of refunds will be issued based on risk assessment, enhancing the ease of doing business further.
Efforts are underway to establish uniform standards for notices, hearings, and orders in litigation cases, along with a system to avoid issuing notices for cases below a certain threshold.
Improvements in the return filing process are also on the table. The aim is to ensure accurate recording of changes, maintain a complete record, and automatically log relevant changes in the buyer’s ledger. This process, known as “invoice matching,” will allow input tax credits to be verified at the recording stage, significantly reducing the need for mismatch notices.
Currently, 61 percent of taxpayers receive GST registration within three working days without official approval. The process is being streamlined for the remaining taxpayers to minimize unnecessary inquiries and prevent registration rejections.
Additionally, there are proposals to make the process of closing a business as straightforward as starting one. Registrations suspended due to procedural errors will be automatically reinstated after corrections, without needing official intervention.
Sources have noted that the primary goal of these reforms is to automate tasks that can be handled based on data, allowing officials to focus only on cases that require human discretion and judgment.
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