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Section 161 of the CGST Act, 2017

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GST›CGST Act, 2017›Chapter XXI, Miscellaneous

At a glance

Bars, duties and time limits

161 provisosNo correction after six months, except a purely clerical or arithmetic error from accidental slip or omission. Adverse effects require natural justice.

Procedure, powers and definitions

161The issuing authority may correct an apparent error on its own motion or on notice from a central, State or Union territory officer or affected person within three months of issue, without prejudice to section 160 and notwithstanding other provisions.
161The law does not settle whether three months also limits own-motion action, what constitutes an adverse effect or which affected persons the safeguard reaches.

An issuing authority may correct an apparent error in its decision or document, without prejudice to section 160 and notwithstanding other provisions of the Act. A notified error has a three-month period, and correction ordinarily has a six-month limit. Accidental clerical or arithmetic slips escape the latter limit; an adverse correction requires observance of natural justice.^[1]

Quick facts

Section 161, CGST Act, 2017

Rectification of errors apparent on the face of record

Provision
Act	Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017
Chapter	XXI, Miscellaneous
Section title	Rectification of errors apparent on the face of record
Amendments
Last amendment	1 July 2017: enforced (the source names none; the served line reads only "Enforced w.e.f. 1st July, 2017.")
Amendments	1 footnote in the CBIC text (table)
Related provisions
Rules	Rule 142 of the CGST Rules, 2017
Sections	3, 102, 113, 160
Other	Section 3 of the UTGST Act, 2017
Structure 161 opening wordsThe opening words: the authority, the document and the reach of the section 161, the words about the errorThe error apparent on the face of record 161, the limb about noticeHow the error came to the authority's notice, and the three months from the date of issue 161 first and second provisosThe first proviso and the second: the six months from the date of issue, and the clerical or arithmetical error the six months does not reach 161 third provisoThe third proviso: the principles of natural justice
Source
Law text	CBIC tax information portal, served on 17 September 2026^[1]
Questions reviewed	Prashant Prakash, 22 September 2026

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 161, verbatim (show)

* Section 161. Rectification of errors apparent on the face of record.- Without prejudice to the provisions of section 160, and notwithstanding anything contained in any other provisions of this Act, any authority, who has passed or issued any decision or order or notice or certificate or any other document, may rectify any error which is apparent on the face of record in such decision or order or notice or certificate or any other document, either on its own motion or where such error is brought to its notice by any officer appointed under this Act or an officer appointed under the State Goods and Services Tax Act or an officer appointed under the Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Act or by the affected person within a period of three months from the date of issue of such decision or order or notice or certificate or any other document, as the case may be:

Provided that no such rectification shall be done after a period of six months from the date of issue of such decision or order or notice or certificate or any other document:

Provided further that the said period of six months shall not apply in such cases where the rectification is purely in the nature of correction of a clerical or arithmetical error, arising from any accidental slip or omission:

Provided also that where such rectification adversely affects any person, the principles of natural justice shall be followed by the authority carrying out such rectification. * Enforced w.e.f. 1st July, 2017.

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 section as a whole

Questions to answer on the file2 questions

Which limb of section 161 does the matter turn on?
On what date was the decision, order, notice, certificate or other document said to carry the error issued?

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The opening words: the authority, the document and the reach of the section 161 opening words

Questions to answer on the file4 questions

What kind of document is the one said to carry the error: a decision, an order, a notice, a certificate or any other document?
Is the authority proposing to rectify the document the same authority that passed or issued it?
Is a provision of this Act other than section 161 relied on as standing in the way of the rectification?
Is section 160 relied on in the matter as making the document good notwithstanding the defect?

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The error apparent on the face of record 161, the words about the error

Questions to answer on the file3 questions

Is a defect in that document relied on as the reason for rectifying it?
Does the document itself, or the record of the proceeding in which it was issued, show the defect without evidence from outside it?
Is the defect an error which is apparent on the face of record?

