RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN GOODS AND SERVICES TAX

According to India's Chief Economic Advisor (CEA), global order is entering a highly volatile 20 years cycle and that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will increase the cognitive load of humans.

CBIC has notified that petrol with ethanol blend of 20-30% shall be exempt from Central Excise Duty. This is considered as a necessary first step towards introducing higher blends.

GSTAT Principal Bench has released minutes of meeting recommending few changes in the GSTAT Procedure Rules based on feedback to make them practical and easy to implement.

Various benches across the country have issued notices intimating about the functioning of state benches including setting up of 'help desk' to facilitate online filing of appeals GSTAT has been holding outreach programs to have interaction with stakeholders and sensitizing the last date (30.06.2026) to file legacy appeals. Better late then never. Looking to the volume of likely appeals due for filing, it appears that last date may have to be extended in the larger interest of justice, fairness and equity. GSTAT has also issued an advisory on payment of pre-deposit and court fees.

GSTN has issued an advisory on ship-to-GSTN and voluntary e-way bill closure through updated EWB API's.

CESTAT, Hyderabad bench has clarified that delayed payment charges recovered by brokers from their clients are essentially in the nature of financing interest and do not attract Service Tax as a declared service. While this is a welcome ruling, it may hold in GST regime too, besides being applied to all such delayed payment charges payable in case of banks, NBFC's, toll payments and other penalty linked payments.

Next GST Council meeting is not yet on radar as there are no signs of it being scheduled in near future. However, it ought to be convened, sooner the better, as various issues and concerns can be resolved.

Instructions for show cause notices (SCN) - Haryana SGST

Excise & Taxation Department, Haryana has issued following instructions for intimation of SCNs and Demand Orders issued by the Proper Officers:

• The Show Cause Notice in FORM GST DRC-01 and the Demand Order in FORM GST DRC-07 issued under Sections, 74, 74A or 122 of the CGST/ HGST Act, 2017, Section 20 of the IGST Act, 2017 and the relevant provisions of the Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Act, 2017 which have already been issued and served upon the taxpayers through the GST common portal by the Proper Officers, shall, additionally, be sent through registered post/speed post with acknowledgement due, to the person for whom it is intended or his authorized representative if any, at his last known place of business or residence by the Proper Officer concerned for the purpose of intimation only.
• Such notice or order shall be deemed to have been received by the taxpayer on the date of making it available on GST common portal in accordance with clause (d) of sub-section (1) and sub-section(2) of Section 169 of the said Act.
• The Jurisdictional Proper Officer will send the intimation regarding the issuance of Show Cause Notice or the Demand Order, as the case may be, within fifteen days of issuance of such notice or order through the GST common portal. He will maintain the dispatch register of intimation of all such notices/orders in his ward and monitor the same on fortnightly basis.
• The Deputy Commissioner of State Tax of the district will supervise and countersign the dispatch registers maintained ward wise on monthly basis.
• These instructions will come into effect from the 1st June, 2026.
• These may be assumed to hold good for other jurisdictions.

(Source: Instruction No. 02/2026/GST-II dated 01.06.2026

issued by Excise and Taxation Commissioner-cum-Commissioner of State GST, Haryana)

Directives for issuance of SCN's for FY 2020-21 - Ludhiana Commissionerate

• GST Commissionerate, Ludhiana has directed all officers under the Commissionerate that In view of the approaching statutory deadline of 31.08.2026 for issuance of Show Cause Notices (SCNs) pertaining to F.Y. 2020-21, all the Additional Commissioners, Deputy/Assistant Commissioners, and Range Officers shall ensure timely completion of all preparatory activities.
• It may include issuance of alerts, conduct of physical verification (PV),downloading and analysis of return data from the BO Portal, drafting of Show Cause Notices, and any other related groundwork.
• Following timelines shall be adhered to:

(i) All Additional Commissioners shall ensure submission of draft Show Cause Notices falling within their adjudication competency for F.Y. 2020-21 to the Principal Commissioner for his perusal at least 30 days prior to the prescribed last date for issuance.

(ii) All Deputy/Assistant Commissioners shall ensure submission of draft Show Cause Notices falling within their adjudication competency for F.Y. 2020-21 to the respective Additional Commissioner for his/her perusal at least 30 days prior to the prescribed last date for issuance.

(iii) All Range Officers shall ensure submission of draft Show Cause Notices falling within the competency of the Superintendent for F.Y. 2020-21 to the respective Deputy/Assistant Commissioner for his perusal at least 30 days prior to the prescribed last date for issuance.

