GST Council to consider 17-day refund timeline, faster registrations
The GST Council is set to consider measures to speed up refunds and GST registrations, with a proposed 17-day refund timeline and greater automation for registrations. It may also ease compliance for small businesses selling across states through e-commerce platforms, simplify registration cancellations and expand input tax credit eligibility.
The GST Council is set to discuss significant reforms during its meeting on Thursday, including reducing the refund processing time to about 17 days. Currently, acknowledgement of the refund can take between 21-45 days, but the goal is to expedite this process. Officials aim to automate the registration process to shorten the time for the remaining 39% of applications that take more than three days. Small businesses with a turnover of less than Rs 2.5 lakh can have their registrations approved within 34 minutes on average.
The council will also explore ways to streamline the registration process for businesses operating in multiple states through e-commerce platforms with recognized warehouses. Additionally, the government is considering eliminating the physical verification of premises for entities canceling their registration, provided they have paid taxes and filed returns. A trust-based system is being proposed for such cancellations.
Furthermore, the government plans to expand input tax credit (ITC) to cover various services, including insurance, vehicle leasing, repair, and catering. This reform aims to enable businesses to claim credit for taxes paid throughout the supply chain, even if some entities in the chain have not complied. The invoice matching system will play a crucial role in identifying and preventing fake credits from propagating through the GSTN system.
Written by urgent.news from The Economic Times - Economy's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