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How the error came to the authority's notice, and the three months from the date of issue 161, the limb about notice

Questions to answer on the file5 questions

By whom was the error noticed, or brought to the authority's notice?
On what date was the error noticed by the authority, or brought to its notice?
What is the last date of the period of three months running from the date of issue of the document, as the auditor works it out from that date?
Was the error noticed or brought to notice within three months from the date of issue?
If question 1 is answered “the authority on its own motion”: does the period of three months bind the authority acting on its own motion, as well as the bringing of the error to its notice?

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The first proviso and the second: the six months from the date of issue, and the clerical or arithmetical error the six months does not reach 161 first and second provisos

Questions to answer on the file4 questions

On what date was the rectification done?
What is the last date of the period of six months running from the date of issue of the document, as the auditor works it out from that date?
Is the rectification purely in the nature of correction of a clerical or arithmetical error?
Does that error arise from an accidental slip or omission?

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The third proviso: the principles of natural justice 161 third proviso

Questions to answer on the file2 questions

Does the rectification adversely affect any person?
Were the principles of natural justice followed by the authority carrying out the rectification?

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Amendment history

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

Amendments to section 161 as footnoted in the CBIC text
Note	Change	Instrument	Effective from
	enforced	the source names none; the served line reads only "Enforced w.e.f. 1st July, 2017."	1st July, 2017

Provisions connected to Section 161
Provision	Connection	Words that tie them
Section 160	this provision requires Section 160	161 "Without prejudice to the provisions of section 160"
Section 3	this provision requires Section 3	161 "brought to its notice by any officer appointed under this Act"
Section 3 of the UTGST Act, 2017	this provision requires Section 3 of the UTGST Act, 2017	161 "or an officer appointed under the Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Act"
Section 102	this provision same as Section 102	161 "may rectify any error which is apparent on the face of record", the same test section 102 applies to an order of an advance-ruling authority
Section 113	this provision same as Section 113	161 "may rectify any error which is apparent on the face of record", the same test sub-section (3) of section 113 applies to an order of the Appellate Tribunal
Rule 142 of the CGST Rules, 2017	this provision prescribed by Rule 142 of the CGST Rules, 2017	rule 142(7) "Where a rectification of the order has been passed in accordance with the provisions of section 161"; the rule fixes the form in which a rectification of an order of demand is put on the portal, and section 161 itself prescribes no form

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 (1)

Number	Date	Subject
Circular No. 237/31/2024-GST	15 October 2024	Clarifying the issues regarding implementation of provisions of sub-section (5) and sub-section (6) in section 16 of CGST Act,2017.

Notifications (2)

Number	Date	Subject
Notification No. 16/2019-Central Tax	29 March 2019	Seeks to make Second Amendment (2019) to CGST Rules.
Notification No. 15/2017-Central Tax	1 July 2017	Amending CGST Rules notification 10/2017-CT dt 28.06.2017

Unsettled questions

The words of section 161 do not answer these questions. Where one decides a matter on the file, the answer depends on the position taken on it.

What makes a defect an error apparent on the face of the record.
Whether the three months binds the authority noticing the error on its own motion. The words fixing the period sit at the end of the limb about the error being brought to the authority's notice by an officer or the affected person, and the section says nothing about when the authority's own motion must arise.
What it is for a rectification to adversely affect a person, and which persons the third proviso reaches. The proviso turns the duty to follow the principles of natural justice on that condition and states no test for it, and the Act nowhere defines the expression.

See also

Section 160 of the CGST Act, 2017: assessment proceedings, etc, not to be invalid on certain grounds
Section 102 of the CGST Act, 2017: rectification of advance ruling
Section 113 of the CGST Act, 2017: orders of Appellate Tribunal

References

Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs. "Section 161. Rectification of errors apparent on the face of record". Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, CBIC tax information portal, with amendment footnotes 1 to 1. Retrieved 17 September 2026.

External links

CGST Act, 2017, Section 161 on the CBIC tax information portal