57th GST Council Rules Take Effect 1 Nov 2026: What Online Sellers Must Know

The 57th GST Council met in New Delhi on 8 October 2026. Notifications dated 26 October 2026 turned most of its seller-relevant recommendations into rules, and most of them apply from 1 November 2026. This post covers the ones that touch online sellers.

What changed

Change	Status	Effective
Rule 14B: registration in another State using a marketplace warehouse	Notified (Notification 05/2026-Central Tax, 26 Oct 2026)	1 Nov 2026
Inverted-duty refund (Rule 89(5)) counts ITC on input services	Notified (05/2026-Central Tax)	1 Nov 2026 for input services ITC availed on or after that date; capital goods ITC from 1 Apr 2027
Post-sale discounts: fewer conditions to reduce taxable value	Notified (03/2026 and 05/2026-Central Tax)	1 Nov 2026
5% GST without ITC on delivery services via e-commerce operators	Notified (reported as 06/2026-Central Tax (Rate))	1 Nov 2026
E-invoicing for reverse-charge purchases from unregistered suppliers	Notified (04/2026-Central Tax)	1 Jan 2027

Rule 14B: simpler registration for small marketplace sellers

A seller already registered in one State can register in another State, declaring the marketplace operator's warehouse there as the place of business, without renting space. Per the Council's FAQ:

• Goods only, sold only through e-commerce operators that collect TCS under Section 52. No offline sales on this registration.
• Output tax on supplies to registered (B2B) buyers, other than your own PAN's registrations, must not exceed ₹2.5 lakh a month.
• You apply in FORM GST REG-01, citing your home-State GSTIN and the warehouse details. The marketplace must consent within seven working days, otherwise the application is treated as rejected.
• After consent, your home-State officer does Aadhaar biometric authentication and verification where not already done, and the portal then grants registration electronically.
• One such registration per PAN per State. If you hold only a Rule 14A registration at home, withdraw that option in FORM GST REG-32 first.
• If the marketplace withdraws consent, you have 30 days to amend the place of business (FORM GST REG-14), or the registration is cancelled. So is it if your home registration is cancelled.
• You need not display the GSTIN at the marketplace warehouse.

This sits alongside the earlier Rule 14A fast-track. Full walkthrough: Rule 14B for e-commerce sellers.

Inverted-duty refund now counts input services

If you sell 5% goods, ITC on marketplace fees (an 18% service) used to be stuck in your ledger. For ITC on input services availed on or after 1 November 2026, it now counts in the refund formula. Worked example: GST and ITC on marketplace fees.

Post-sale discounts

Earlier, a post-supply discount reduced taxable value only if it was agreed before or at the time of supply and linked to specific invoices. Reportedly both conditions are removed: the discount is excluded from value when you issue a credit note and the buyer reverses the matching ITC. If you run festive-season or volume rebates with B2B buyers, ask your CA partner how to document them.

5% GST on delivery services

The Council's press release and FAQ describe four parts (the FAQ calls them proposed changes):

• Delivery services (other than courier and postal) supplied through an e-commerce operator by a provider not required to register: the operator pays the tax under Section 9(5), at 5% without ITC.
• If the delivery provider is required to register, the provider pays 5% without ITC itself.
• Delivery services for goods supplied or ordered through an operator are taxed at 5% without ITC.
• Goods transport by a GTA for goods ordered through an operator loses the Entry 21A exemption and is taxed at 5% without ITC or 18% with ITC. The GTA, not the operator, pays this GST.

Transport of goods not ordered through an operator is unaffected. Sellers will mostly see this as a change in shipping or delivery fee lines on platform statements, so check the GST there on your next settlement.

E-invoicing for reverse charge

E-invoicing extends to domestic supplies received from an unregistered person where you pay tax under reverse charge, and to imports of services, for businesses with aggregate turnover of ₹5 crore and above. Notification 04/2026-Central Tax is reported to start this on 1 January 2027. GSTN's advisory of 16 October 2026 adds two points:

• You report a self-invoice yourself as the recipient, using two new supply types: RCMDOM (domestic, from unregistered suppliers) and RCMIMP (import of services).
• As of that advisory the feature was only in the sandbox of the six invoice registration portals, and GSTN said the production date would be communicated later. If you use an ERP or billing tool, ask the vendor now whether it supports these types.

See also e-invoicing rules for sellers.

Recommended, not yet confirmed as notified

These are in the Council's press release but I have not found a notification for them, so keep filing under current rules until one is issued:

• Late fee waiver on delayed returns under Section 39(1) for businesses with prior-year turnover up to ₹5 crore, if the delayed return is filed by the end of the month it was due.
• Faster refunds: 90% of zero-rated and inverted-duty refund claims sanctioned provisionally by the system.
• Optional Annual Return Quarterly Payment (ARQP) scheme, approved in principle, for B2C-only businesses with turnover up to ₹5 crore.
• Alternate mechanism to correct liability and ITC in returns, recommended from the April 2027 return.

Who it affects

• Pre-launch sellers: Rule 14B makes multi-State selling cheaper to set up later. Start with a registration check.
• Unregistered sellers: No direct change, but Rule 14B and 14A show the direction: lighter registration for marketplace-only sellers.
• Scaling sellers: The biggest impact. Refund eligibility, discount documentation, delivery-fee GST and RCM e-invoicing all apply to you.

What a seller should do

1. From 1 November: if you sell 5% goods, ask your CA partner to include input-services ITC in your next refund claim.
2. Before opening a new State: check you meet the Rule 14B conditions and that your marketplace supports it.
3. Review rebate and discount practice against the new credit-note condition.
4. Before 1 January 2027: if your turnover is ₹5 crore or more, check that your billing tool supports RCMDOM and RCMIMP self-invoices.
5. Keep the dates in view with GST due dates.

Verification note

Recommendations are from the Council's press release and FAQ on the recommendations (October 2026). The notification numbers, effective dates and rule conditions are from secondary reports of Notifications 03, 04, 05 and 06/2026, dated 26 October 2026. The notification text itself has not been read, so confirm exact conditions with your CA partner before relying on them.

Sources: GSTN advisory on RCMDOM/RCMIMP e-invoicing, 16 Oct 2026; GST Council, FAQs on Recommendations Made in the 57th GST Council Meeting (Rule 14B and ECO delivery services answers); PIB press release, Recommendations of the 57th GST Council Meeting, 8 Oct 2026 (Release ID 2320934; meeting recommendations); Taxonation on Notifications 03, 04, 05/2026-Central Tax (26 Oct 2026); TaxGuru on Rule 14B; Taxscan on 5% delivery services.