Sections 150 and 151 explained: this guide covers what it means, who it applies to, the step-by-step process, documents required, fees, due dates and penalties in India — so you can stay compliant with confidence and avoid costly mistakes.
Two provisions that operate on people who are not taxpayers in the transaction concerned — and one of them is drafted very widely indeed.
Section 150 requires specified persons — including banking companies, registering authorities, income-tax authorities, and other notified entities — to furnish an information return in respect of specified transactions. Where a return is defective or not furnished, the proper officer may issue a notice requiring compliance, and s.123 penalises the failure at ₹100 per day, capped at ₹5,000. Section 151 empowers the Commissioner, or an authorised officer, to direct the furnishing of information relating to any matter dealt with in connection with the Act, and s.124 provides a fine for failure without reasonable cause or for wilfully furnishing false information.
Section 150: the information return
Who files. The section names a list, and the operative content is in the section and the notifications under it. The categories include:
- a taxable person;
- a local authority or other public body or association;
- any authority responsible for registration of immovable property or of goods including motor vehicles;
- a banking company;
- a State Electricity Board or an electricity distribution or transmission licensee;
- the Registrar or Sub-Registrar under the Registration Act, 1908;
- the Registrar under the Companies Act, 2013;
- the registering authority under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988;
- the Collector;
- the recognised stock exchange;
- a depository;
- an officer of the Reserve Bank of India;
- the Goods and Services Tax Network;
- and such other person as may be specified.
What is furnished. An information return in respect of the specified transactions, in the prescribed form and manner, to the prescribed authority.
The defect procedure. Where the return is defective, the authority intimates the defect and gives an opportunity to rectify it within thirty days or such further period as allowed; where it is not rectified, the return is treated as not furnished. And where a return has not been furnished, a notice may be served requiring it within a period not exceeding ninety days.
The penalty. Section 123 — ₹100 for each day the failure to comply with the s.150(3) notice continues, not exceeding ₹5,000. Sections 123, 124, 128 and 131 →
Why section 150 matters to a taxpayer
It is where the department's third-party data comes from.
An audit or a scrutiny does not begin with the taxpayer's books; it begins with a difference between what the taxpayer reported and what somebody else reported about the taxpayer. Section 150 is one of the routes by which that other data arrives — alongside income-tax data, Form 26AS and AIS, e-way bill data, and the GSTR-1 of counterparties.
The practical consequence: the reconciliations that matter are the ones that anticipate this data. Turnover to financial statements, turnover to Form 26AS, e-way bills to GSTR-1 by document type, GSTR-2B to GSTR-3B. Each is a place where third-party data will differ from the return for an explainable reason — and the explanation is far cheaper prepared than reconstructed. Recurring audit findings →
Section 151: the general power
As substituted, s.151 provides that the Commissioner, or an officer authorised by him, may by an order, direct any person to furnish information relating to any matter dealt with in connection with this Act, within such time and in such form and manner as may be specified.
The features:
By an order. Not by an informal request. So the first question on receiving a demand for information under s.151 is whether an order exists, and what it says.
By the Commissioner or an authorised officer.
"Any matter dealt with in connection with this Act." This is the breadth the ICAI handbook flags under the heading "unfettered powers in section 151" — the phrase is very wide, and it is the width, rather than any express limit, that invites care.
The consequence of non-compliance. Section 124 — a fine which may extend to ₹10,000, and for a continuing offence a further fine up to ₹100 per day after the first day, subject to a maximum of ₹25,000; with clause (a) applying only where the failure is without reasonable cause, and clause (b) requiring the person to have wilfully furnished information known to be false.
Responding to a section 151 direction
The width of the provision does not mean an unlimited response is required. Five practical steps:
- Ask for the order. The section operates by order; ask for it, with the authorising officer's name and rank.
- Ask what matter it relates to. The information must relate to a matter dealt with in connection with this Act. A direction that identifies no matter cannot be assessed for relevance.
- Furnish what is asked, within the time specified — s.124(a) applies where the failure is without reasonable cause, so compliance or a stated reasonable cause is the answer, never silence.
- Where the time is impracticable, reply before it expires, stating what is ready, what is not, and why, and propose a timetable. That is the reasonable cause, recorded.
- Do not furnish information known to be inaccurate. Clause (b) penalises wilfully furnishing information known to be false, and an inaccurate submission made under time pressure is worse than a request for more time.
And distinguish it from the other information powers. Section 70 is a summons in an inquiry, and the proceeding is deemed judicial. Section 71(2) is a records demand with a fifteen working day period. Section 151 is a direction to furnish information. Each has a different provision, a different consequence and a different response. Scrutiny, audit or investigation →
Confidentiality: sections 133 and 158
Information furnished does not travel freely.
Section 158 restricts disclosure of particulars in returns, accounts, statements and documents furnished under the Act, subject to the exceptions it lists.
Section 133 makes wilful disclosure of information or the contents of a return, by persons engaged in the collection of statistics under s.151, by officers having access to s.150(1) information, or by persons engaged in connection with the provision of service on the common portal or the agent of the common portal, punishable with up to six months' imprisonment or ₹25,000 fine or both — with prior sanction required to prosecute. Sections 133 to 136 →
So the confidentiality obligation binds the portal service providers as much as departmental officers, and s.133 is the provision to invoke where business data furnished under s.150 or s.151 is disclosed.
Key takeaways
- Section 150 requires an information return from specified persons, including banks, registrars, stock exchanges, depositories and the GSTN.
- A defect may be rectified in thirty days; a notice for a non-furnished return allows up to ninety days.
- Section 123 penalises non-compliance at ₹100 per day, capped at ₹5,000.
- Section 151 allows the Commissioner to direct any person to furnish information relating to any matter in connection with the Act, by order.
- Section 124 provides a fine for failure without reasonable cause, or for wilfully furnishing information known to be false.
- Sections 133 and 158 protect the information furnished, and s.133 binds common portal service providers.
Read next
- Sections 123, 124, 128 and 131: The Smaller Penalty Provisions
- Sections 133 to 136: Cognizance, Presumption and Statements
- Section 70: Summons and the Judicial Proceeding
- Section 71: Access to Business Premises and the Six-Item List
Disclaimer: Positions stated as on 5 September 2026, based on the CGST Act as amended to 31 March 2026 (ICAI Bare Law, 12th edition) and the ICAI Handbook on Inspection, Search, Seizure and Arrest under GST (July 2025). The persons required to furnish information returns and the transactions covered are as specified and notified, and should be checked against the current position.