Welcome to another Friday, chief!

In today’s edition — GST turns eight, but parts of it still feel stuck — like Sachiv Ji in Panchayat's Phulera office: same problems that keep reappearing, appeals that go nowhere, rules that keep changing every now and then, and a system that brings more confusion than clarity. Meanwhile, a professor is making a global case for what we’ve all secretly wanted — turning Fridays into the new Saturdays.

Same Tax, Different Issues

Vishwas Ved

These days, some people don’t just celebrate a birthday; they celebrate a birth week, and sometimes even a birth month. So in that same festive spirit, we’re not done with GST@8 just yet. 

Last week, we unpacked two highlights from Deloitte’s anniversary report on GST. This week, we bring you two more, because eight years of GST definitely deserves at least two Fridays of attention.

On July 1, 2017, GST arrived with a grand promise — one nation, one tax, one system. It was meant to simplify, unify, and modernise how India does indirect taxation. And to its credit, it has done many of those things. 

But for businesses dealing with audits and compliance on a day-to-day basis, the system still feels like it’s not mature enough. 

The ambition was bold. The execution? Still catching up. Just like the panchayat office in Phulera.

Let’s start with the first one.

Copy-Paste Problem in Appeals

If your company has ever gone through the appeals process under GST, you might relate to this: you put in the time to draft a detailed response, gather supporting documents, and lay out a reasonable explanation. 

And then the order you get in return simply repeats the original decision. No acknowledgement of your points. No fresh reasoning. Just a rubber stamp. It’s like the babus didn’t bother to read a thing you wrote.

According to the Deloitte report, more than half the businesses surveyed said they’ve experienced this. The appellate orders offer no independent judgment, just a rehashed version of the initial ruling. 

That’s not just frustrating, it also defeats the entire point of having an appeals mechanism in the first place.

What makes it worse is that the GST Appellate Tribunal still isn’t up and running. So where do all these unresolved disputes go? Straight to the high courts, which are already overburdened and were never designed to handle routine tax matters. 

Now, courts that should be focused on interpreting laws are bogged down with refund delays and procedural questions that should’ve been sorted much earlier.

Rules or Chameleons?

The second issue, the report finds out, is quieter but just as exhausting: the constantly changing rulebook. One of the most common complaints in the report is how often GST regulations and reporting formats are updated. 

Businesses just about get comfortable with a process when a new clarification, deadline, or filing format is announced. And these aren’t small tweaks: they affect how companies file returns, claim input tax credit, or respond to audits.

For finance and compliance teams, this creates a kind of permanent uncertainty. It’s difficult to build internal systems or train people when the ground keeps shifting under your feet every now and then.

What’s The Ask?

GST was introduced with the promise of simplification. And yes, it has brought in digital processes, a unified tax framework, and more visibility into compliance. 

But eight years on, the demand from businesses is still pretty basic: bring stability into the system.

Appeals should be fair and reasoned. Rules shouldn’t keep changing so frequently. And audits should not turn into year-long sagas. 

It’s not a long wish list. It’s the minimum needed for GST to be effective and trustworthy.

After eight years, the system doesn’t need more patchwork. It needs maturity.

Bye Friday, You Won’t be Missed

Most of us barely survive five-day workweeks. By Thursday, we’re emotionally hungover, and by Friday, we’re pretending to be productive while checking long weekend deals on MakeMyTrip.

But if a certain professor has her way, the five days might soon become four, says a report.

Let’s meet the angel in disguise: Juliet Schor, a professor of sociology at Boston College, who has previously taught at Harvard for 17 years.

Juliet is someone who’s basically made it her life’s mission to save us from workplace doom. She’s spent years studying work, burnout, and why “weekends” feel more like recovery rooms rather than the two days when you could do fun stuff.

Her big idea: Maybe… we don’t need to work five days a week. Seriously. Just work for four days. That’s it. 

According to her research, when people switch to a four-day week, everything improves — sleep, mood, productivity, even the will to attend Monday meetings.

And no, this isn’t one of those corporate scams like mindfulness yoga and wellness classes. This actually works. People get more done in less time because they stop wasting hours in meetings. 

