The 57th GST Council meeting, addressed by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday, October 8, has approved a series of process and compliance reforms that have the objective of streamlining GST for businesses and taxpayers.
Among other reforms, the approval includes easier GST registration and faster refunds.
GST refund processing to become faster and more efficient
The GST refund procedure has been facilitated.
The time limit to consider a refund claim has been decreased to 10 days from 15 days. The claim shall be deemed acknowledged if an acknowledgement or a deficiency memo is not issued within 10 days.
Based on risk assessment, the system, rather than an official, will approve 90 percent of GST refund claims. Currently, it takes seven days to issue a refund order, but this timeframe will now be reduced to three working days.
The refund of the excess balance in the cash ledger will become automated, requiring no intervention from any official.
GST registration process to become simpler and easier
GST registration process set to become automated for low-risk applicants
Currently, low-risk applicants and those whose monthly output tax on supplies made to registered persons does not exceed ₹2.5 lakh are being granted registration within three working days without any official intervention.
Via this automated procedure, 61% of registrations have already been processed, the council stated.
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There will be an automatic acceptance of the changes, including trade names, directors or partners, and the address of an additional place of business.
Read the Press Release of the 57th GST Council Meeting
