Good days are ahead for GST taxpayers. Thanks to GSTAT and GST Council.

Though the GST law is in place in India since 01/07/2017, the developments that took place during last 100 days are highly significant. We have numerous orders on GST passed during this period by Supreme Court, High Courts as well as GSTAT. The fact that as on 30/10/2026, we have 609 final orders of GSTAT is undoubtedly good news as all the orders of all the benches of GSTAT are applicable as well as binding on all GST officials all over India, so long as there are no contrary decisions. The chances of contrary decisions on GST by GSTAT is possible only on complex and debatable matters as majority of the orders passed so far are all on same lines. Surprisingly, CBIC issued instructions dated 30/10/2026 suggesting the field formation to implement certain measures as proposed by the 57th GST Council on 08/10/2026, without waiting for the legal amendment which is expected to take place with effect from 01/04/2027.

The speed at which the things are happening during the last 100 days are much faster than what it used to be earlier. This is evident from the fact that based the 57th GST Council meeting CBIC has already issued 10 circulars, 14 notifications and one instruction within a short span of 22 days speaks for itself. Above all, this time, the CBIC is must faster in even implementation as the instruction dated 30/10/2026 reads as "3. The GST Council had recommended that the amended provisions may come into force w.e.f. 1st April, 2027. However, as an interim measure of trade facilitation, it has been decided by the Central Government that till these amendments in the Act are brought into effect, the aforesaid reforms shall be implemented by the field formations of the CBIC. Accordingly, the following instructions are being issued and shall remain in force till the amendments in CGST Act, 2017 as recommended by the GST Council in its 57th meeting come into force". Though it is not possible to cover all the proposals in one go, the determination to implement the same as quickly as possible in a phased manner is a welcome step.

On conclusion of the 56th GST Council meeting, we have covered an article on 08/09/2025 stating that the best ever GST Council meeting was 56th GST Council meeting. That was due to the fact that two important measures on GSTAT as well as rates were implemented based on that meeting. The 57th GST Council meeting held on 08/10/2026 is proving that as on date, the 57th GST Council meeting is also as good as 56th GST Council meeting due to process improvement. The instruction dated 30/10/2026 covers measures on arrest provisions, e way bill verification and minimum threshold limit for issuing show cause notice. As CBIC has jurisdiction only on central tax, it is marked also to Additional Secretary, GST Council Secretariat, with a request to circulate the same to the State GST formations, which may, if deemed appropriate, issue similar instructions within their jurisdictions to ensure uniformity and effective implementation. It is expected that all the States shall also issue identical clarifications as GST is One Nation One Tax. Accordingly, GST Council has come forward to improve the things in a better manner than what it used to be earlier. However, from myside, there are few requests to the council which are summarized below. Even if two of the suggestions are implemented by 01/04/2028, during the eleventh year of GST, the purposes of all my articles on taxtmi.com is fully achieved.

Justifications: Increase in threshold is required to take care of the inflation adjustments. Section 17 (5) has done the maximum damages so far and as we are crossing the tenth year on 30/06/2027, at least from 01/07/2027, this sub section may be deleted. This request is due to the fact that it is totally against the principles of the definition of inputs as well as input services as defined in 2(59) and 2(60) of the CGST Act. The Government, in its pre amble for introduction of GST in India during 2017 has informed the parliament that the GST is intended to remove all the cascading effects on taxes which is not happening in full due to section 17 (5). We have so far come across at least 1000s of cases where the OIO as well as OIA are being quashed by High Courts as well as GSTAT. When an order is being quashed, the exercise of passing that particular order which got quashed later becomes a futile exercise. It also speaks on the poor quality of adjudication or non-effective OIA. The GST Council may come forward with suitable measures to plug this lacuna.

Most of the OIO reaching first appeal is understandable as the adjudication officers happen to be Revenue biased all along and it may be difficult to change this at one go. However, the first appellate authority is expected to be a senior officer at the level of JC or Additional Commissioner and they are bound to pass the OIA in conjunction with Section 107. Last, but not the least is the need for an urgent as well as important amendment to Section 74A. This is due to the fact that even for a genuine taxpayer, the time limit for issuance of the show cause notice under section 73 which stood as 33 months has gone up by nine months which is totally unwarranted. The time limit of even 33 months starts only from the respective due date for filing the annual return which itself is 31st December. Over and above 33 months period itself seems to me on the higher side as on date as we are now living in the Artificial Intelligence era. As the GST Portal has improved in a phased manner during the last nine years, the GST Council may consider this suggestion for implementation.

Before parting: In my considered view, all the efforts put by GST Council during the last two meetings shall definitely see the intended purposes being achieved in the days to come.