THE CENTRAL GOODS AND
SERVICES TAX ACT, 2017
OFFENCES AND PENALTIES
Section 132: Punishment for certain offences.
(1) 1['Whoever
commits, or causes to commit and retain the benefits arising out of, any of the
following offences] [helldod old[Whoever commits any of the
following offences] helldod], namely:—
a)
supplies any goods or
services or both without issue of any invoice, in violation of the provisions
of this Act or the rules made thereunder, with the intention to evade tax;
b) issues any invoice or
bill without supply of goods or services or both in violation of the provisions
of this Act, or the rules made thereunder leading to wrongful availment or utilisation of input
tax credit or refund of tax;
1[(c) avails input tax credit using the invoice or bill referred to in clause (b) or fraudulently avails input tax credit without any invoice or bill]
[helldod old[c) avails input tax credit using such invoice or bill referred to in clause (b)] helldod]
d) collects any amount
as tax but fails to pay the same to the Government beyond a period of three
months from the date on which such payment becomes due;
e)
evades tax,
[helldod
2omit [fraudulently avails input tax credit] helldod] or fraudulently obtains refund and where
such offence is not covered under clauses (a) to (d);
f)
falsifies or
substitutes financial records or produces fake accounts or documents or
furnishes any false information with an intention to evade payment of tax due
under this Act;
g) obstructs or prevents
any officer in the discharge of his duties under this Act;
h)
acquires possession
of, or in any way concerns himself in transporting, removing, depositing,
keeping, concealing, supplying, or purchasing or in any other manner deals
with, any goods which he knows or has reasons to believe are liable to
confiscation under this Act or the rules made there under;
i)
receives or is in any
way concerned with the supply of, or in any other manner deals with any supply
of services which he knows or has reasons to believe are in contravention of
any provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder;
j)
tampers with or
destroys any material evidence or documents;
k)
fails to supply any
information which he is required to supply under this Act or the rules made
thereunder or (unless with a reasonable belief, the burden of proving which
shall be upon him, that the information supplied by him is true) supplies false
information; or
l)
attempts
to commit, or abets the commission of any of the offences mentioned in clauses
(a) to (k) of this section, shall be punishable––
(i)
in cases where the
amount of tax evaded or the amount of input tax credit wrongly availed or utilised or the amount of refund wrongly taken exceeds five
hundred lakh rupees, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five
years and with fine;
(ii) in cases where the amount of tax evaded or the
amount of input tax credit wrongly availed or utilised
or the amount of refund wrongly taken exceeds two hundred lakh rupees but does
not exceed five hundred lakh rupees, with imprisonment for a term which may
extend to three years and with fine;
(iii) in the case of any
other offence where the amount of tax evaded or the amount of input tax credit
wrongly availed or utilised or the amount of refund
wrongly taken exceeds one hundred lakh rupees but does not exceed two hundred
lakh rupees, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year and with
fine;
(iv) in cases where he
commits or abets the commission of an offence specified in clause (f) or clause
(g) or clause (j), he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which
may extend to six months or with fine or with both.
(2) Where
any person convicted of an offence under this section is again convicted of an
offence under this section, then, he shall be punishable for the second and for
every subsequent offence with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five
years and with fine.
(3) The imprisonment referred to in clauses (i), (ii) and (iii) of sub-section
(1) and sub-section (2) shall, in the absence of special and adequate reasons
to the contrary to be recorded in the judgment of the Court, be for a term not
less than six months.
(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973,
all offences under this Act, except the offences referred to in sub-section (5)
shall be non-cognizable and bailable.
(5) The offences specified in clause (a) or clause (b) or clause (c) or clause
(d) of subsection (1) and punishable under clause (i) of that sub-section shall
be cognizable and non-bailable.
(6) A person shall not be prosecuted for any offence under this section except
with the previous sanction of the Commissioner.
Explanation.— For the purposes of this section, the term “tax” shall
include the amount of tax evaded or the amount of input tax credit wrongly
availed or utilised or refund wrongly taken under the
provisions of this Act, the State Goods and Services Tax Act, the Integrated
Goods and Services Tax Act or the Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Act
and cess levied under the Goods and Services Tax
(Compensation to States) Act.
1. Substituted Vide: Section 127 of Finance Act 2020 vide Notification No. 92/2020 - Central Tax (w.e.f. 01.01.2021)
2. Omitted Vide: Section 127 of Finance Act 2020 vide Notification No. 92/2020 - Central Tax (w.e.f. 01.01.2021)