THE CENTRAL GOODS AND SERVICES TAX ACT, 2017
DEMANDS AND RECOVERY
Section 79:
Recovery of tax.
a)
the proper officer
may deduct or may require any other specified officer to deduct the amount so
payable from any money owing to such person which may be under the control of
the proper officer or such other specified officer;
b) the proper officer
may recover or may require any other specified officer to recover the amount so
payable by detaining and selling any goods belonging to such person which are
under the control of the proper officer or such other specified officer;
c)
(i) the proper
officer may, by a notice in writing, require any other person from whom money
is due or may become due to such person or who holds or may subsequently hold
money for or on account of such person, to pay to the Government either
forthwith upon the money becoming due or being held, or within the time
specified in the notice not being before the money becomes due or is held, so
much of the money as is sufficient to pay the amount due from such person or
the whole of the money when it is equal to or less than that amount;
(ii)
every person to whom the notice is issued under sub-clause (i) shall be bound
to comply with such notice, and in particular, where any such notice is issued
to a post office, banking company or an insurer, it shall not be necessary to produce
any pass book, deposit receipt, policy or any other document for the purpose of
any entry, endorsement or the like being made before payment is made,
notwithstanding any rule, practice or requirement to the contrary;
(iii) in case the person to whom a notice under sub-clause (i) has been issued,
fails to make the payment in pursuance thereof to the Government, he shall be
deemed to be a defaulter in respect of the amount specified in the notice and
all the consequences of this Act or the rules made thereunder shall follow;
(iv) the officer issuing a notice under sub-clause (i) may, at any time, amend
or revoke such notice or extend the time for making any payment in pursuance of
the notice;
(v) any person making any payment in compliance with a notice issued under
sub-clause (i) shall be deemed to have made the payment under the authority of
the person in default and such payment being credited to the Government shall
be deemed to constitute a good and sufficient discharge of the liability of
such person to the person in default to the extent of the amount specified in
the receipt;
(vi) any person discharging any liability to the person in default after
service on him of the notice issued under sub-clause (i) shall be personally
liable to the Government to the extent of the liability discharged or to the
extent of the liability of the person in default for tax, interest and penalty,
whichever is less;
(vii) where a person on whom a notice is served under sub-clause (i) proves to
the satisfaction of the officer issuing the notice that the money demanded or
any part thereof was not due to the person in default or that he did not hold
any money for or on account of the person in default, at the time the notice
was served on him, nor is the money demanded or any part thereof, likely to
become due to the said person or be held for or on account of such person,
nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to require the person on whom
the notice has been served to pay to the Government any such money or part
thereof;
d) the proper officer
may, in accordance with the rules to be made in this behalf, distrain any movable or immovable property belonging to or
under the control of such person, and detain the same until the amount payable
is paid; and in case, any part of the said amount payable or of the cost of the
distress or keeping of the property, remains unpaid for a period of thirty days
next after any such distress, may cause the said property to be sold and with
the proceeds of such sale, may satisfy the amount payable and the costs
including cost of sale remaining unpaid and shall render the surplus amount, if
any, to such person;
e)
the proper officer
may prepare a certificate signed by him specifying the amount due from such
person and send it to the Collector of the district in which such person owns
any property or resides or carries on his business or to any officer authorised by the Government and the said Collector or the
said officer, on receipt of such certificate, shall proceed to recover from
such person the amount specified thereunder as if it were an arrear of land
revenue;
f)
Notwithstanding
anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, the proper officer
may file an application to the appropriate Magistrate and such Magistrate shall
proceed to recover from such person the amount specified thereunder as if it
were a fine imposed by him.
(2)
Where the terms of any bond or other instrument executed under this Act or any
rules or regulations made thereunder provide that any amount due under such
instrument may be recovered in the manner laid down in sub-section (1), the
amount may, without prejudice to any other mode of recovery, be recovered in
accordance with the provisions of that sub-section.
(3) Where any amount of tax, interest or penalty is payable by a person to the
Government under any of the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder
and which remains unpaid, the proper officer of State tax or Union territory
tax, during the course of recovery of said tax arrears, may recover the amount
from the said person as if it were an arrear of State tax or Union territory
tax and credit the amount so recovered to the account of the Government.
(4) Where the amount recovered under
sub-section (3) is less than the amount due to the Central Government and State
Government, the amount to be credited to the account of the respective
Governments shall be in proportion to the amount due to each such Government.
1[Explanation.––For the purposes of this section, the word person shall include “distinct persons” as referred to in sub-section (4) or, as the case may be, sub-section (5) of section 25.]
1.Inserted Vide: Section 24 of CGST Amendment Act 2018 vide Notification No. 02/2019 - Central Tax (w.e.f. 01.02.2019)