• Further Advisory includes-

• All authorities responsible for issuance of Show Cause Notices are expected to ensure that the notices are drafted comprehensively and accurately, duly incorporating all relevant facts, records and data.
• Appropriate legal provisions, including the applicable Sections, Rules, and other statutory provisions, as warranted by the facts of each case, must be duly invoked in the Show Cause Notices.
• All cases involving a demand of Rs. 5 crore and above should preferably be referred to Headquarters (Anti-Evasion) for detailed investigation.

(Source: Letter dated 18.06.2026 issued by Principal Commissioner,

GST Commissionerte, Ludhiana)

GSTAT's User Advisory on Pre-deposit

• GSTAT has released an User Advisory on higher court exemption or correction of pre-deposit amount for filing of GSTAT appeals. It explains how to review and proceed when the pre-deposit amount is auto-populated from the GSTN portal, and how to upload the document when an exemption has been granted by a higher court or when the user identifies a variance in the auto-fetched amount.

• When and how to use advisory

• Use these steps when the appeal is being filed using the available ARN/CRN option and the pre-deposit data is fetched automatically from GSTN and the same data can't be changed by the user.
• Use the exemption/correction option if a higher court has exempted the pre-deposit amount, or if the auto-fetched amount differs from the user's calculation.
• If ARN/CRN is not available, the required data must be entered manually in the relevant forms under Demand Details Tab.

• Steps involved

• Open demand details and confirm the demand
• Review demand admitted and disputed demand details
• Choose exemption or self calculation correction, if applicable.
• Re-check demand admitted and disputed demand details
• Complete pre-deposit payment on GSTN

• Uploaded relevant supporting documents in upload document section, after selection of exemption or self calculation correction.
• Linking of voluntary / other payments made (DRC 03) with outstanding demand (DRC 03A) Form DRC -03A is meant to resolve cases where taxpayers paid outstanding demand orders such as DRC-07, DRC-08, MOV-09, MOV-11, or APL-04 through DRC 03 instead of the portal's 'Payment towards demand' facility, due to which the payment was made but the demand did not get closed in the electronic liability register.
• Register for balance tracking, and raise technical grievances under 'DRC-03A-Filing' on the GST self-service portal if needed. For more information click on 'https://efiling.gstat.gov.in/downloads/manual/GSTN-Advisory-for-Form-GST-DRC-03A.pdf'

[Source: GSTAT dated 18.06.2026; (gstat.gov.in)]

Deferment of mandatory capture of Ship-to GSTIN and introduction of voluntary E-Way Bill closure through updated e-Invoice/EWB APIs

GSTN has issued an advisory clarifying the changes required in the e-Invoice API, E-Way Bill by IRN API and EWB Closure API in relation to mandatory capture of Ship-to GSTIN and Voluntary Closure of E-Way Bill. These changes will be implemented from 1st August, 2026.

1. Mandatory Ship-to GSTIN in IRN/EWB APIs

• Applicable where E-Way Bill is generated along with e-Invoice or through IRN.
• In Bill-to/Ship-to transactions, Ship-to GSTIN will be conditionally mandatory.
• If the consignee is unregistered, 'URP' can be reported.
• New validations introduced for GSTIN, State Code and PIN Code consistency.

2. E-Way Bill by IRN API Changes

• A dedicated Ship-to GSTIN field has been added.
• EWB generation through IRN will fail if mandatory Ship-to GSTIN requirements are not met.

3. Voluntary Closure of E-Way Bill

• EWB can be voluntarily closed after completion of delivery.
• Closure can be done by:
  • Supplier
  • Recipient
  • Transporter
  • Driver/authorized person through registered mobile number
• Facility available through Portal as well as APIs.

4. Sandbox Available

• All API changes have been released in the Sandbox environment for testing.
• Stakeholders should complete ERP/API modifications before 1 August 2026.

(Source: GSTN Advisory dated 17.06.2026)

Advisory on Online Payment of Court Fees on GSTAT Portal

For the appeals being filed before GST Appellate Tribunal, GSTAT has advised taxpayers that in cases where online payment of court fees has been made but the payment status is not reflected as 'Success', the following may be noted:

• The taxpayer is advised to wait for up to 72 hours from the time of making the payment, as the status update may take some time due to payment processing delays
• If the payment status does not update to 'Success' even after 72 hours, the system will not restrict or prevent the filing of the appeal.
• In such situations, the taxpayer will be allowed to proceed with the appeal filing process on the GSTAT portal without any interruption.
• The payment status will be appropriately reconciled at the backend, and the appeal filing process shall not be adversely affected.

[Source: GSTAT Advisory dated 18.06.2026

(https://gstat.gov.in)]

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