India's 57th GST Council recommends a new return-amendment mechanism from the April 2027 return, plus rate, reverse-charge and registration changes

What changed in detail

These are recommendations of the GST Council, not law. They take effect only through later CGST Act amendments, rules and notifications. The 57th GST Council meeting (8 October 2026) recommended:

• bringing the alternate mechanism for amending liability and input tax credit in GST returns (new rules 86C, 86D, 61(1A)/(1B) and 60(6A)) into force from the return for April 2027;
• a new CGST rule 14B for automatic registration of small e-commerce sellers in States where they have no physical presence;
• an optional 5% rate with restricted ITC on electric-vehicle passenger transport and motor-vehicle rental with operator, and 5% without ITC on delivery services supplied through e-commerce operators;
• reverse charge on specified waste and scrap supplied by unregistered persons;
• in-principle approval of an optional annual-return, quarterly-payment scheme for B2C-only taxpayers up to Rs 5 crore turnover;
• amendments removing several section 17(5) blocked-credit restrictions.

What it means

The April 2027 return is a recommended date for the new amendment mechanism, not a notified one. Rules 86C and 86D and the other listed provisions still have to be notified.

Finance teams should plan GSTR-3B and GSTR-1 reconciliation and IMS workflow changes ahead of April 2027 returns, and wait for the rules before changing filing logic. The rate, reverse-charge and registration items need separate notifications, so none should be applied yet.