Section 71 of CGST Act, 2017 – Access to business premises

The Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017

Chapter-XIV Inspection, Search, Seizure and Arrest

Section 71: Access to business premises.

71. (1) Any officer under this Act, authorised by the proper officer^c1 not below the rank of Joint Commissioner, shall have access to any place of business of a registered person to inspect books of account, documents, computers, computer programs, computer software whether installed in a computer or otherwise and such other things as he may require and which may be available at such place, for the purposes of carrying out any audit, scrutiny, verification and checks as may be necessary to safeguard the interest of revenue.

(2) Every person in charge of place referred to in sub-section (1) shall, on demand, make available to the officer authorised under sub-section (1) or the audit party deputed by the proper officer^c1 or a cost accountant or chartered accountant nominated under section 66—

(i) such records as prepared or maintained by the registered person and declared to the proper officer^c1 in such manner as may be prescribed;

(ii) trial balance or its equivalent;

(iii) statements of annual financial accounts, duly audited, wherever required;

(iv) cost audit report, if any, under section 148 of the Companies Act, 2013;

(v) the income-tax audit report, if any, under section 44AB of the Income-tax Act, 1961; and

(vi) any other relevant record,

for the scrutiny by the officer or audit party or the chartered accountant or cost accountant within a period not exceeding fifteen working days from the day when such demand is made, or such further period as may be allowed by the said officer or the audit party or the chartered accountant or cost accountant.

References

Enforcement:

Enforced w.e.f. July 01, 2017 [Notification No. G.S.R. 658(E) dated 28.06.2017].

Circulars:

c1. Proper officer relating to provisions other than Registration and Composition, refer Circular No. 3/3/2017-GST dated 05.07.2017.

c2. No separate notice is required to be issued for best judgment assessment under section 62 and in case of failure to file return within 15 days of issuance of FORM GSTR-3A, the best judgment assessment in FORM ASMT-13 can be issued without any further communication.  The Commissioner may resort to provisional attachment to protect revenue under section 83 of the CGST Act before issuance of FORM GST ASMT-13. the proper officer would initiate action under sub-section (2) of section 29 of the CGST Act for cancellation of registration in cases where the return has not been furnished for the period specified in section 29. For guidelines, refer Circular No. 129/48/2019-GST dated 24.12.2019.