GST Show Cause Notice (SCN) Powers upto
Rs. 20 lakhs Delegated to Superintendent Level
·
Adjudication only with
Jurisdiction Commissioner, Audit or Intelligence Wing can issue only SCN
[Circular
No. 31/05/2018 GST
dated 9 February 2018]
Subject: Proper officer under sections 73 and 74 of the Central Goods and Services Tax
Act, 2017 and under the Integrated
Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017
The Board, vide Circular No. 1/1/2017-GST dated 26th June, 2017, assigned proper
officers for provisions relating to registration and composition levy
under
the Central Goods
and Services Tax Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as the CGST Act) and the rules
made thereunder. Further, vide
Circular No. 3/3/2017 - GST dated 5th
July, 2017, the proper officers for provisions other than registration and composition under
the CGST Act were
assigned. In the latter
Circular, the Deputy or Assistant Commissioner of Central Tax was
assigned as the proper officer
under sub-sections (1), (2), (3), (5), (6), (7),
(9) and (10) of section 74 while the Superintendent of Central Tax was assigned as the proper officer under
sub-sections (1), (2),
(3), (5), (6), (7), (9) and (10) of
section 73 of the CGST Act.
2. It has now been decided by the Board that Superintendents of Central Tax shall also be empowered to issue show cause
notices and orders under
section 74 of the CGST Act.
Accordingly, the following
entry is hereby
being added to the item at Sl. No. 4 of the Table
on page number 3 of Circular No. 3/3/2017-GST dated 5th July,
2017, namely:-
|
Sl. No. |
Designation
of the officer |
Functions under
Section of the Central Goods
and Services Tax Act, 2017 or the rules made
thereunder |
|
(1) |
(2) |
(3) |
|
4. |
Superintendent of Central Tax |
viii(a). Sub-sections (1), (2),
(3), (5), (6), (7), (9) and
(10) of Section 74 |
3. Further, in light of sub-section (2) of section 5 of the CGST Act, whereby an officer
of central tax may
exercise the powers and discharge the duties conferred
or imposed under the CGST Act on any other officer of central tax who is subordinate to him, the following entry is hereby removed from the Table on page number 2 of Circular No. 3/3/2017-GST
dated 5th July,
2017:-
|
Sl. No. |
Designation
of the officer |
Functions under Section of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 or the rules
made thereunder |
|
(1) |
(2) |
(3) |
|
3. |
Deputy or
Assistant Commissioner of Central Tax |
vi. Sub-sections
(1), (2), (3), (5), (6),
(7), (9) and (10)
of Section 74 |
4. In other words, all officers up to the rank of Additional/Joint Commissioner of Central Tax are assigned as the proper officer for issuance of show cause notices and orders under sub-
sections (1),
(2), (3), (5), (6),
(7), (9) and (10) of sections 73 and 74
of the CGST Act. Further, they
are
so assigned under the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (hereinafter
referred to as the IGST Act) as well,
as per section 3 read with
section 20 of the said Act.
5. Whereas, for optimal distribution of work relating to the issuance of show cause notices
and orders under sections 73 and 74 of the CGST
Act and also under the IGST Act, monetary
limits for different levels of
officers of
central tax need to be prescribed.
Therefore, in pursuance of clause (91)
of section 2 of the CGST Act read with section 20 of the IGST Act, the Board hereby assigns
the officers mentioned in Column (2) of the Table below, the
functions as the proper officers in relation to issue of show cause notices and orders under sections 73 and 74 of the CGST Act and section 20 of the IGST Act (read with sections 73 and 74 of the CGST Act), up to the monetary
limits as mentioned in columns (3), (4) and (5)
respectively of the Table below:-
Table
|
Sl. No. |
Officer of Central Tax |
Monetary limit of the amount of central
tax (including cess) not paid or short paid
or erroneously refunded
or input tax credit
of central
tax wrongly availed or utilized for
issuance of show cause
notices and passing of
orders under sections 73 and 74 of CGST Act |
Monetary limit of the
amount of integrated
tax (including cess) not paid or short paid or erroneously
refunded or input tax credit of integrated
tax wrongly availed or utilized for issuance
of show cause notices and passing
of orders under sections
73 and 74 of CGST Act made
applicable to matters
in relation to integrated
tax vide section
20 of the IGST Act |
Monetary limit of the
amount of central
tax and integrated tax (including cess) not paid
or short paid or erroneously
refunded or input tax credit
of central tax and integrated tax wrongly
availed or utilized for issuance
of show cause notices and passing of orders
under sections 73 and 74 of CGST Act made
applicable to integrated tax
vide section 20 of the IGST Act |
|
(1) |
(2) |
(3) |
(4) |
(5) |
|
1. |
Superintendent of Central Tax |
Not exceeding Rupees
10 lakhs |
Not exceeding
Rupees 20 lakhs |
Not exceeding
Rupees 20 lakhs |
|
2. |
Deputy
or Assistant Commissioner
of Central Tax |
Above
Rupees 10 lakhs and not exceeding
Rupees 1 crore |
Above
Rupees 20 lakhs and not exceeding
Rupees 2 crores |
Above
Rupees 20 lakhs and not exceeding
Rupees 2 crores |
|
3. |
Additional
or Joint Commissioner of Central Tax |
Above
Rupees 1 crore without any limit |
Above
Rupees 2 crores without
any limit |
Above
Rupees 2 crores without any limit |
6. The central tax officers of Audit Commissionerates
and Directorate General of Goods
and Services Tax Intelligence
(hereinafter referred to as DGGSTI) shall exercise the powers only to issue show cause notices. A show cause notice issued by them shall be
adjudicated by the competent central tax officer of the Executive Commissionerate in whose jurisdiction the noticee is registered. In case there are more than one noticees mentioned in the show cause notice having their principal places of business falling
in multiple Commissionerates, the show cause notice shall be adjudicated by
the
competent central tax officer in whose
jurisdiction, the principal place of business
of the noticee from whom the highest
demand of central tax and/or integrated tax (including cess) has been made falls.
7. Notwithstanding
anything contained in para 6 above, a show cause notice issued
by DGGSTI in which the principal places of business of the noticees
fall in multiple Commissionerates and where the central tax and/or integrated tax (including cess) involved is more than Rs. 5 crores shall be adjudicated by
an officer of the rank of Additional Director/Additional Commissioner (as assigned by the Board), who shall not be on the strength of DGGSTI and working there at the time of adjudication. Cases of similar nature may also be assigned
to such an officer.
8. In case show cause notices have been issued on similar issues to a noticee(s) and made answerable to different levels of adjudicating authorities within a Commissionerate,
such show cause notices should
be adjudicated by the adjudicating authority competent to decide the case involving
the highest amount of central tax and/or integrated tax (including
cess).
9. It is requested that suitable trade notices may be issued to publicize the contents of
this circular.
10. Difficulty, if any, in implementation
of the above instructions may please be brought
to the notice of the Board.
F. No. 349/75/2017-GST