RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN GOODS AND SERVICES TAX

Indian economy and its financial system continues to be susceptible to geo-political tensions and associated shocks despite the West Asia crises receding. However, the economy remains exposed to energy shocks and supply chain disruptions, due to dependence on import of oil and other items. India's FY 2027 growth is expected to be in range of 6.4 - 6.7% according to various agency including S & P.

GST has ensured high compliance levels over nine years. Challenges regarding refund delays and input tax credit continue to exist. GST is now a universally accepted concept of taxation. It is also seen that nearly 50 percent of the processes are now automated including e-invoicing and e-way bills ensuring greater transparency, consistency and ease of doing business. There are however, few concerns about accumulated credit and inverted duty structure related to input services which need to be addressed. It is expected that next GST Council meeting may see the light of the day in July and may be held at Kolkata.

GSTAT benches are largely functioning now. Central Government has extended the deadline for filing GST appeals before GSTAT by one month upto 31st July, 2026 from 30th June, 2026, owing to huge backlog, technical glitches on portal and late commencement of functioning of various benches. It is understood that till 30th June only about 50,000 appeals were filed.

With the extension of date, now the taxpayers and professionals will be at ease to file the appeals which is happening for the first time in 9 years of GST. Further, GSTAT President has constituted a special bench of 3 Members including himself to decide upon limitation bar for overdue appeals and the decision shall be applicable and binding across all benches in the country. A welcome step indeed!!

CBIC has issued a circular clarifying on jurisdiction in case of migration or transfer of taxable persons. GSTN has also issued an advisory on updation of average aggregate turnover on the portal and FAQs on e-way bills.

GST collection in June, 2026 has been encouraging with gross collection rising by 14% to touch Rs. 1.95 lakh crore, close to Rs. 2 lakh crore. However, net GST collection after refunds was at Rs. 162 lakh crores. All sub-sets of collection, viz, CGST, IGST, SGST have shown a growth including IGST from imports. Also, imports in Q1 of current fiscal have recorded a better growth than domestic revenue growth. Both domestic and import refunds have also gone up on YoY basis. GST growth indicates that domestic consumption continues to be robust. The growth in GST collection also supports the recent tax reforms.

CBIC clarification re Jurisdiction on Migration / Transfer of Taxable Persons

CBIC has issued a clarification on the authority competent to act, at various stages of proceedings under the CGST Act, 2017 in cases where the jurisdiction of the taxable person has changed on account of change in Principal Place of Business of the taxable person.

• A conflict between the validity of action already taken by the erstwhile (transferor) jurisdictional officer, and the need for the present (transferee) jurisdictional officer to have control over the proceeding once a taxable person has migrated/transferred to a different jurisdiction.
• The governing principle, applicable uniformly across all stages of actions or proceedings, is that jurisdiction to exercise a statutory power is required to be assessed as on the date on which the power is actually invoked.
• A subsequent migration/transfer of the taxable person does not retrospectively vitiate a proceeding already validly initiated or concluded by the erstwhile (transferor) jurisdictional officer, though it does affect who should conduct matters from that point forward.
• In case of action in any stage of proceeding (audit, SCN, order etc) which has been validly taken by the jurisdicational officer over the taxpayer / transferor, such action shall remain valid despite of subsequent transfer of such taxable person to another jurisdiction (transferee).
• The conduct of the next stage of proceedings, and the implementation of any directions contained in an action already taken or proceedings, is however to be undertaken by the officer presently having jurisdiction (transferee) over the taxable person, and not by the erstwhile (transferor) jurisdictional officer who, on account of the migration/transfer of the taxpayer, ceased to have jurisdiction thereon.
• Various judicial pronouncements have shown that the past acts of a competent authority remain valid, and enforcement and further proceedings must be taken over by the officer, who has now acquired jurisdiction (transferee) subsequent to such migration/ transfer.
• Further, continuing or consequent proceedings to any action, must be exercised by the authority currently having jurisdiction over the taxable person, after the said migration/transfer.
• Thus, the present jurisdictional authority (transferee) should be the face of proceedings at every subsequent stage after the migration/ transfer and wherever any action or proceeding had already been initiated by the transferor jurisdictional authority before the migration/ transfer, the transferee jurisdictional authority can rely on such action or proceeding already taken by the erstwhile jurisdictional authority (transferor).

• Following issues have been clarified:

• Issue: Whether an action undertaken by the transferor jurisdictional authority, at a given stage of proceedings, before such migration/transfer of the taxable person to another jurisdiction, remains valid and applicable on the transferee jurisdiction authority
• Clarification: The transferor authority's action shall remain valid notwithstanding the subsequent migration/ transfer of the taxable person to another jurisdictional authority. The transferee jurisdictional authority shall act upon, give effect to, and proceed on the basis of such earlier valid action taken by the transferor jurisdictional authority, as if it had itself initiated the same.
• Issue: whether the transferor jurisdiction authority can take any action or initiate proceeding against the taxable person, after he has migrated/transferred to another jurisdiction (transferee).
• Clarification : The transferor jurisdiction authority shall not take any action or initiate proceedings against the taxable person, after he has migrated/ transferred to another jurisdiction and any issue that comes to the notice of the transferor jurisdictional authority should be intimated to the transferee jurisdictional authority for any further action.
• Issue : Who would be the authority competent to give effect to, implement, or act upon any such action already taken, and also to act upon any consequential action arising from the antecedent proceedings, including representing, defending, or otherwise conducting proceedings, filing of appeals before the appellate authority or appellate tribunal, in cases involving migration/transfer of the taxable person.
• Clarification: Where the taxable person migrates to another jurisdiction during the pendency of any action or proceeding initiated by the transferor jurisdictional authority, the transferee jurisdictional authority shall take over and conclude the same from the stage at which it stood at the time of migration/ transfer, and shall be competent to take all further actions, including consequential proceedings that might arise therefrom. Thus, the transferee jurisdictional authority shall be the competent authority to give effect to, implement, or act upon any such action already taken, and also to act upon any consequential action arising from the antecedent proceedings, including representing, defending, or otherwise conducting proceedings, filing of appeals before the appellate authority or appellate tribunal, in cases involving migration/transfer of the taxable person.

