GST Central Tax Weekly Tracker — W19 2026 (3–9 May 2026)

This week (3–8 May 2026, partial): No new CBIC notifications or circulars were issued between 3 and 8 May 2026. The week's compliance story is defined by two instruments that crossed the threshold on 1 May: Notification 01/2026-Central Tax (Rate) and Notification 01/2026-Integrated Tax (Rate), both dated 30 April 2026, revising beverage HSN classifications under the Finance Act, 2026. On 6 May 2026, CBIC issued a corrigendum correcting an HSN code error for non-alcoholic beer (2202 91 00, not 2202 99 90) across all three rate-notification streams. GSTR-1 for April 2026 falls due on 11 May — three days from today. The 57th GST Council meeting remains unscheduled.

Top Developments This Week

1. Finance Act 2026 Rate Alignment — CBIC Revises Beverage HSN Entries from 1 May 2026

What changed: CBIC issued Notification No. 01/2026-Central Tax (Rate) dated 30 April 2026, amending Notification No. 09/2025-Central Tax (Rate) to align GST rate-schedule entries with tariff reclassifications introduced by the Finance Act, 2026 (which received Presidential assent on 30 March 2026). A parallel instrument — Notification No. 01/2026-Integrated Tax (Rate), also dated 30 April 2026 — made the corresponding amendment to the IGST rate schedule.

Both notifications were issued under the recommendations of the GST Council, under Section 9(1) read with Section 15(5) of the CGST Act, 2017 (for CGST) and Section 5(1) of the IGST Act, 2017 (for IGST). They came into force on 1 May 2026.

What the amendments do: The Finance Act, 2026 revised the Customs Tariff classification structure for beverages under HSN heading 2202 — a reclassification of sub-headings within the "Waters, including mineral waters, and aerated waters, containing added sugar or other sweetening matter or flavoured" category. To keep the GST rate schedule consistent with the updated tariff, the notifications substitute revised HSN entries at:

• Schedule I (CGST rate 2.5% / IGST rate 5%): Serial Nos. 150 and 151 — revised to reflect entries 2202 99 21 / 2202 99 29 and 22029931 / 22029939 respectively.
• Schedule III (CGST rate 20% / IGST rate 40%): Serial Nos. 2 and 3 — revised to reflect 2202 99 90 / 2202 99 91 / 2202 99 99 and 2202 99 91 / 2202 99 99 respectively.

The principal notification being amended (09/2025) was originally issued on 17 September 2025 and last amended on 31 December 2025.

Who is affected: Manufacturers, importers, wholesalers, and retailers of packaged beverages — specifically carbonated soft drinks, flavoured waters, energy drinks, and non-alcoholic beer — need to verify their current HSN classification against the revised schedule. Businesses using HSN-based e-invoice generation must update their ERP or billing software HSN masters. GSTR-1/IFF filed from 1 May 2026 onwards must use the revised HSN codes.

Corpus ref: CGSTR_01_2026 (CGST Rate) | IGSTR_01_2026 (IGST Rate).

Source: CGST Rate Notifications — gstcouncil.gov.in.

2. Corrigendum — 6 May 2026: Non-Alcoholic Beer HSN Corrected to 2202 91 00

What changed: On 6 May 2026, CBIC issued corrigenda (G.S.R. 337(E), 339(E), and 341(E)) correcting the beverage HSN code in the Schedule III entries of the CGST, IGST, and UTGST rate notifications issued on 30 April 2026.

The error: The 30 April notifications had listed HSN 2202 99 90 ("Other Non-Alcoholic Beverages") in Schedule III, which attracts 20% GST. This was an inadvertent tariff entry — the correct code for the product intended to be classified in that entry is 2202 91 00 ("Non-Alcoholic Beer").

The correction: The corrigenda substitute "2202 99 90" with "2202 91 00" in the relevant Schedule III entries across all three Acts (CGST, IGST, UTGST). The 20% GST rate (or 40% IGST) applicable to this Schedule III entry is unchanged — the corrigendum is a classification correction, not a rate change.

Practical significance: Businesses importing, manufacturing, or distributing non-alcoholic beer (HSN 2202 91 00) — a fast-growing category in India — must confirm their classification aligns with 2202 91 00 (Schedule III, 20% GST / 40% IGST) and not with any 2202 99 sub-heading. For e-invoicing, ensure the correct 8-digit HSN is reflected in the system from the date of the corrigendum (6 May 2026). Any GSTR-1 or e-invoice filed between 1 May and 5 May 2026 using 2202 99 90 for non-alcoholic beer may need rectification in the next GSTR-1A cycle.

