The Goods and Services Tax Council chaired by Union FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday took an in-principle decision to linkAadhaar with the registration of taxpayers under the GST and examine thepossibility of making Aadhaar mandatory for claiming refunds.

She also said that a committee would also be formed toensure simplification of annual return filing procedures.

Sitharaman said that the Council had taken an"in-principle decision to link Aadhaar with the registration of taxpayersunder GST and examine the possibility of making Aadhaar mandatory for claimingrefunds".

The Finance Minister also said that while a committee ofofficers would be constituted to examine the simplification of forms for annualreturn and reconciliation statement, suitable amendments would be made in thein Central GST Act, Union Territories GST Act, and the corresponding State GSTActs in view of creation of UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

In order to rein in the menace of fake invoices andfraudulent refunds, Sitharaman said, that the Council had taken also anin-principle decision to "prescribe reasonable restrictions on the passingof credit by risky taxpayers including risky new taxpayers".