Arrest Power of GST Officers Scrapped, Prosecution Threshold Raised to Five crores

[ABS News Service/08.10.2026]

The GST Council on Thursday (08.10.2026) scrapped the arresting powers of the tax officers and raised the prosecution threshold to Rs 5 crore from 1 crore, said the finance ministry.

It also approved easier norms for small sellers on e-commerce platform, while not making any changes in the rate structure.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman further announced, "GST Council today (08.10.2026) has recommended common standards for notices and proceedings and no notices below the prescribed monetary threshold of Rs 10,000 rupees, including withdrawal of pending notices below the said threshold. We will not be issuing any notices for monetary thresholds of Rs 10,000 or below. But equally, we will be withdrawing pending notices below the said threshold. If it was issued, it will be withdrawn"