Section 158A of CGST Act: Consent based information sharing by a taxable person

Section 158A was introduced by the Budget 2023 in the Central Goods and Services Tax Act. As per the new Section, yet to be notified, the taxpayer's information on the GST portal, e-way bill portal, or e-invoice portal may be shared with other government systems after taking the taxpayer’s consent. Read on to understand the complete provision, its application and its implications on businesses.

What is Section 158A?

Section 158A is titled “Consent-based sharing of information furnished by a taxable person”. It is inserted by the Budget 2023 and is yet to be notified, along with the rules, manner or procedure. The Section is divided into three sub-sections, as displayed below.

Section 158(1) states that the GST portal (GST Network) can share with other notified systems and, as per pre-defined procedure, the information submitted in the- 

• Application for GST registration 
• Sales details or invoices reported in the GSTR-1 or Invoice Furnishing Facility (IFF) 
• Details reported in GSTR-3B
• Details reported in the annual returns (GSTR-9) and reconciliation statement (GSTR-9C) 
• Document details submitted for e-way bill generation
• Any other information furnished on the common portal or the government portals maintained by the GST Network (GSTN).

Hence, the information furnished on the e-way bill and e-invoicing portals are also covered under this ambit. Further, this provision overrides Sections 133 (Liability of officers and certain other persons), 152 (Bar on disclosure of information) and 158 (Disclosure of information by a public servant). Hence, if any restriction is laid down in these three sections, it is not enforceable where Section 158A gets attracted.

Consent required under Section 158A

Section 158(2) lays down a condition that the GSTN must obtain the consent of taxpayers as depicted in the table below-

Section 158(3) states that suppose any liability arises on taxpayer due to such information shared by the GSTN with any other systems, then no action can be taken against the GSTN or the government. Further, such information sharing cannot impact the tax liability payable on the relevant transaction or returns.

When does Section 158A come into force?

The government is yet to notify when Section 158A will come into force. Likewise, the systems with which the GSTN can share taxpayers’ portal information and the manner/steps are yet to be notified. Further, the format and time limit to obtain consent is not yet defined. The GST portal has yet to upgrade itself to incorporate the consent-based information-sharing mechanism.

Impact of Section 158A on businesses

The new provisions of Section 158A can profoundly impact taxpayers’ businesses and finance. The taxpayers should be more careful in reporting complete and accurate information on the GST portal. 

Further, such information must be consistent with the information reported on other government portals such as the income tax, ICEGATE for export-import, Ministry Corporate Affairs (MCA) portal, Enforcement Directorate (ED), etc., and vice-versa. Any failure to report consistent details across government portals may land them in trouble, attracting notices, enquiries and penalties.