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Informist, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The government will allow simplified registration under the goods and services tax regime for e-commerce sellers from Nov. 1, a senior finance ministry official said Thursday. As such, the government will roll out the first phase of reforms recommended at the latest GST Council meeting about refunds and registration from Nov. 1 itself, the official said. The changes to the GST processes which require amendments to GST law would be implemented from Apr. 1, the official added.

 

At the 57th meeting earlier this month, the GST Council recommended a simplified GST registration mechanism under proposed Rule 14B for small sellers supplying goods through e-commerce platforms. Eligible businesses may register in another state using the e-commerce operator's warehouse as their principal place of business without establishing their own physical office there. Eligible businesses include small suppliers supplying goods through e-commerce platforms in multiple states, where they do not have physical presence, and pass on input tax credit of up to INR 250,000 per month.

 

Prior to this, a seller wanting to stock goods in another state's warehouse and bill from there needed a regular GST registration in that state, which usually meant proving a place of business--a rent agreement, a no-objection certificate, or similar documentation tied to a real address. For a seller doing a small volume of business through one marketplace warehouse, that was disproportionate. Rule 14B removes that requirement for sellers who meet the eligibility conditions, by letting the e-commerce operators' own warehouse stand in as the seller's registered address.

 

According to a tax expert, this will help bring a host of e-commerce sellers under the GST ambit, help with compliance, as well as contribute to the larger economic growth of small businesses. The move could enable around 950,000 small sellers to access the national market without having to establish physical offices in every state where their goods are stored, while creating greater tax parity across competing e-commerce business models.

 

The tweaks to the GST processes are part of the government's reforms to the GST structure, which began last year with a host of rate changes. Earlier this month, the council made a raft of changes to processes to support businesses and boost the ecosystem small enterprises operate in by simplifying the refund, registration, and return processes to support investment activities. 

 

Four processes account for almost every dealing a business has with GST--getting registered, filing returns and correcting them, claiming refunds, and answering demands, the government had said. All four have been redesigned at the GST Council meeting on Oct. 8, mainly on a single principle--the system should do what can be done from data and the officer should be left with what needs judgement, the government had said.

 

The official cited above said that a comprehensive circular would be issued specifying the documents and information required for GST registration to simplify the filing and processing of registration applications. This is not just for e-commerce businesses but for a wider range of businesses. A simplified registration process will reduce rejections and queries raised in respect of registration applications on account of lack of correct information or details and will expedite processing of registration applications by the tax officers.

From Nov. 1, the GST Council's decision to allow systems to automatically sanction the full refund claim of excess balance in the electronic cash ledger, without officer intervention, will also take effect. The time limit for issuance of acknowledgement or deficiency memo will be reduced from 15 days to 10 days, effective Nov. 1, the official said. For refund claims on account of zero-rated supplies and inverted duty structure, 90% of the amount claimed will be sanctioned on a provisional basis automatically by the system from Nov. 1, without officer intervention, on the basis of identification and evaluation of risk by the system.

 

Further, effective Nov. 1, GST notices will be sent only when the show cause notice is worth over INR 10,000 to reduce compliance burden and litigation.  End

 

Reported by Priyasmita Dutta

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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