Section 17 of the IGST Act, 2017

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GST›IGST Act, 2017

At a glance

Entitlement and conditions

  • 17(2) provisosIf the place cannot be determined separately, allocation follows the supplier’s annual supplies to each territory. If the supplier is unidentifiable, allocation instead follows respective State or Union territory tax collections in the preceding financial year.

Procedure, powers and definitions

  • 17(1)For the specified inter-State supplies and imports, the amount equivalent to central tax on a similar intra-State supply is apportioned to the Centre. The unavailed-credit category requires the amount to remain after the relevant annual-return due date.
  • 17(2)The balance goes to the State where the supply takes place, or to the Centre for a Union territory supply.
  • 17(2A)On Council recommendation, unapportioned amounts may temporarily be split fifty per cent to the Centre and fifty per cent to States or Union territories, subject to adjustment against regular apportionment.
  • 17(3)–(5)Apportionment rules apply with necessary changes to connected interest, penalty and compounding amounts. Corresponding tax accounts receive transfers in the prescribed manner and time, and subsequent refunds reduce the relevant future apportionment.
  • 17(3)The law does not settle the adaptations needed for allocating connected interest, penalty or compounding amounts, including how recipient credit-status and non-availment conditions apply.

Section 17 apportions specified integrated-tax collections between the Centre and destination States or Union territories. It covers supplies where recipients are unregistered, use composition, lack credit eligibility or leave credit unavailed beyond the specified period. The section provides fallback allocation methods, temporary equal apportionment, corresponding account transfers and adjustments for later refunds. Connected interest, penalties and compounding amounts follow adapted rules.[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 17, verbatim (show)

Section 17. Apportionment of tax and settlement of funds . -

(1) Out of the integrated tax paid to the Central Government,-

(a) in respect of inter-State supply of goods or services or both to an unregistered person or to a registered person paying tax under section 10 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act;

(b) in respect of inter-State supply of goods or services or both where the registered person is not eligible for input tax credit;

(c) in respect of inter-State supply of goods or services or both made in a financial year to a registered person, where he does not avail of the input tax credit within the specified period and thus remains in the integrated tax account after expiry of the due date for furnishing of annual return for such year in which the supply was made;

(d) in respect of import of goods or services or both by an unregistered person or by a registered person paying tax under section 10 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act;

(e) in respect of import of goods or services or both where the registered person is not eligible for input tax credit;

(f) in respect of import of goods or services or both made in a financial year by a registered person, where he does not avail of the said credit within the specified period and thus remains in the integrated tax account after expiry of the due date for furnishing of annual return for such year in which the supply was received, the amount of tax calculated at the rate equivalent to the central tax on similar intra-State supply shall be apportioned to the Central Government.

(2) The balance amount of integrated tax remaining in the integrated tax account in respect of the supply for which an apportionment to the Central Government has been done under sub-section (1) shall be apportioned to the,-

(a) State where such supply takes place; and (b) Central Government where such supply takes place in a Union territory:

Provided that where the place of such supply made by any taxable person cannot be determined separately, the said balance amount shall be apportioned to,-

(a) each of the States; and (b) Central Government in relation to Union territories, in proportion to the total supplies made by such taxable person to each of such States or Union territories, as the case may be, in a financial year:

Provided further that where the taxable person making such supplies is not identifiable, the said balance amount shall be apportioned to all States and the Central Government in proportion to the amount collected as State tax or, as the case may be, Union territory tax, by the respective State or, as the case may be, by the Central Government during the immediately preceding financial year.

1[(2A). The amount not apportioned under sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) may, for the time being, on the recommendations of the Council, be apportioned at the rate of fifty per cent. to the Central Government and fifty per cent. to the State Governments or the Union territories, as the case may be, on ad hoc basis and shall be adjusted against the amount apportioned under the said sub-sections.]

(3) The provisions of sub-sections (1) and (2) relating to apportionment of integrated tax shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to the apportionment of interest, penalty and compounding amount realised in connection with the tax so apportioned.