Corpus ref: CGSTR_01_2026 (corrigendum updates the same composite_key).

Source: CBIC-GST — Central Tax Rate Notifications.

3. Finance Act 2026 — Section 13(8)(b) IGST Act Omitted: Intermediary Services Now Qualify as Exports

What changed: The Finance Act, 2026 (Presidential assent: 30 March 2026) omits Section 13(8)(b) of the IGST Act, 2017. Section 13(8)(b) had fixed the place of supply of intermediary services as the location of the supplier — which meant Indian entities providing intermediary services (such as commission agents, marketing support, or liaison services) to overseas clients were treated as making an intra-India supply, making them ineligible for zero-rating as exports.

With Section 13(8)(b) deleted, the general place-of-supply rules under Section 13(2) apply — which for intermediary services makes the place of supply the location of the recipient (i.e., overseas). This enables Indian intermediary service providers to export under Section 16(1)(a) of the IGST Act (export as zero-rated supply), file a refund claim under Section 54, and eliminate the long-standing GST cost on bona fide export of intermediary services.

Effective date: The deletion takes effect from the date of commencement as notified; operationally tied to the May 1 rate notifications. Practitioners should monitor for the specific Section 13(8)(b) commencement notification from CBIC.

Who is affected: This is particularly significant for:

• Indian subsidiaries / liaison offices providing marketing, procurement, or support services to overseas group companies
• Commission agents, distributors' agents, and clearing-and-forwarding agents serving foreign principals
• IT-enabled services that fall in the "intermediary" classification under CBIC Circular 159/15/2021-GST

A substantial body of GST demands issued under Section 73/74 (for the period when Section 13(8)(b) was in force) are under adjudication or appeal. The omission does not have retrospective effect — demands for past periods (FY 2018-19 through 2025-26) remain valid unless separately amnestied or adjudicated.

Corpus ref: No existing composite_key — queued to discovery (see queue note below).

Source: Finance Act 2026 — intermediary services GST analysis.

4. GSTAT Staggered-Appeal Window — 53 Days Remaining to 30 June 2026

Status update: The Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) — formally launched by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in September 2025 — has been accepting e-filed appeals since the end of 2025. From 1 April 2026, the Principal Bench also functions as the National Appellate Authority for Advance Rulings (NAAAR), resolving conflicting Advance Ruling Authority decisions across states.

The staggered filing window — a one-time concession for the tribunal's inaugural phase — allows appeals (including those without ARN/CRN numbers in the GSTN system) to be filed up to 30 June 2026. As of 8 May 2026, 53 days remain. For orders communicated on or after 1 April 2026, the standard 3-month period from the date of the first appellate order applies; the staggered window relaxation applies only to orders communicated before 1 April 2026.

The GSTAT e-filing portal is at efiling.gstat.gov.in. All appeals must be filed electronically. The Principal Bench is at 6th Floor, LIC Jeevan Bharati, Tower I, Janpath, Connaught Place, New Delhi — 110001. With approximately 6,00,000 tax appeals pending nationally, businesses with high-value demand orders at the first-appellate stage should urgently assess GSTAT eligibility.

Corpus ref: CGST_15_2025.

Source: GSTAT e-Filing Portal | PIB — GSTAT Launch.

Regulatory Action Log

What's Next

Immediate deadlines — next 14 days:

• 11 May 2026 — GSTR-1 for April 2026 due for non-QRMP monthly filers. GSTR-1 IFF (Invoice Furnishing Facility) for QRMP Q1 FY 2026-27 first month also due 11 May. All outward supply invoices, credit notes, debit notes, and advances received in April 2026 must be reported. IMS actions by recipients on these invoices will affect May 2026 GSTR-2B.
• 13 May 2026 — GSTR-1 for April 2026 extended deadline for QRMP taxpayers (if applicable per the CBIC schedule).
• 20 May 2026 — GSTR-3B for April 2026 due for non-QRMP monthly filers. Net tax payable (output liability minus eligible ITC) to be paid from Electronic Cash Ledger.
• 25 May 2026 — PMT-06 for April 2026 due for QRMP scheme taxpayers (Q1 FY 2026-27 first month).

