Section 143 of the CGST Act, 2017

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GST›CGST Act, 2017›Chapter XXI, Miscellaneous

At a glance

Entitlement and conditions

  • 143(1)Inputs must return or be supplied within one year and capital goods within three years; moulds and dies, jigs and fixtures, and tools are excluded from the capital-goods limits. Sending through successive job workers is permitted under intimation and prescribed conditions.
  • 143(1)(b)Supply from the job-worker premises requires domestic tax or the applicable export treatment. Declare the premises as an additional place unless the job worker is registered or the goods are Commissioner-notified.
  • 143(5) and ExplanationNotwithstanding the ordinary dispatch and accounting provisions, a registered job worker may supply waste or scrap directly with tax; otherwise the principal supplies it. Inputs include intermediate goods arising from processing by either party.

Bars, duties and time limits

  • 143(2)–(4)The principal keeps proper accounts. Failure to return or supply within the stated conditions deems supply to the job worker on the original dispatch date.

Procedure, powers and definitions

  • 143(1) second provisoFor sufficient cause, the Commissioner may extend the input period by up to one year and the capital-goods period by up to two years.
  • 143The law does not settle the contents, recipient, form or timing of intimation, or the detail and location required for proper accounts.

A registered principal may send inputs or capital goods through job workers under intimation and prescribed conditions. Return or onward supply must meet the relevant periods, with limited extensions for sufficient cause. Supply from a job-worker location normally requires its declaration as an additional place, subject to exceptions. Waste and scrap have a separate route overriding the ordinary dispatch and accounting provisions.[1]

Text

The text below is the section as served by the CBIC tax information portal on 17 September 2026, with the portal's own amendment footnote markers (shown as small numerals before a bracket) and its footnotes.[1] The Act as published in the Gazette of India is the legal source.

Section 143, verbatim (show)

* Section 143. Job work procedure.-

(1) A registered person (hereafter in this section referred to as the "principal") may under intimation and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed, send any inputs or capital goods, without payment of tax, to a job worker for job work and from there subsequently send to another job worker and likewise, and shall,-

(a) bring back inputs, after completion of job work or otherwise, or capital goods, other than moulds and dies, jigs and fixtures, or tools, within one year and three years, respectively, of their being sent out, to any of his place of business, without payment of tax;

(b) supply such inputs, after completion of job work or otherwise, or capital goods, other than moulds and dies, jigs and fixtures, or tools, within one year and three years, respectively, of their being sent out from the place of business of a job worker on payment of tax within India, or with or without payment of tax for export, as the case may be:

Provided that the principal shall not supply the goods from the place of business of a job worker in accordance with the provisions of this clause unless the said principal declares the place of business of the job worker as his additional place of business except in a case -

(i) where the job worker is registered under section 25; or

(ii) where the principal is engaged in the supply of such goods as may be notified by the Commissioner:

1[Provided further that the period of one year and three years may, on sufficient cause being shown, be extended by the Commissioner for a further period not exceeding one year and two years respectively.]

(2) The responsibility for keeping proper accounts for the inputs or capital goods shall lie with the principal.

(3) Where the inputs sent for job work are not received back by the principal after completion of job work or otherwise in accordance with the provisions of clause (a) of sub-section (1) or are not supplied from the place of business of the job worker in accordance with the provisions of clause (b) of sub-section (1) within a period of one year of their being sent out, it shall be deemed that such inputs had been supplied by the principal to the job worker on the day when the said inputs were sent out.

(4) Where the capital goods, other than moulds and dies, jigs and fixtures, or tools, sent for job work are not received back by the principal in accordance with the provisions of clause (a) of sub-section (1) or are not supplied from the place of business of the job worker in accordance with the provisions of clause (b) of sub-section (1) within a period of three years of their being sent out, it shall be deemed that such capital goods had been supplied by the principal to the job worker on the day when the said capital goods were sent out.

(5) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-sections (1) and (2), any waste and scrap generated during the job work may be supplied by the job worker directly from his place of business on payment of tax, if such job worker is registered, or by the principal, if the job worker is not registered.

Explanation.-For the purposes of job work, input includes intermediate goods arising from any treatment or process carried out on the inputs by the principal or the job worker.

*Enforced w.e.f. 1st July, 2017.

1. Inserted by s.29 of The Central Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Act, 2018 (No. 31 of 2018) -Brought into force w.e.f. 01st February, 2019.

