2. Definitions.—
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,––
(1) “Central Goods and Services Tax Act” means the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017;
(2) ‘‘central tax” means the tax levied and collected under the Central Goods and Services Tax
Act;
(3) “continuous journey” means a journey for which a single or more than one ticket or invoice is
issued at the same time, either by a single supplier of service or through an agent acting on behalf of
more than one supplier of service, and which involves no stopover between any of the legs of the
journey for which one or more separate tickets or invoices are issued.
Explanation.––For the purposes of this clause, the term “stopover” means a place where a
passenger can disembark either to transfer to another conveyance or break his journey for a certain
period in order to resume it at a later point of time;
(4) “customs frontiers of India” means the limits of a customs area as defined in section 2 of the
Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962);
(5) “export of goods” with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means taking
goods out of India to a place outside India;
(6) “export of services” means the supply of any service when,––
(i) the supplier of service is located in India;
(ii) the recipient of service is located outside India;
(iii) the place of supply of service is outside India;
(iv) the payment for such service has been received by the supplier of service in convertible
foreign exchange; 2[or in Indian rupees wherever permitted by the Reserve Bank of India]; and
1. 22nd June, 2017 for sections 1, 2, 3, 14, 20 and 22 vide notification No. G.S.R. 603 (E) dated the 19th June, 2017, see Gazette
of India, Extraordinary, Part II, sec. 3
(i).
1st July, 2017 for sections 4 to 13, 16 to 19, 21, 23 to 25 vide notification No. G.S.R. 662(E) dated 28th June
2017, see Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, sec. 3
(i).
* Vide notification No. S.O. 3912(E), dated 30th October, 2019, this Act is made applicable to the Union territory of Jammu and
Kashmir and the Union territory of Ladakh.
2. Ins. by Act 32 of 2018, s. 2 (w.e.f. 1-2-2019).
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(v) the supplier of service and the recipient of service are not merely establishments of a
distinct person in accordance with Explanation 1 in section 8;
(7) “fixed establishment” means a place (other than the registered place of business) which is
characterised by a sufficient degree of permanence and suitable structure in terms of human and
technical resources to supply services or to receive and use services for its own needs;
(8) “Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Act” means the Goods and Services Tax
(Compensation to States) Act, 2017;
(9) “Government” means the Central Government;
(10) ‘‘import of goods” with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means bringing
goods into India from a place outside India;
(11) ‘‘import of services” means the supply of any service, where––
(i) the supplier of service is located outside India;
(ii) the recipient of service is located in India; and
(iii) the place of supply of service is in India;
(12) “integrated tax” means the integrated goods and services tax levied under this Act;
(13) “intermediary” means a broker, an agent or any other person, by whatever name called, who
arranges or facilitates the supply of goods or services or both, or securities, between two or more
persons, but does not include a person who supplies such goods or services or both or securities on his
own account;
(14) “location of the recipient of services” means,––
(a) where a supply is received at a place of business for which the registration has been
obtained, the location of such place of business;
(b) where a supply is received at a place other than the place of business for which
registration has been obtained (a fixed establishment elsewhere), the location of such fixed
establishment;
(c) where a supply is received at more than one establishment, whether the place of business
or fixed establishment, the location of the establishment most directly concerned with the receipt
of the supply; and
(d) in absence of such places, the location of the usual place of residence of the recipient;
(15) “location of the supplier of services” means,––
(a) where a supply is made from a place of business for which the registration has been
obtained, the location of such place of business;
(b) where a supply is made from a place other than the place of business for which
registration has been obtained (a fixed establishment elsewhere), the location of such fixed
establishment;
(c) where a supply is made from more than one establishment, whether the place of business
or fixed establishment, the location of the establishment most directly concerned with the
provision of the supply; and
(d) in absence of such places, the location of the usual place of residence of the supplier;
(16) “non-taxable online recipient” means any Government, local authority, governmental
authority, an individual or any other person not registered and receiving online information and
database access or retrieval services in relation to any purpose other than commerce, industry or any
other business or profession, located in taxable territory.
Explanation.––For the purposes of this clause, the expression “governmental authority” means an
authority or a board or any other body,––
(i) set up by an Act of Parliament or a State Legislature; or
(ii) established by any Government,
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with ninety per cent. or more participation by way of equity or control, to carry out any function
entrusted 1[to a Panchayat under article 243G or] to a municipality under article 243W of the Constitution;
(17) “online information and database access or retrieval services” means services whose delivery
is mediated by information technology over the internet or an electronic network and the nature of
which renders their supply essentially automated and involving minimal human intervention and
impossible to ensure in the absence of information technology and includes electronic services such
as,––
(i) advertising on the internet;
(ii) providing cloud services;
(iii) provision of e-books, movie, music, software and other intangibles through
telecommunication networks or internet;
(iv) providing data or information, retrievable or otherwise, to any person in electronic form
through a computer network;
(v) online supplies of digital content (movies, television shows, music and the like);
(vi) digital data storage; and
(vii) online gaming;
(18) “output tax”, in relation to a taxable person, means the integrated tax chargeable under this
Act on taxable supply of goods or services or both made by him or by his agent but excludes tax
payable by him on reverse charge basis;
(19) “Special Economic Zone” shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in clause (za) of
section 2 of the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 (28 of 2005);
(20) “Special Economic Zone developer” shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in
clause
(g) of section 2 of the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 (28 of 2005) and includes an
Authority as defined in clause
(d) and a Co-Developer as defined in clause
(f) of section 2 of the said
Act;
(21) “supply” shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in section 7 of the Central Goods and
Services Tax Act;
(22) “taxable territory” means the territory to which the provisions of this Act apply;
(23) “zero-rated supply” shall have the meaning assigned to it in section 16;
(24) words and expressions used and not defined in this Act but defined in the Central Goods and
Services Tax Act, the Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Act and the Goods and Services Tax
(Compensation to States) Act shall have the same meaning as assigned to them in those Acts;
(25) any reference in this Act to a law which is not in force in the State of Jammu and Kashmir*,
shall, in relation to that State be construed as a reference to the corresponding law, if any, in force in
that State.
CHAPTER II
ADMINISTRATION