Pending / expected developments:

• Section 128A amnesty deadline — Confirm whether the CBIC has extended the Section 128A (waiver of interest and penalty on pre-GST-Council demand orders) withdrawal deadline beyond 31 March 2026. No extension notification confirmed as of 8 May 2026.
• 57th GST Council meeting — No date announced. Expected June–July 2026. Anticipated agenda: compliance ease (registration rejection norms, refund timelines), GSTAT resource augmentation, electricity/natural gas GST inclusion, Section 128A amnesty extension, and IMS-mandatory phase-in.
• CBIC commencement notification for Section 13(8)(b) deletion — The Finance Act 2026 omits Section 13(8)(b) IGST Act; the operative commencement date depends on a separate CBIC gazette notification. Monitor taxinformation.cbic.gov.in.
• IMS mandatory phase — GSTN has progressively moved towards mandatory IMS actions for ITC eligibility under Section 16(2)(aa) CGST Act. Watch for any portal advisory on mandatory IMS deadlines for Q1 FY 2026-27 GSTR-2B.
• GSTR-4 FY 2025-26 — Composition taxpayers must have filed GSTR-4 (annual return) by 30 April 2026. Confirm filing status for all composition-scheme GSTINs.

Founder Action Items

• Update HSN masters for beverages immediately: If your business deals in any product under HSN heading 2202 — soft drinks, carbonated waters, energy drinks, flavoured drinks, or non-alcoholic beer — review the Schedule I and Schedule III entries as amended by Notifications 01/2026-CT(Rate) and 01/2026-IGST(Rate), and update your ERP/billing/e-invoicing system to reflect the revised 8-digit HSN codes. The corrigendum of 6 May 2026 specifically corrects non-alcoholic beer to HSN 2202 91 00; confirm your system is not using 2202 99 90.
• File GSTR-1 for April 2026 by 11 May: For non-QRMP monthly filers, GSTR-1 is due in three days. Ensure all April invoices (including B2C, B2B, credit notes, debit notes, and export invoices) are uploaded. For QRMP filers, IFF is also due 11 May — upload invoices above ₹2.5 lakh B2B to enable recipients' IMS and GSTR-2B credit.
• Assess GSTAT eligibility before 30 June 2026: If your business has a demand order where the first appeal has been decided (or where you are within time from the first appellate authority order pre-dating 1 April 2026), file the GSTAT appeal before 30 June 2026. High-value demands (above ₹1 crore) should be prioritised. Pre-deposit of 20% of the disputed tax amount is required under Section 112(8) CGST Act for stay of recovery.
• Evaluate intermediary-services GST exposure: If your entity provides intermediary, commission-agent, or liaison services to overseas principals, review whether your turnover previously treated as taxable (due to Section 13(8)(b)) now qualifies as export from 1 May 2026. Engage a GST practitioner to assess refund eligibility and the tax treatment going forward.
• Prepare GSTR-3B for April 2026 (due 20 May): Reconcile April 2026 GSTR-2B against purchase records. ITC available in GSTR-2B (generated by 14 May 2026) is the basis for Section 16(2)(aa) eligible credit. Any mismatch between GSTR-2B and purchase register should be investigated — accept/reject in IMS before GSTR-3B filing.

Practitioner Watch-list

• HSN corrigendum retroactive filings: Between 1 May and 5 May 2026, any e-invoice or GSTR-1 filed for non-alcoholic beer using HSN 2202 99 90 reflects the pre-corrigendum error. The appropriate correction is via a GSTR-1A amendment in the next cycle (filed along with GSTR-1 for May 2026). Advise affected clients on the amendment process — the GST portal allows amendment of HSN details for prior-period invoices reported in B2B and export tables.
• Section 13(8)(b) deletion — demand-reversal eligibility: Carefully evaluate whether past demands under Section 13(8)(b) are eligible for any GST Council amnesty or statutory reversal. The deletion is prospective; retrospective relief depends on whether the 57th Council recommends any measures. Begin compiling client data on intermediary-service demand volumes by year for pre-Council positioning.
• GSTAT pre-deposit strategy: Under Section 112(8) CGST Act, filing a GSTAT appeal requires payment of 20% of the remaining disputed tax (after the first appellate authority's admitted amount) as pre-deposit. For large demands, compute the pre-deposit quantum per GSTIN and confirm availability in the Electronic Cash Ledger before filing. Multiple GSTINs under a single PAN must each file separate GSTAT appeals.
• Finance Act 2026 GST amendments — full impact map: The Finance Act 2026 also liberalises: (a) post-supply discounts and credit note linkage (no longer requires pre-supply agreement); (b) refund at 90% provisional for inverted duty structure; (c) refunds allowed even below ₹1,000 for exports with tax payment. Map these changes against existing client structures — refund-heavy exporters may benefit most from items (b) and (c).
• IMS offline tool adoption: GSTN's IMS Offline Excel Tool (released 23 April 2026 advisory) should now be integrated into April 2026 GSTR-2B processing workflows. For high-volume B2B registrants, the Excel-JSON upload workflow is the practical standard. April 2026 is the first full GSTR-2B cycle of Q1 FY 2026-27 — an ideal time to establish client-specific IMS reconciliation SOPs.