Questions to answer on the file

Questions a reviewer answers from the engagement file, grouped by the part of the section they come from. They describe what the section asks; they do not decide it.

Scope, the principal, the goods and the period the section as a whole and its Explanation

Questions to answer on the file7 questions
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Sending the goods out to a job worker 143(1) opening words

Questions to answer on the file4 questions
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Bringing the goods back to the principal 143(1)(a)

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Supplying the goods from the job worker's place of business 143(1)(b)

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The job worker's place of business as an additional place of business first proviso to 143(1)(b)

Questions to answer on the file2 questions
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Extension of the period by the Commissioner second proviso to 143(1)

Questions to answer on the file4 questions
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The responsibility for keeping proper accounts 143(2)

Questions to answer on the file2 questions
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Inputs not received back or supplied within the year 143(3)

Questions to answer on the file2 questions
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Capital goods not received back or supplied within the three years 143(4)

Questions to answer on the file2 questions
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Waste and scrap generated during the job work 143(5)

Questions to answer on the file3 questions
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Amendment history

The CBIC text carries 2 footnotes. The table gives each in the source's own terms. Effective dates are as the footnotes state them.[1]

Amendments to section 143 as footnoted in the CBIC text
NoteChangeInstrumentEffective from
Enforced the section—1st July, 2017
1Inserted the second proviso to sub-section (1), which lets the Commissioner extend the period of one year and three years. The source preserves the inserted words in full inside the marker.s.29 of The Central Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Act, 2018 (No. 31 of 2018)[2]1st February, 2019
Provisions connected to Section 143
ProvisionConnectionWords that tie them
Rule 45 of the CGST Rules, 2017143(1) prescribed by Rule 45 of the CGST Rules, 2017143(1) "may under intimation and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed"
Section 2143(1) defined by Section 2143(1) "send any inputs or capital goods, without payment of tax, to a job worker for job work"
Section 25first proviso to 143(1)(b) requires Section 25first proviso to 143(1)(b) "where the job worker is registered under section 25"
Section 19Section 19 requires 143(1)(a) and 143(1)(b)19(3) "in accordance with clause (a) or clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 143"
Section 19Section 19 defined by this provision19 Explanation "means the person referred to in section 143"
Section 22Section 22 requires this provision22 Explanation (ii) "the supply of goods by the principal referred to in section 143"

Circulars and notifications

Circulars and notifications in the CBIC repository that cite this section, newest first, by number, date and subject. A listing here does not say what an instrument decides; read the instrument.

Circulars (2)

NumberDateSubject
Circular No. 88/07/2019-GST1 February 2019Seeks to make amendments in the earlier issued circulars in wake of amendments in the CGST Act, 2017 (which shall come into force w.e.f. 01.02.2019).
Circular No. 38/12/2018-GST26 March 2018Clarifications on issues related to Job Work.

Notifications (4)

NumberDateSubject
Notification No. 38/2019-Central Tax31 August 2019Seeks to waive filing of FORM ITC-04 for F.Y. 2017-18 & 2018-19.
Notification No. 74/2018-Central Tax31 December 2018Fourteenth amendment to the CGST Rules, 2017. amended by a later instrument
Notification No. 39/2018-Central Tax4 September 2018Seeks to make amendments (Eighth Amendment, 2018) to the CGST Rules, 2017 amended by a later instrument
Notification No. 10/2017-Central Tax28 June 2017Seeks to amend CGST Rules notification no 3/2017-Central Tax dt 19.06.2017 amended by a later instrument

Unsettled questions

The words of section 143 do not answer these questions. Where one decides a matter on the file, the answer depends on the position taken on it.

  1. Sub-section (1) lets the principal send the goods "under intimation" and nowhere says what the intimation must state, to whom it is to be given, in what form, or by when. Until the firm settles what an intimation must be, the record neither treats a file without one as a breach nor treats any document on the file as one.
  2. Sub-section (2) places the responsibility for keeping proper accounts for the inputs or capital goods on the principal and does not say what makes accounts proper for this purpose, what they must record, at what level of detail, or where they must be kept.

See also

References

  1. Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs. "Section 143. Job work procedure". Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, CBIC tax information portal, with amendment footnotes 1 to 2. Retrieved 17 September 2026.
  2. The Central Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Act, 2018. Cited in CBIC footnote 1.

External links