The GST Council meeting scheduled for September 12, 2026, postponed to October 7, sources told TNIE. The possible postponement is due to the meeting clashing with the 18th BRICS Summit, which will be held in New Delhi on September 12-13.
A Finance Ministry source told TNIE that holding the GST Council meeting on September 12, the first day of the BRICS Summit, could create a logistical challenge.
The GST Council has not met in over a year since its 56th meeting on September 3, 2025, when it approved a major rate overhaul, reducing the number of GST rates to three — 5%, 18% and 40%.
The 57th GST Council meeting is also expected to see several changes in its membership, with three major states — West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala — having seen changes in government. West Bengal Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta is expected to attend the meeting, while Kerala Chief Minister VD Satheesan and Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Dr N Marie Wilson are likely to represent their respective states.
Experts said the Council should focus on streamlining input tax credit (ITC) by reducing blocked credits on works contracts and motor vehicles and allowing businesses to use accumulated ITC to pay GST under the reverse charge mechanism. They also called for changes to the refund formula to include input services in inverted-duty refund calculations, as well as safeguards to protect bona fide taxpayers from losing credit due to supplier defaults.
A key question before the Council is whether a compliant buyer should lose ITC because a supplier has failed to deposit the tax with the government. Experts said both legal and technology-led measures should be considered to safeguard bona fide recipients of ITC when suppliers default, citing recent court rulings on the issue.
Another major challenge is the growing volume of GST litigation. Experts said the Council should focus on reducing interpretational ambiguity and consider mechanisms to regularise legacy tax positions, particularly in sectors such as online gaming. They also called for measures to address genuine ITC hardships arising from supplier defaults and streamline GST administration for large PAN-India businesses.