FAQ

Q: What did CBIC's Finance Act 2026 rate notifications change for beverages from 1 May 2026?

Notifications 01/2026-Central Tax (Rate) and 01/2026-Integrated Tax (Rate), both dated 30 April 2026 and effective 1 May 2026, amended the GST rate schedules (Schedules I and III) to substitute revised HSN entries for certain beverages (HSN heading 2202) in line with tariff reclassifications introduced through the Finance Act, 2026. The GST rates themselves (2.5%/5% for Schedule I items; 20%/40% for Schedule III items) remain unchanged. A corrigendum dated 6 May 2026 then corrected one entry — substituting HSN 2202 91 00 (Non-Alcoholic Beer) for the erroneously published 2202 99 90 (Other Non-Alcoholic Beverages) in Schedule III, which attracts 20% GST (CGST 10% + SGST 10%, or 20% IGST).

Q: What is the HSN corrigendum of 6 May 2026 and who does it affect?

CBIC issued corrigenda on 6 May 2026 (G.S.R. 337(E), 339(E), and 341(E)) correcting the tariff code for non-alcoholic beer across CGST, IGST, and UTGST rate notifications. The error: HSN 2202 99 90 (Other Non-Alcoholic Beverages) had been used in Schedule III. The correction: HSN 2202 91 00 (Non-Alcoholic Beer) is the accurate code. The 20% GST rate (or 40% IGST) remains unchanged. Businesses classifying non-alcoholic beer — breweries, importers, distributors, and retailers — must update ERP HSN masters and e-invoicing configurations to reflect 2202 91 00 from 6 May 2026.

Q: Is the 57th GST Council meeting scheduled for May 2026?

No. As of 8 May 2026, the 57th GST Council meeting has not been officially announced or scheduled. The 56th Council met on 3–4 September 2025 and recommended, among other measures, that GSTAT become operational for accepting appeals before end-September 2025 and commence hearings before end-December 2025. The 57th Council is expected in June–July 2026 based on the historical frequency of Council meetings. Anticipated agenda items include registration and refund compliance reforms, the electricity and natural gas GST inclusion debate, and potential extension of the Section 128A amnesty deadline.

Correction — 29 August 2026

This tracker previously cited corpus key CGST_20_2025 as the anchor for the GST return calendar — the GSTR-3B, GSTR-1 and related due dates and the 20th/22nd/24th staggering. That attribution was wrong and has been removed. CGST_20_2025 is Notification No. 20/2025-Central Tax, the CGST (Fifth Amendment) Rules, 2025 (G.S.R. 805(E), effective 1 February 2026), which inserts Rule 31D — retail-sale-price valuation for pan masala and tobacco goods — and adds clause (f) to the first proviso to Rule 86B. It says nothing about return due dates. The return calendar runs from Section 39 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 read with Rule 61 of the CGST Rules, 2017, which are cited directly above in place of the removed key.

The corpus currently holds no in-force notification anchor for the operative staggered due-date calendar; the nearest indexed instrument, CGST_76_2020, is expressed for October 2020 to March 2021 and is not a valid substitute. Rather than reach for the nearest available key, this tracker now cites the Rule. A discovery-queue row has been filed so that the current staggering instrument can be ingested and the gap closed. The error was identified during the W34 tracker pass and affected 23 trackers in this series; each has been corrected in place rather than silently rewritten.

Beyond this brief Preview

Veritect Legal AI carries the verbatim text of Notifications 01/2026-Central Tax (Rate) and 01/2026-Integrated Tax (Rate), the corrigenda of 6 May 2026, and the complete Finance Act 2026 GST and IGST amendment text — cross-linked to the relevant HSN schedule entries, GSTAT Procedure Rules 2025, and Section 13(8)(b) deletion analysis. Teams using Veritect Legal AI get:

• Full-text retrieval across every in-force CBIC notification, circular, and instruction — including rate corrigenda and mid-cycle corrections.
• Compliance playbooks that decompose a regime into step-by-step actions with evidence requirements — including the GSTAT pre-deposit computation and e-filing checklist.
• Same-day alerts on CBIC and GST Council changes affecting the sections you track, including HSN reclassification and rate notifications.
• Point-in-time queries: "What did the GST rate schedule say for HSN 2202 on 30 April 2026?" — answered with the exact text in force on that date.

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