(4) Where an amount has been apportioned to the Central Government or a State Government under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) or sub-section (3),the amount collected as integrated tax shall stand reduced by an amount equal to the amount so apportioned andthe Central Government shall transfer to the central tax account or Union territory tax account, an amount equal to the respective amounts apportioned to the Central Government and shall transfer to the State tax account of the respective States an amount equal to the amount apportioned to that State, in such manner and within such time as may be prescribed.

(5) Any integrated tax apportioned to a State or, as the case may be, to the Central Government on account of a Union territory, if subsequently found to be refundable to any person and refunded to such person, shall be reduced from the amount to be apportioned under this section, to such State, or Central Government on account of such Union territory, in such manner and within such time as may be prescribed.

1. Inserted by s. 7 of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Act, 2018 (No. 32 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 of the current section 17, footnote 1

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Inter-state status basis 17(1)(a)

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Inter-state eligibility basis 17(1)(b)

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Inter-state unavailed basis 17(1)(c)

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Import status basis 17(1)(d)

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Import eligibility basis 17(1)(e)

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Import unavailed basis 17(1)(f)

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Central-tax-equivalent amount 17(1) closing words

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Balance after Central apportionment 17(2)

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Ordinary destination of the balance 17(2)(a)/(b)

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Supply-weighted fallback 17(2) first proviso

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Prior-year tax-collection fallback 17(2) second proviso

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Temporary ad hoc 50:50 allocation 17(2A)

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Adjustment of the earlier ad hoc allocation 17(2A) closing words

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Interest, penalty and compounding amounts 17(3)

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Reduction of integrated-tax collections 17(4) first limb

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Transfers to the correct government tax accounts 17(4) remaining limbs

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Reduction after actual refund of previously apportioned tax 17(5)

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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 17 as footnoted in the CBIC text
NoteChange
1Inserted by s. 7 of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Act, 2018 (No. 32 of 2018) - Brought into force w.e.f. 01st February, 2019.[2]
Provisions connected to Section 17
ProvisionConnectionWords that tie them
Section 10 of the CGST Act, 201717(1)(a)/(d) requires Section 10 of the CGST Act, 2017, composition status of the recipient/importer17(1)(a) "registered person paying tax under section 10 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act"
Section 2 of the CGST Act, 201717(1)(a)–(f) defined by Section 2 of the CGST Act, 2017, registered person and UIN exclusion; through IGST section 2(24), compiled and reviewed17(1)(b) "registered person"
Section 16 of the CGST Act, 2017, Section 17 of the CGST Act, 201717(1)(b)/(e) requires Section 16 of the CGST Act, 2017 and Section 17 of the CGST Act, 2017, applicable credit eligibility17(1)(b) "not eligible for input tax credit"
Section 44 of the CGST Act, 201717(1)(c)/(f) requires Applicable credit time limit and Section 44 of the CGST Act, 2017, annual-return date, with year-specific notification; exact wiring pending17(1)(c) "within the specified period"; 17(1)(c) "due date for furnishing of annual return for such year"
Section 53 of the CGST Act, 2017Section 53 of the CGST Act, 2017 same as Government settlement-account domain; distinct trigger and transfer directionCGST 53 "transfer an amount equal to the amount so reduced from the central tax account to the integrated tax account"

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)

NumberDateSubject
Circular No. 89/08/2019-GST18 February 2019Seeks to clarify situations of mentioning details of inter-State supplies made to unregistered persons in Table 3.2 of FORM GSTR-3B and Table 7B of FORM GSTR-1.

Unsettled questions

The words of section 17 do not answer this question. Where one decides a matter on the file, the answer depends on the position taken on it.

  1. Which necessary adaptations of section 17(1)/(2), including recipient credit-status and non-availment conditions, apply to the proposed allocation of realised interest, penalty or compounding amount connected to apportioned tax? Section 17(3) says "mutatis mutandis" without specifying those adaptations. The general IGST section 20 application of CGST provisions and CGST section 53 settlement positions address different questions.

See also

References

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

External links