The 57th GST Council has recommended reforms that move registration, cancellation and refunds onto automated, time-bound system processing, and that narrow enforcement powers. The CBIC has issued comprehensive FAQs which covers 12 areas, summarised section by section below. Implementation status matters. Most items are recommendations or proposed amendments to the CGST Act, CGST Rules, IGST Act or rate notifications. They apply only once the relevant notification, circular is issued. Further, several refund changes come in two phases depending on system readiness. These are summarized as under:

A. Registration changes 

Changes to a business’s legal name, constitution, or an added place of business will no longer wait for an officer. They will be treated as non-core amendments and processed automatically on filing FORM GST REG-14. For normal taxpayers, a change of principal place of business still needs approval, now within a fixed 15-day window.

New applicants will get a document checklist through a circular. The portal will show only the documents relevant to the type of premises selected. The FAQs state that officers cannot ask for anything beyond the prescribed list.

Cancellation is also being automated:

• Auto-acceptance: compliant taxpayers whose returns and dues are clear will have applications accepted automatically.
• Higher-ITC cases: taxpayers who passed on more than ₹2.5 lakh of credit in a month can get automated processing by filing GSTR-10 with the application.
• Suspended GSTINs: registrations suspended for six months of non-filing will be cancelled by the system. They can be revoked by the system if the taxpayer complies within 180 days.
• Dropped grounds: four grounds for officer-initiated cancellation are being removed, including the GSTR-1 versus GSTR-3B mismatch.

Online sellers get a new optional route under Rule 14B. Small sellers can register in another State using an e-commerce operator’s warehouse as their place of business, with the operator’s consent. The scheme applies where monthly output tax on business-to-business sales stays within ₹2.5 lakh.

B. Faster refunds for exporters

Exporters and businesses with an inverted duty structure stand to gain the most. For low-risk claims on zero-rated supplies and inverted duty, 90% of the refund will be sanctioned provisionally by the system. The provisional refund order is proposed within about three working days of acknowledgement, with no officer involvement at that stage.

Officers will have 10 days instead of 15 to acknowledge an application or raise a deficiency. If they do neither, the application is deemed acknowledged. Refunds of excess cash ledger balance will be fully automated.

In the second phase, refund data will be verified electronically against:

• ICEGATE, for shipping bills
• the RBI’s EDPMS, for export proceeds on services
• SEZ Online, for supplies to SEZ units

Two long-standing irritants are also going:

• 1.5x domestic-value cap removed: exporters will no longer have to give the value of like goods sold domestically by similar suppliers when computing refunds under Rule 89(4)(C).
• ₹1,000 minimum applied in total: the minimum refund is now measured across all tax heads together rather than each head separately.

The definition of “Net ITC” is also being widened:

• Input services: credit availed from 1 November 2026 will count toward inverted duty refunds.
• Capital goods: credit availed from 1 April 2027 will count toward both export and inverted duty refunds, spread over 60 months.

Inversion will still be tested by comparing the tax rate on input goods with the rate on outputs.

C. No arrests, fewer notices

The most striking change is on enforcement: arrest provisions are being removed from GST law altogether.

• Prosecution threshold: rises from ₹1 crore to ₹5 crore of tax evaded.
• Maximum sentences: up to five years above ₹10 crore, and up to two years between ₹5 crore and ₹10 crore.
• Court discretion: courts can impose a fine alone, and the six-month minimum sentence is dropped.

Small disputes will also be kept out of litigation. No show-cause notice can be issued under Sections 73, 74 or 74A where the tax involved is below ₹10,000. That figure is the total across CGST, SGST, IGST and cess, excluding interest and penalty.

On the roads, random e-way bill checks will end. A vehicle can be stopped only with authorisation from an officer of at least Joint Commissioner rank, with reasons recorded in writing. Only the supplier’s or recipient’s State can detain or seize goods. A transit State must let the vehicle pass and forward any concern, unless the goods move with no e-way bill or documents at all.

D. Others 

• Exports – Section 13(3)(a) of the IGST Act is omitted. Services on goods physically made available in India for foreign clients become zero-rated exports. Examples are testing, repair, R&D and clinical trials.
• Goods and services rate clarifications – The Council settled several classification disputes, regularising past periods on an “as is where is” basis in two cases, and extended 2% TDS and RCM to more scrap categories.

Item	Clarification or change	Reference
Seaweed extract bio-stimulants	Heading 3101 (fertilisers), only if registered under Schedule VI of the Fertiliser Control Order, 1985; products with plant growth regulators excluded; past cases regularised “as is where is”	S. No. 237, Sch. I, Notf. 9/2025-CT(R)
Toys	Entry covers all toys under heading 9503 (dolls, puzzles etc.), not only tricycles, pedal cars and scooters	S. No. 497 Sch. I and 616 Sch. II, Notf. 9/2025-CT(R)
Second-hand cars, margin scheme	Dealers can claim ITC on repairs, spares and other business inputs and still use the margin scheme; no ITC on the purchase of the used car itself	Notf. 8/2018-CT(R), 9/2018-IT(R), 1/2018-Cess(R)
Sublimation paper	Heading 4809, not 4810 22; past period regularised “as is where is”	S. No. 176, Sch. II, Notf. 9/2025-CT(R)
Retreaded tractor tyres	Rate aligned with new tractor tyres	To be notified
Psyllium seeds (isabgol)	Separate Nil-rate entry, whether fresh, chilled, frozen or dried	Notf. 10/2025-CT(R)

