The GST Council, in its 35th meeting held in New Delhi under the chairmanship of the Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister, recommended several important changes in GST law and procedural requirements with a view to easing compliance and ensuring a smoother transition to the new return system. This was the first Council meeting after the formation of the new Government and was attended by senior ministers and officials of the Ministry of Finance. To provide adequate time for taxpayers and the GST system to adapt, the Council approved the phased implementation of the new GST return system, beginning with a trial phase from July to September 2019 and moving towards mandatory filing of new return forms in a staggered manner for large and small taxpayers from October 2019. The existing FORM GSTR-3B was to be gradually phased out and completely discontinued from January 2020. Recognising difficulties faced by taxpayers, the Council also extended the due date for filing annual returns and reconciliation statements in FORM GSTR-9, GSTR-9A, and GSTR-9C, as well as the due date for filing FORM GST ITC-04 relating to job work, up to 31 August 2019. In addition, the Council recommended certain amendments to GST laws to implement earlier decisions, deferred the implementation of Rule 138E relating to blocking of e-way bills for non-filing of returns, and extended the last date for opting into the composition scheme under the relevant notification. These measures were aimed at providing relief to taxpayers, improving compliance, and strengthening the GST framework.