India’s GST Council Recommends Abolishing Tax Officials’ Power to Arrest and Raising the Prosecution Threshold

India’s GST Council recommends completely abolishing GST officials’ power to arrest and raising the threshold for criminal prosecution from 10 million rupees to 50 million rupees. General fines would be reduced from 25,000 rupees to 10,000 rupees, minimum sentences would be eliminated, and penalties would be left to judicial discretion. The procedural reforms are scheduled to take effect on April 1, 2027, and are expected to take about a year to fully stabilize.