• TDS and RCM on more scrap categories. The metal scrap model from the 54th Council meeting extends to:
  • waste and scrap of plastics
  • waste and scrap of tyres
  • electrical and electronic waste and scrap
  • used cooking oil

Supply	Mechanism	Buyer’s obligation
Registered supplier to registered buyer	TDS at 2% under Section 51	Deduct 2% from payment; file GSTR-7; issue TDS certificate
Unregistered supplier to registered buyer	Reverse charge	Pay GST under RCM and report in the return, even if the supplier is below the threshold

The supplier must register once aggregate turnover crosses the Section 22 threshold; TDS then applies to later supplies to registered buyers.

• Services: exemptions, rates and ITC

The services changes add several exemptions, remove EV and reseller anomalies, and tighten treatment of logistics linked to e-commerce.

1. Helicopter passenger transport

• • Exemption extended to helicopter transport on a seat-sharing basis to or from specified airports, in addition to the existing economy-class air exemption.
  • Chartered helicopter services are not covered.
  • Helipads count as aerodromes under the Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam, 2024, so helipad operations qualify.

2. Foreign shipping lines

• • Import of services from the overseas head office to the Indian establishment is exempt only where provided without consideration.
  • “Foreign company” has the meaning in Section 2(42) of the Companies Act, 2013.
  • Past periods regularised “as is where is”; tax already paid will not be refunded.
  • Brings parity with foreign airlines.

3. Electric vehicles

• • Earlier rate options for passenger transport and rental with operator depended on fuel cost being included, and electricity is not “fuel”, so EV services were treated differently.
  • Now, where battery charging cost is included in the consideration, EV services get the same rates as fuel vehicles.
  • Leasing or rental without operator is unchanged and taxed at the rate of the underlying goods.

4. Vehicle leasing recoveries: registration charges, road tax, insurance, FASTag and other ancillary costs recovered from the lessee form part of the composite leasing supply, taxed at the leasing rate.

5. E-commerce linked transport and delivery

Service	Rate	Who pays
GTA transport of goods ordered or supplied through an ECO	5% without ITC or 18% with ITC; Entry 21A exemption not available	GTA (ECO not liable under Section 9(5))
GTA transport of goods not linked to an ECO	Entry 21A exemption continues	Unchanged
Delivery service, provider not liable to register	5% without ITC	ECO under Section 9(5)
Delivery service, provider liable to register	5% without ITC	Delivery service provider
Individual truck owners/operators	No change	Unchanged

6. Toll rights (TOT model)

• • Grant of exclusive rights to operate and collect tolls is exempt, for both upfront and periodic payments by the concessionaire.
  • This applies only where the grantor is Government, a local authority, a governmental authority or a government entity; not a private grantor.
  • This is separate from toll charges for road use, already exempt under Entry 23 of Notf. 12/2017-CT(R).

7. O&M services under TOT concessions (Section 148 special procedure)

• • Applies to concessionaires under a TOT agreement with government bodies whose O&M cost is adjusted from the upfront concession fee.
  • GST is paid in the tax period when O&M expenses are debited to the escrow account (maintained with NHAI).
  • Value equals the actual expense debited. For example, ₹100 debited means GST on ₹100.
  • GST on the whole O&M component is not payable at the start of the concession.
  • Other road O&M contracts are not covered.

8. ITC for resellers of 5% services

• • Resellers can claim ITC on the same category of input service used to supply the same output service.
  • This covers hotel accommodation up to ₹7,500 per unit per day, restaurant and outdoor catering, and gym and fitness services.
  • It is limited to same-category ITC, as already allowed for passenger transport, tour operators and motor vehicle renting.

9. Seamen’s Provident Fund Organisation: services administering the Seamen’s Provident Fund Scheme are exempt, in line with EPFO and CMPFO.

10. Research and development

• • The head of the government entity, research association, university, college or institution notified under Section 35(1)(ii)/(iii) of the Income Tax Act certifies that the work is R&D, not consultancy.
  • Field officers may accept this certificate as the basis for the exemption.
  • No prescribed format. Keep it on record; produce it only on request in scrutiny, audit or investigation, not with monthly returns.

11. Coffee curing

• • Curing under the Coffee Act, 1942 means mechanical processes other than pulping: drying, hulling, cleaning, sorting, grading, polishing.
  • Exempt when supplied to coffee cultivators, whether done at the estate or at separate curing works.
  • Roasting and other processing are not covered.

12. Storage of seeds for sowing

• • Storage and warehousing of all seeds meant for sowing are exempt, whether or not they are agricultural produce, as defined in para 2 of Notf. 12/2017-CT(R).
  • Seeds for consumption, industrial or other non-sowing use are excluded.

To access the complete FAQs https://cdn.taxo.online/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/FAQ-57th-GSTC.pdf