Juliet’s new book, Four Days a Week: The Life-Changing Solution for Reducing Employee Stress, Improving Well-Being, and Working Smarter, makes one thing clear: 

A four-day week isn’t just a nice idea anymore. It’s the logical next step. It’s good for employees, good for business, and great for that friend who’s always “too busy” to meet.

Even companies are surprised. People are getting more done… in less time. And they’ve stopped quitting.

It’s not happening only in hip startups with beanbags. Hospitals and restaurants — places where people usually quit mid-shift — are seeing employees stick around. Some are even said to be taking back resignation letters. 

It’s like they hate their jobs a little less just because they got their Fridays back.

Governments are trying it too. Spain, Portugal, Japan. The US is, of course, still having a meeting about whether to have a meeting about it. India, it seems, doesn’t believe in weekends, and some corporate leaders admittedly want you slogging all seven days.

But not in Julietverse. She instead believes that with AI marching in to take over tasks, the timing couldn’t be better.

So yeah. Let’s stop treating Friday like a workday and start treating it like what it’s always been: Saturday’s warm-up act.

1,65,000

The Income Tax Department has selected about 1.65 lakh cases for scrutiny for assessment year 2025, ahead of the June 30 deadline — the last date to issue notices for ITRs filed in FY 2024–25. This marks a sharp surge, with the case volume three to four times higher than in previous years. Over one lakh notices have already been issued to individuals and companies, under Section 143(2) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. These notices initiate the process of detailed assessment and verification of the income tax returns filed.

—OpenAI to shut down for a week. OpenAI is implementing a rare company-wide shutdown next week to give employees time to recharge after months of grueling 80-hour workweeks. The temporary closure comes as the ChatGPT maker fights to retain top talent amid Meta's aggressive $100 million recruitment offers.The shutdown is an uncommon move for the ChatGPT-maker, which has maintained what sources call intense operational schedules, with employees working 80 hours a week, as the AI giant races to develop artificial general intelligence. Only executives will continue working during the break.

—New audit limit rule for CAs April 2026. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India will enforce from April 2026 its new guidelines on allowing a partner of an accounting firm to take up a maximum of 60 tax audits in a year. As per extant guidelines, while a single chartered accountant operating on their own can undertake up to 60 tax audits in a fiscal year, a partnership firm, as a whole, is allowed to conduct audits up to the combined limit of all its partners. This often results in senior partners at these firms using the quota of their junior colleagues after exhausting their own limit.

—PwC proposes inclusion of petro products in GST. PwC India has called for key reforms, including a simplified three-rate structure and the phased inclusion of petroleum products under the GST ambit, starting with Aviation Turbine Fuel. In its report, PwC said the time is ripe for aligning India’s GST system with global trade dynamics and attracting greater investments. PwC has suggested reducing the framework to three tiers to minimise disputes, enhance tax certainty, and simplify compliance.

—Microsoft to cut 9,000 jobs companywide. Microsoft Corp.’s gaming division began informing employees of job cuts this week, part of a broader culling at the software company as it seeks to control costs. Microsoft’s Stockholm-based King division, which makes Candy Crush, is cutting 10% of its staff, or about 200 jobs. Other European offices, such as ZeniMax, also began informing employees that job cuts were happening. The gaming division had about 20,000 employees as of January 2024.

—SBI to label RCom loan account as 'fraud. State Bank of India has decided to classify the loan account of beleaguered telecom firm Reliance Communications as "fraud" and to report the name of its erstwhile director, Anil Ambani, to the Reserve Bank of India. The move is expected to be followed by other lenders who have given loans to Reliance Communications Ltd. According to a filing, the company and its subsidiaries received a total loan of ₹31,580 crore from banks.

ICYMI | GST & Its Acute Growing Pains

Missed last week's update? GST just turned eight, and like a typical eight-year-old, it’s still figuring things out, reveals a Deloitte survey. The document says tax disputes are rising, MSMEs are struggling, and the system’s far from smooth. Also, let's delve into the annals of history — the city of Dubai could have been part of India, if not for a royal telegram from the British in April 1947.

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