GST Council to meet on Sept 12, likely to discuss registration reforms

New Delhi, Aug 29 (IANS) The 57th meeting of the GST Council — chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman — is scheduled to be held here on September 12 with simplification of GST registration for large businesses likely to figure on the agenda, according to an office memorandum circulated by the GST Council secretariat.

It further highlighted that the meeting will be preceded by a meeting of officers on September 11.

The Council — comprising the Union Finance Minister and state finance ministers — will meet after a gap of over a year. Its 56th meeting was held on September 3-4, 2025, when the Centre and states approved a major restructuring of GST rates and slabs.

The new GST structure — which came into effect from September 22, 2025 — comprises two standard rates of 5 per cent and 18 per cent along with a 40 per cent rate for select sin and ultra-luxury goods. It replaced the earlier four-tier structure of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent that had been in place since the launch of GST in July 2017.

At the September 12 meeting, the Council is likely to discuss simplification of GST registration procedures for businesses that pass on tax credit of more than Rs 2.5 lakh a month.

Automation and other changes in the process of GST registration cancellation are also expected to be considered

Currently, there is no uniformity in the procedures followed by central GST formations and various state formations while granting GST registration to large businesses passing on input tax credit of over Rs 2.5 lakh per month. This can create uncertainty for taxpayers.

The GST Council had approved a simplified registration scheme for small and low-risk businesses at its September 2025 meeting. The scheme was rolled out from November 1, 2025.

Under the simplified scheme, applicants identified as small and low-risk by the GST system through data analysis, or those who self-assess that their monthly output tax liability does not exceed Rs 2.5 lakh, including CGST, SGST/UTGST and IGST, can opt for the facility.

The proposed changes are aimed at further streamlining GST registration and related processes and improving ease of compliance for businesses.

–IANS

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