GST Law & Practice Hub

GST in 2 Minutes

1. Is there a supply?

Start with sections 7–8 and the transaction facts.

2. Who pays?

Forward charge, reverse charge, e-commerce or composition can change the liable person and process.

3. Where and when?

Place/time of supply determines tax type, period and sometimes the applicable rate.

4. At what value/rate?

Use valuation law plus the effective-dated notification chain — not a generic slab assumption.

5. What ITC survives?

Eligibility, blocked credit, return data, payment and evidence all matter.

6. What must be filed?

Invoice, e-invoice, e-way bill, return, payment and annual reporting must reconcile.

7. What if challenged?

Match scrutiny, audit, demand, recovery and appeal to the correct statutory route and period.

8. What proves the position?

Keep contracts, invoices, ledgers, reconciliations, portal records, orders and correspondence.

CGST chapters

CGST Schedules

255

Circulars tracked through 256

2×

Official-source validation rule

CGST Act — Chapters I to XXI

The chapter map follows the current official CGST Act structure and includes inserted section numbers. Open a chapter for the section-by-section map and connected resources.

Chapter I

Preliminary

Know what the Act covers before applying any GST rule.

Sections 1–2 Chapter II

Administration

Identify the proper officer, jurisdiction and delegation before acting on a notice or order.

Sections 3–6 Chapter III

Levy and Collection of Tax

Decide whether there is a taxable supply, who pays, and whether composition, exemption or non-recovery applies.

Sections 7–11A Chapter IV

Time and Value of Supply

Fix the tax point and taxable value before calculating GST.

Sections 12–15 Chapter V

Input Tax Credit

Turn purchase-side GST into defensible credit, not merely a ledger balance.

Sections 16–21 Chapter VI

Registration

Determine who must register, when, where and how registration can be amended, cancelled or revived.

Sections 22–30 Chapter VII

Tax Invoice, Credit and Debit Notes

Get the tax document right before it becomes a return, e-invoice or ITC problem.

Sections 31–34 Chapter VIII

Accounts and Records

Build the evidence file that supports returns, ITC, valuation and litigation.

Sections 35–36 Chapter IX

Returns

Convert invoices and ITC data into consistent statutory returns and reconciliations.

Sections 37–48 Chapter X

Payment of Tax

Control cash ledger, credit ledger, interest, TDS/TCS and utilisation order.

Sections 49–53A Chapter XI

Refunds

Move from refund eligibility to a complete evidence-backed claim and follow-up trail.

Sections 54–58 Chapter XII

Assessment

Understand self-assessment, scrutiny and best-judgment/summary assessment before replying.

Sections 59–64 Chapter XIII

Audit

Prepare for departmental or special audit with reconciled books, returns and source evidence.

Sections 65–66 Chapter XIV

Inspection, Search, Seizure and Arrest

Respond to enforcement with authority, evidence and chronology controls.

Sections 67–72 Chapter XV

Demands and Recovery

Choose the correct demand regime by financial year, then control notice, limitation, payment and recovery risk.

Sections 73–84 Chapter XVI

Liability to Pay in Certain Cases

Identify who carries GST liabilities when businesses, firms, companies or persons change form or control.

Sections 85–94 Chapter XVII

Advance Ruling

Use advance ruling only after checking scope, jurisdiction, facts and the limits of binding effect.

Sections 95–106 Chapter XVIII

Appeals and Revision

Navigate first appeal, revision, GSTAT, High Court and Supreme Court with limitation and pre-deposit controls.

Sections 107–121 Chapter XIX

Offences and Penalties

Separate civil penalty, detention/confiscation and prosecution exposure before deciding the response.

Sections 122–138 Chapter XX

Transitional Provisions

Use transitional law only for the period and migration issue it was designed to govern.

Sections 139–142 Chapter XXI

Miscellaneous

Connect job work, portal powers, information, special procedures, service of notices and saving provisions.

Sections 143–174

Open the complete 21-chapter map →

Full GST law library

Choose the legal layer you need. Finin2min keeps primary law, subordinate instruments, operational implementation and judicial material separate so authority is never blurred.

CGST Act — section repository

Sections 1–174 plus inserted provisions, with status controls.

CGST Rules

Rule repository with source/release-state controls.

GST Acts

CGST and connected statutory repositories.

IGST, UTGST & allied Acts

Inter-State, Union Territory and allied statutory layers.

Forms & return forms

Registration, return, refund, assessment, demand, appeal and other forms.

Notifications

Tax, rate, exemption, procedure and amendment instruments.

Circulars

Chronological repository, including withdrawal/currentness control.

Instructions & directions

Administrative instructions kept distinct from statutory text.

Orders

Orders and implementation instruments.

State / UT overlays

State-specific differences without duplicating the common CGST explanation.

Notification-entry master

Instrument-level repository for detailed notification chains.

Concordance & historical law

Earlier-period and transition mapping.

Start from a practical GST question

Not everyone knows the section number. These pathways begin with the business problem but always route back to the controlling law.

GST Registration

Do I need GST registration — and in which State?

Composition Scheme

Is the composition scheme actually available to my business?

Input Tax Credit

Can I claim this ITC and defend it later?

Reverse Charge

Who pays GST under RCM and when?

Place of Supply

IGST or CGST+SGST — where is the supply located?

Rates & HSN/SAC

Which GST rate applies on the transaction date?

Invoices & E-Invoice

Is the invoice legally correct and does e-invoicing apply?

Returns & Reconciliation

Why do GSTR-1, GSTR-3B, 2B and books disagree?

E-Way Bill

Invoice, e-way bill and return mismatch — what breaks?

