IndiaAudit Lens

Section 82 of the CGST Act, 2017

From the IndiaAuditLens Law Library

GST›CGST Act, 2017›Chapter XV, Demands and Recovery

At a glance

Entitlement and conditions

82Amounts of tax, interest or penalty owed to the Government form a first charge on the liable person’s property, overriding contrary laws except as otherwise provided in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

Procedure, powers and definitions

82The law does not settle whether the insolvency exception displaces the charge itself or only changes the order of distribution.

Tax, interest and penalty owed to the Government form a first charge on the liable person’s property. This applies to a taxable person or any other person and overrides contrary laws. The express exception preserves what the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 otherwise provides, without explaining whether that exception removes the charge or changes priority in distribution.^[1]

Quick facts

Section 82, CGST Act, 2017

Tax to be first charge on property

Provision
Act	Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017
Chapter	XV, Demands and Recovery
Section title	Tax to be first charge on property
In force from	1 July 2017^[1]
Amendments
Last amendment	1 July 2017: brought section 82 into force (none — this is the source's own enforcement note, not an amendment footnote)
Amendments	1 footnote in the CBIC text (table)
Related provisions
Sections	2, 78, 81
Structure the words "any amount payable by a taxable person or any other person on account of tax, interest or penalty which he is liable to pay to the Government"The amount payable to the Government the words "shall be a first charge on the property of such taxable person or such person"The property charged the words "Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any law for the time being in force"The overriding words the words "save as otherwise provided in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016"The saving for the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016
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 82, verbatim (show)

*

Section 82. Tax to be first charge on property.-

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any law for the time being in force, save as otherwise provided in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, any amount payable by a taxable person or any other person on account of tax, interest or penalty which he is liable to pay to the Government shall be a first charge on the property of such taxable person or such person.

*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

What is the matter, from the things this section speaks about?
Did the amount become payable on or after 1 July 2017?

Ticks stay in this browser only.

The amount payable to the Government the words "any amount payable by a taxable person or any other person on account of tax, interest or penalty which he is liable to pay to the Government"

Questions to answer on the file5 questions

Is an amount payable to the Government under this Act outstanding against the person?
On what account is that amount payable: tax, interest or penalty?
What is the amount payable to the Government?
Is the person the person who is liable to pay that amount to the Government?
Is that person a taxable person, or another person: a taxable person or any other person?

Ticks stay in this browser only.

The property charged the words "shall be a first charge on the property of such taxable person or such person"

Questions to answer on the file3 questions

Does the property belong to the person who is liable to pay the amount?
Is any other charge or claim asserted over the same property?
If so: under which law is that other charge or claim asserted: another law for the time being in force or the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016?

Ticks stay in this browser only.

The overriding words the words "Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any law for the time being in force"

Questions to answer on the file1 question

Does that other law contain something to the contrary of a first charge for the amount payable under this Act?

Ticks stay in this browser only.

The saving for the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 the words "save as otherwise provided in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016"

Questions to answer on the file3 questions

Is a proceeding under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 on foot in respect of the person or the property?
If so: has the Government's claim for this amount been put forward in that proceeding?
If question 1 is answered yes: does the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 otherwise provide for this amount, so that this section is displaced?

Ticks stay in this browser only.

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 82 as footnoted in the CBIC text
Note	Change	Instrument	Effective from
	brought section 82 into force	none — this is the source's own enforcement note, not an amendment footnote	1 July 2017

Provisions connected to Section 82
Provision	Connection	Words that tie them
Section 2	this provision defined by Section 2 clause (107)	2(107) "taxable person means a person who is registered or liable to be registered under section 22 or section 24"
Section 2	this provision defined by Section 2 clause (53)	2(53) "Government means the Central Government"
Section 78	Section 78 requires this provision	78 "Any amount payable by a taxable person in pursuance of an order passed under this Act shall be paid by such person within a period of three months... failing which recovery proceedings shall be initiated"
Section 81	Section 81 same as this provision	81 "such charge or transfer shall be void as against any claim in respect of any tax or any other sum payable by the said person" — both protect the same claim over the same property

Circulars and notifications

No circular or notification in the CBIC repository is recorded as citing this section.

Unsettled questions

The words of section 82 do not answer this question. Where one decides a matter on the file, the answer depends on the position taken on it.

How far does "save as otherwise provided in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016" reach: does it displace the first charge itself, or only the order in which the Government's claim is met once the Code governs the distribution? The section names the Code and stops there.

See also

Section 78 of the CGST Act, 2017: initiation of recovery proceedings
Section 81 of the CGST Act, 2017: transfer of property to be void in certain cases

References

Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs. "Section 82. Tax to be first charge on property". 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 82 on the CBIC tax information portal