1. In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of Section 4 of the Kerala State Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (Act 20 of 2017) (hereinafter referred to as the said Act) read with section 5 of the said Act, the Commissioner of State Tax hereby vests the officers appointed as per notification issued under G.O. (P) No. 94/2017/Taxes dated 29.07.2017 and published as S.R.O. No. 487/2017 read with government order No. G.O. (Ms) No.27/2020/TAXES dated 10.03.2020 with all the powers under the said Act and the rules made thereunder with respect to the jurisdiction specified in the paragraphs given below.
2. Regarding Special Commissioners and Additional Commissioners, they shall exercise territorial jurisdiction over the whole of the State of Kerala in respect of the functions assigned under G.O. (Ms) No.55/2022/TAXES dated 02.08.2022. The Special Commissioners and Additional Commissioners shall exercise jurisdiction over all the other officers performing the functions earmarked to be under the control of each of the Special Commissioners and Additional Commissioners respectively as provided in G.O. (Ms) No.55/2022/TAXES dated 02.08.2022.
3. In respect of Officers posted in Taxpayer Services Headquarters, Audit Headquarters and, Intelligence and Enforcement Headquarters, they shall exercise territorial jurisdiction over the whole of the State of Kerala in respect of the functions assigned under G.O. (Ms) No.55/2022/TAXES dated 02.08.2022.
4. Regarding the officers posted in Taxpayer Services vertical, the territorial jurisdiction of the Assistant Commissioners/ State Tax Officers of Taxpayer Services Circles mentioned in column (3) shall extend over the PIN Codes specified in column (4) in Table-1 given below. The corresponding Deputy Commissioners of Taxpayer Services Divisions in Column (2) shall exercise territorial jurisdiction over the officers mentioned in column (3) in Table 1. The corresponding Joint Commissioners of Taxpayer Services Districts in Column (1) shall exercise territorial jurisdiction over the officers mentioned in column (2) in Table 1.
5. In respect of Officers posted in the Audit vertical and, Intelligence and Enforcement vertical, they shall exercise territorial jurisdiction over the whole of the State of Kerala in respect of the functions assigned under G.O. (Ms) No.55/2022/TAXES dated 02.08.2022.
6. The Joint Commissioners, Intelligence and Enforcement shall exercise jurisdiction over all the officers posted under them in their Zone. The Deputy Commissioners, Intelligence shall exercise jurisdiction over all the officers posted under them in their Tax District, and the Deputy Commissioners, Enforcement shall exercise jurisdiction over all the officers posted under them in their Zone. The Senior Intelligence Officers/ Intelligence Officers shall exercise jurisdiction over the officers posted under them in their intelligence units. The Senior Enforcement Officers/ Enforcement Officers shall exercise jurisdiction over the officers posted under them in their Enforcement Squads. The formations of Intelligence and Enforcement, and its hierarchical structure shall be as given in Table 2 and Table 3.
7. The Joint Commissioners, Audit shall exercise jurisdiction over all the officers posted under them in their Audit District. The Deputy Commissioners of Audit shall exercise jurisdiction over all the officers posted under them in their Audit Division. The Senior Audit Officers/ Audit Officers shall exercise jurisdiction over the officers posted under them in their Audit Teams. The formations of the Audit and its hierarchical structure shall be as given in Table 4.
8. In respect of Officers posted in the Appeal Headquarters, they shall exercise territorial jurisdiction over the whole of the State of Kerala in respect of the functions assigned under G.O. (Ms) No.55/2022/TAXES dated 02/08/2022.
9. The Additional Commissioners, Appeals shall have jurisdiction over the whole of the State of Kerala as the first appellate authority for the adjudication orders issued by Joint Commissioners.
10. The territorial jurisdiction of the Joint Commissioners, Appeals, as the first appellate authority mentioned in column (1) shall extend over the adjudication orders issued by officers up to and including Deputy Commissioners, arising out of the corresponding Taxpayer Services Districts specified in column (2) in Table-5.
11. In respect of Officers posted in the Legal Cell at the Commissionerate and the subordinate offices located in Ernakulam, they shall exercise territorial jurisdiction over the whole of the State of Kerala in respect of the functions assigned under G.O. (Ms) No.55/2022/TAXES dated 02.08.2022.
12. In respect of all other officers at the Headquarters in Commissionerate which is not specified elsewhere in this notification, they shall exercise territorial jurisdiction over the whole of the State of Kerala in respect of the functions assigned under G.O. (Ms) No.55/2022/TAXES dated 02.08.2022.
13. All previous notifications/orders specifying jurisdiction/work assignment/vesting of powers regarding GST Act and Rules stand superseded by this notification with effect from the date of issuance of this notification.
14. This notification shall come into force on the 10th day of January, 2023
COMMISSIONER
Table-2: Intelligence Formations
(1)
(2)
(3)
Table-3: Enforcement Formations
Table-4: Audit Formations
Table-5: Jurisdiction of Appeals Formation
Explanatory Note
Consequent to the introduction of Kerala Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (ACT 20 of 2017) in the State with effect from 01.07.2017, the State Government is empowered to appoint officers to administer the GST laws. The Government have issued appointment orders by re-designating the classes of Officers of erstwhile Commercial Taxes Department as officers as per G.O. (P) No. 94/2017/Taxes dated 29.07.2017 and G.O. (Ms) No.27/2020/TAXES dated 10.03.2020.
The Government subsequently issued G.O. (Ms) No.55/2022/TAXES dated 02.08.2022 for restructuring the State GST Department. As per the Government Order, 15 Tax Districts have been constituted under the Taxpayer Services vertical and each Tax District consists of Taxpayer Services Divisions, under which Taxpayer Services Circles have been constituted. There are 31 Taxpayer Services Divisions and 94 Taxpayer Services Circles for which PIN based jurisdiction allocation has been sanctioned.