Refunds

Which refund route applies and what evidence is needed?

Scrutiny & Assessment

ASMT-10 received — what should be reconciled first?

Notices & Evidence

GST notice received — pay first or reply first?

Open all practical pathways →

GST rates, HSN/SAC and classification

Do not start from a slab. Start from classification, transaction date and the operative notification chain. The post-September-2025 framework and later 2026 amendments mean historical and current rates must be effective-dated.

Goods Rate Master Services Rate Master Classification repository Rate notifications

Rate-data safeguard

The legal-control layer does not certify every HSN/SAC row merely because it appears in a database. Row-level classification and notification-chain validation remains mandatory before a rate is represented as fully certified.

Returns, e-invoice, e-way bill & GST portal

GST Returns

Return obligations, filing flows and section linkage.

E-Invoice / IRP

Invoice reporting and operational controls.

E-Way Bill

Movement-of-goods documentation and mismatch risk.

GST Common Portal

Portal operation kept distinct from the legal test.

Notices, demands, recovery, appeals & GSTAT

A GST dispute should be navigated by statutory stage and financial year, not by a generic “notice reply” template.

GST end-to-end workflows

Assessment, demand, recovery and response pathways.

GSTAT

Tribunal procedure and filing controls.

High Court issue citator

Issue-led High Court treatment.

Supreme Court GST citator

Top-level judicial authority.

Provision-to-case concordance

Move from section to judicial treatment.

GST case-law citator

Case material with hierarchy awareness.

Demand-year checkpoint: sections 73 and 74 now expressly relate to periods up to FY 2023-24, while section 74A addresses FY 2024-25 onward. Always identify the financial year before selecting the demand route.

Current law, amendments & 2026 controls

Latest central circular

256/02/2026-GST dated 25 July 2026: departmental GSTAT appeals in DGGI Common Adjudicating Authority cases.

Current GST updates

Recent statutory and procedural developments.

Official-source freshness monitor

Source and update-control layer.

Circular currentness

Circulars through 256/02/2026-GST, with withdrawal/currentness control.

HSNS 2026 rule changes

Allied indirect-tax developments are surfaced rather than buried.

Enacted is not the same as operative. The legal-control layer keeps Finance Act 2026 changes that await commencement notification in an enacted-but-not-operative state. The current-law view must not silently apply them early.

Finin2min legal & editorial standard

Official text first

Gazette / India Code / CBIC / Department of Revenue / GST Council / GST Portal as appropriate.

Two-source release check

Current legal text, status or effective-date claims are not cleared on a single weak source.

Hierarchy matters

Supreme Court, High Court, GSTAT and AAR/AAAR are not treated as equal precedent.

No false certainty

Ambiguous, State-specific, fact-sensitive or source-gated positions stay visibly qualified.

No company-name examples

Worked cases use realistic generic facts.

One canonical owner

Articles explain application; the statutory page owns the legal provision.

Finin2min Q&A

Can I claim GST ITC if my supplier invoice is missing from return data?

Do not decide from one portal field alone. Start with sections 16 and 17, the current Rule/return framework, documentary conditions, supplier reporting and the evidence supporting receipt and business use.

GSTR-2B shows less ITC than my books — what should I do?

Reconcile invoice-by-invoice, identify timing versus eligibility differences, preserve vendor follow-up and apply the current legal conditions before changing the claim.

Section 73, 74 or 74A — which GST demand provision applies?

First identify the relevant financial year. The current Act labels sections 73 and 74 for periods up to FY 2023-24 and section 74A for FY 2024-25 onward.

GST rate changed between invoice, supply and payment — which rate applies?

Apply the change-in-rate/time-of-supply rules to the facts and then use the effective-dated rate notification. A current headline rate cannot answer an earlier transaction by itself.

Can I appeal a GST order to GSTAT?

Check the order, service date, first-appellate route, statutory appeal provision, limitation, pre-deposit and the applicable GSTAT procedural requirements before filing.

Which HSN code applies to my product?

Classification is a legal and tariff exercise. Product description, composition, function and applicable tariff/notification notes matter; do not select an HSN only because a similar commercial description appears in a search result.

GST notice received — pay first or reply first?

Identify the notice type, legal provision, financial year, allegation, deadline and evidence. Payment may be appropriate in some cases, but a generic pay-first rule can prejudice the analysis.

Is an AAR ruling binding for every taxpayer?

No. Advance-ruling effect is fact- and party-specific under the statutory framework. Use AAR/AAAR decisions as a distinct authority layer and check higher judicial decisions.

Primary sources & currentness

India Code — CGST Act, 2017
Current official Act structure, sections and Schedules.CBIC Tax Information Portal
Tax information, circulars, notifications and legal instruments.GST Council
Council decisions, FAQs, newsletters and related official material.Department of Revenue
Acts, Rules and allied indirect-tax instruments including HSNS.

Architecture reviewed 26 July 2026. Always use the page-level legal status and effective-date note for the transaction period.

Notifications, Circulars & Amendment Engine

Trace an instrument by family, year, currentness, official-source evidence and amendment lineage.

Open Amendment Engine

Full GST repository

Repository status & source controls

See which corpus families are operative/certified, operating-scope, or source-gated.

Open repository status

Litigation & GSTAT

Supreme Court, High Court issue maps, AAR/AAAR, GSTAT and provision citator.

Open litigation hub

State & UT GST

All 36 jurisdiction routes with local-law source gates.

Open State/UT hub

Portal & digital compliance

Returns, portal controls, e-invoice, e-way bill and evidence/reconciliation workflows.

Open portal hub