(Source: Circular No. 255/01/2026-GST dated 25.06.2026)

GSTAT's Special Bench

President of GSTAT has constituted a 3 - member Special Bench to determine the time bar issue beyond what is stipulated in the CGST Act, 2017.

• Special Bench shall be headed by President himself.
• Special Bench shall deliver a definitive, nationwide ruling on strict time-bar disputes. Specifically, this bench was formed to decide if authorities have the legal power to condone filing delays that exceed statutory limitation caps under Section 107 (past the 3 + 1 month cap) and Section 112 of CGST Act, 2017.
• Special Bench is determining whether the Tribunal and First Appellate Authorities possess the statutory mandate to accept appeals filed beyond the strict time limits stipulated in the CGST Act, 2017.
• Special Bench shall determine and rule if there is any legal power to condone delay in filing of appeals beyond the statutory limitation cap in Section 107 (first appeal) and section 112 (GSTAT Appeal) of CGST Act, 2017.
• The GSTAT Registry had ordered nationwide scrutiny of pending cases across all State Benches to ensure the Tribunal's final decision establishes a uniform and binding precedent across India.
• Since late appeal dismissals due to strict limitation periods represent a massive volume of disputes across State Benches, this Special three-member bench ruling will directly dictate whether delayed appeals can be proceeded with.
• This will settle a nation wise dispute before all State Benches and will ensure a uniform binding ruling for all Benches.

(Source: Media reports dated 29.06.2026)

Last date for Appeal Filing before GST Appellate Tribunal Extended

The Central Government has notified 31st July, 2026 as the last date for filing appeals or applications before the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) in specified cases as follows under Section 112 (1, 3) of the CGST Act, 2017:

• 31st July, 2026 shall be the last date for both, appeal u/s 112(1) and application u/s 112 (3) for orders communicated before 01.05.2026 and order passed before 01.02.2026 respectively.
• This notification shall supersede earlier Notification No. S.O. 4220(E) dated 17.09.2025 which had notified 30 June 2017 as the last date for filing of appeals before GSTAT, by taxpayers.
• This extension has been granted due to various representations from stake holders arising from technical glitches in online filing and rush to file appeals in last few days.
• This notification has been issued by MoF on the recommendations of the GST Council.

[Source: Notification (F.No. A-50/7/2025-GSTAT-DoR) dated 30.06.2026

issued by Ministry of Finance, GoI]

GSTN Advisory on Aggregate Annual Turnover (AATO)

GSTN has advised about upgrading of AATO functionality by way of automatic updation of AATO based on subsequent returns w.e.f. 1st July, 2026. Accordingly, window for FY 2025-26 has been revised on the GST Portal.

• Further, the timelines for submission of amendment applications and verification of amended AATO details by Tax Officers, in respect of FY 2025-26, have been revised.
• To ensure greater consistency, accuracy, and uniformity in the reporting of AATO across various modules of the GST Portal, certain system-level enhancements are being implemented. Consequently, the revised timelines for amendment of AATO for FY 2025-26 by the taxpayers and subsequent action by the tax officers are as under:

• Thus, the facility for amendment of AATO, which was earlier available during May as per the previous advisory dated 02.05.2022, shall now be made available from 01 July to 31 July 2026 for FY 2025-26. The amended AATO details will be available for review of Tax Officers from 01 Aug to 15 Aug.

• All taxpayers have been advised to take note of the revised timelines and carefully review the AATO details while submitting the amendment application and ensuring that the amended details are accurate before submission.

(Source: GSTN Advisory dated 01.07.2026)

FAQs on Mandatory Capture of Ship-to Field and Voluntary Closure of E-Way Bill, 2026

• It is informed that various doubts, queries and representations received from taxpayers, trade, GST Suvidha Providers (GSPs) and other stakeholders regarding the mandatory capture of the Ship-to field in E-Way Bills and the voluntary closure of E-Way Bills have been examined.
• Accordingly, a comprehensive set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) has been prepared to provide necessary clarifications on the applicable system validations, procedural requirements and manner of compliance.
• The stakeholders are requested to go through the FAQs for familiarization with the applicable requirements.

(Source: GSTN Advisory dated 02.07.2026)

GST Collection in June, 2026

• Gross GST collection has grown to Rs. 1.95 lakh crore in June, 2026, witnessing a robust growth of 14% on YoY basis (previously Rs. 1.71 lakh crore).
• Domestic GST collection of Rs. 1,34,774 comprised of Rs. 37,376 crore CGST Rs. 45,116 crore SGST and Rs. 52,282 crore IGST.
• Import revenue has surged to Rs. 60,038 crore from Rs. 44,600 crore, a rise of 34.6% on YoY basis.
• Refunds amounted to Rs. 32,436 crore with rise of 29.1% from Rs. 25,121 crore. While import refunds grew by 15.6%, domestic refunds saw a rise of 42.9%.
• Net GST revenue stood at Rs. 1,62,377 crore as against Rs. 1,45,984 crore in June, 2025 (11.2% growth)
• June, 2026 is also the first quarter end of 2026-27 (Q1) in which gross GST collection grew by 8.4% to Rs. 6.32 lakh crore.
• June 2026 saw double digit growth in tax revenue in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Assam, Gujarat, Karnataka, Goa, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Telangana. States like, J& K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Pudducherry recorded a negative growth.