The 57th meeting of the Goods and Services Tax Council will be held on Thursday at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.

The meeting starts at 11 am in the Summit Room. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will chair the session with state finance ministers.

The meeting was rescheduled from October 7 to October 8, citing unavoidable circumstances. This is the second rescheduling. It was originally set for September 12 but was moved because of the BRICS summit.

GST rates are expected to remain unchanged. The focus will be on procedural reforms.

The Council is likely to discuss GST registration, returns, refunds and input tax credit. Dispute resolution mechanisms are also on the agenda.

Key proposals include changes to arrest provisions under GST law. Enforcement may rely on civil consequences like tax recovery instead of arrests in most cases.

The prosecution threshold may be raised from Rs 1 crore to Rs 5 crore.

Another major proposal covers refunds for exporters. Ninety per cent of eligible refund claims could be released automatically after a risk check.