The GST Council, meeting on Thursday in New Delhi, lifted the prosecution threshold from ₹1 crore to ₹5 crore and revoked tax officers' arrest powers, a move that will reduce the number of high‑profile enforcement actions against businesses.
The council also set a uniform standard for notices, eliminating all notices for amounts below ₹10,000 and withdrawing pending notices in that range, while easing compliance for e‑commerce sellers by allowing simplified filing procedures and permitting employers to claim input tax credit on employee insurance premiums.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman noted that the council's focus had shifted from altering rates—kept at the existing structure—to refining daily operations, stating, “The rate structure is settled, so the council has turned to how the tax works day to day.”
In Jaipur, 28‑year‑old Ramesh Kumar, who runs a boutique apparel shop on an e‑commerce platform, said the new rules will cut his paperwork by half, allowing him to focus more on inventory than on compliance paperwork.
The changes will come into force with the next statutory filing cycle, slated for the first quarter of 2025, and are expected to lower enforcement costs and improve the overall taxpayer experience.