Small businesses, exporters, e-commerce sellers and taxpayers facing GST proceedings are among the biggest potential beneficiaries of the reforms approved by the GST Council on Thursday, with measures aimed at reducing compliance burdens, lowering penalties, speeding up refunds and expanding input tax credit (ITC) benefits.
At its 57th meeting, the Council approved removing GST tax officers' arrest powers, raising the prosecution threshold fivefold from Rs 1 crore to Rs 5 crore, introducing simpler filing requirements for eligible small businesses and accelerating tax refunds. GST rates were left unchanged.
