57th GST Council Meeting Highlights: GST Council reforms to take effect from April 2027
The 57th GST Council meeting, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, concluded in New Delhi with the Council approving a broad package of GST 2.0 reforms aimed at simplifying compliance, expediting refunds and bringing greater predictability to the tax regime for businesses and taxpayers.
Among the key decisions, the Council has scrapped the power of arrest under GST and raised the prosecution threshold from ₹1 crore to ₹5 crore. It has also removed the minimum punishment and cut the general penalty, applicable where no specific penalty is prescribed, from ₹25,000 to ₹10,000.
The Council has further approved measures to speed up GST refunds. The time limit for acknowledging refund claims has been reduced from 15 days to 10 days. Under the new mechanism, 90% of eligible refund claims will be sanctioned based on risk assessment, with the order to be issued within three working days of acknowledgement.
