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 169, verbatim (show)
* Section 169. Service of notice in certain circumstances.-
(1) Any decision, order, summons, notice or other communication under this Act or the rules made thereunder shall be served by any one of the following methods, namely:-
(a) by giving or tendering it directly or by a messenger including a courier to the addressee or the taxable person or to his manager or authorised representative or an advocate or a tax practitioner holding authority to appear in the proceedings on behalf of the taxable person or to a person regularly employed by him in connection with the business, or to any adult member of family residing with the taxable person; or
(b) by registered post or speed post or courier with acknowledgement due, to the person for whom it is intended or his authorised representative, if any, at his last known place of business or residence; or
(c) by sending a communication to his e-mail address provided at the time of registration or as amended from time to time; or
(d) by making it available on the common portal; or
(e) by publication in a newspaper circulating in the locality in which the taxable person or the person to whom it is issued is last known to have resided, carried on business or personally worked for gain; or
(f) if none of the modes aforesaid is practicable, by affixing it in some conspicuous place at his last known place of business or residence and if such mode is not practicable for any reason, then by affixing a copy thereof on the notice board of the office of the concerned officer or authority who or which passed such decision or order or issued such summons or notice.
(2) Every decision, order, summons, notice or any communication shall be deemed to have been served on the date on which it is tendered or published or a copy thereof is affixed in the manner provided in sub-section (1).
(3) When such decision, order, summons, notice or any communication is sent by registered post or speed post, it shall be deemed to have been received by the addressee at the expiry of the period normally taken by such post in transit unless the contrary is proved.
* 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 file3 questions
The methods by which service is to be effected 169(1) and clauses (a) to (f)
Questions to answer on the file10 questions
The date on which service is deemed to have been effected 169(2)
Questions to answer on the file5 questions
Deemed receipt of a communication sent by registered post or speed post 169(3)
Questions to answer on the file5 questions
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]
| Note | Change | Instrument | Effective from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enforced the section | — | 1st July, 2017 |
Relationship with other provisions
| Provision | Connection | Words that tie them |
|---|---|---|
| Section 2 | 169(1)(a) defined by Section 2 clause (15) | 169(1)(a) "or authorised representative" |
| Section 2 | 169(1)(a) defined by Section 2 clause (107) | 169(1)(a) "or the taxable person" |
| Section 116 | 169(1)(a) requires Section 116 | 169(1)(a) "or an advocate or a tax practitioner holding authority to appear in the proceedings on behalf of the taxable person" |
| Section 2 | 169(1)(d) defined by Section 2 clause (26) | 169(1)(d) "by making it available on the common portal" |
| Section 146 | 169(1)(d) prescribed by Section 146 | clause (26) of section 2 defines the common portal as the one referred to in section 146; section 169 names the portal and does not constitute it |
| Rule 142 of the CGST Rules, 2017 | 169(1) prescribed by Rule 142 of the CGST Rules, 2017 | rule 142 prescribes the forms in which a notice, statement and order of demand are issued and served on the common portal; section 169 names no form |
| Section 78 | Section 78 requires this provision |
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 (3)
| Number | Date | Subject |
|---|---|---|
| Circular No. 252/09/2025-GST | 23 September 2025 | Communication to taxpayers through eOffice - requirement of Document Identification Number (DIN) |
| Circular No. 249/06/2025-GST | 9 June 2025 | Generation and quoting of Document Identification Number(DIN) on any communication issued by the officers of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) to tax payers and other concerned persons |
| Circular No. 99/18/2019-GST | 23 April 2019 | Seeks to clarify the extension in time under sub-section (1) of section 30 of the Act to provide a one time opportunity to apply for revocation of cancellation of registration on or before the 22nd July, 2019 for the specified class of persons for whom cancellation order has been passed up to 31st March, 2019. |
Unsettled questions
The words of section 169 do not answer these questions. Where one decides a matter on the file, the answer depends on the position taken on it.
- Sub-section (1) says the communication "shall be served by any one of the following methods" and sub-section (2) fixes the deemed date by the act done "in the manner provided in sub-section (1)". Where the same communication is served by two or more of those methods on different dates, which of them fixes the date of service: the first, the last, or the one the officer records as the service effected?
- Clause (f) allows affixing only "if none of the modes aforesaid is practicable", and allows affixing on the notice board only "if such mode is not practicable for any reason". The Act nowhere says what makes a mode not practicable, what must have been attempted before it is so, or what must be recorded to establish it.
- Sub-section (2) fixes the deemed date of service by three acts only — tendering, publication and affixing. It names no act for clause (b) post or courier, for clause (c) e-mail or for clause (d) the common portal, and sub-section (3) speaks of deemed receipt by post and not of service. On what date is a communication served by one of those three methods deemed to have been served?
- Sub-section (3) deems receipt "at the expiry of the period normally taken by such post in transit" and fixes no period. What period does the firm take, and on what evidence?
See also
- Section 116 of the CGST Act, 2017: appearance by authorised representative
- Section 146 of the CGST Act, 2017: common Portal
References
- Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs. "Section 169. Service of notice in certain circumstances". 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 169 on the CBIC tax information portal