Consolidated GST Show Cause Notices Across Multiple Years Permissible: Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court has recently ruled that GST authorities can issue a single show cause notice covering multiple financial years, settling a dispute over whether such notices must be confined to one year. The question before the court was, “Whether it would be permissible to issue consolidated/common show cause notice under Sections 73 and 74 of the Act covering multiple financial years or multiple tax periods?” Answering this, a bench of Justice S.G. Pandit and Justice K.V. Aravind...

Mere GST Deposit In Electronic Ledger Not Payment Until Appropriated To Government: Andhra Pradesh High Court

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has recently held that merely depositing GST in the electronic ledger does not amount to payment to the Government, while setting aside a tax and penalty order against Sona Enterprises. "The provisions of Section 49(1) of the CGST Act read with Rule 87(6) & (7) of the CGST Rules makes it clear that the deposit of cash or the credit of input tax credit into the electronic ledger of the tax payer would not amount to payment of tax. Such payment of tax would...

Delhi High Court Declines GST Refund Challenge In Writ, Says Appeal Lies Before GSTAT

The Delhi High Court has declined to entertain a writ petition challenging rejection of GST refund claims, holding that the petitioner must avail the statutory remedy of appeal before the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT).A division bench of Justices Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Ajay Digpaul was dealing with a plea filed by Mahanadi Exporttek Private Limited assailing an appellate order that had upheld rejection of its refund claims aggregating over Rs. 4 crore under Section 54 of...

Taxpayer Must Be Heard Even If They Opt Out Of Personal Hearing Under GST Law: Gujarat High Court

The Gujarat High Court recently quashed a GST demand against a registered taxpayer, holding that authorities must grant a personal hearing before passing an adverse order and cannot bypass this requirement even if the taxpayer opts out in a form. A division bench of Justice A.S. Supehia and Justice Pranav Trivedi held that the statutory mandate governing adjudication has to be strictly followed. The court said, “the option of no personal hearing taken by the petitioner, cannot override the...

CGST Act Bars Parallel Proceedings By State, Central GST Authorities Only For Same Subject Matter: Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court has recently held that the bar on parallel proceedings under Section 6(2)(b) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 applies only where proceedings by State and Central GST authorities relate to the same subject matter and not where they pertain to different financial years or distinct infractions.A Division Bench of Justices Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Ajay Digpaul made the observation while dismissing a writ petition challenging an order confirming tax demand under...

Uttarakhand High Court Sets Aside GST Order Passed Same Day As Reply, Calls Hearing An “Eyewash”

Observing that passing an adjudication order on the very same day as filing of reply without granting a meaningful opportunity of hearing violates principles of natural justice, the High Court of Uttarakhand set aside GST demand and penalty proceedings against Poddar Ispat Pvt. Ltd.The bench, consisting of Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta and Justice Subhash Upadhyay, stated that the mere recording of a hearing on the date of filing a reply does not satisfy the requirement of a fair...

Andhra Pradesh High Court Sets Aside GST Order Against Mytrah Energy Over Failure To Examine Nature of Supply

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has set aside a GST assessment order against Mytrah Energy India Pvt. Ltd., holding that the assessing authority failed to properly examine the nature of the transaction and wrongly applied a notification retrospectively.The Division Bench of Justice R. Raghunandan Rao and Justice T.C.D. Sekhar held that the assessment order was unsustainable for failure to examine the nature of supply and accordingly remanded the matter for fresh adjudication.The petitioner,...

Madras High Court Holds Cut Tobacco Processed With Jaggery Water Is Unmanufactured Tobacco

The Madras High Court has recently held that cut tobacco processed by curing with jaggery water and sold in cut form would be classifiable as unmanufactured tobacco, setting aside advance rulings that had described it as manufactured chewing tobacco and subjected it to a higher compensation cess under GST.The court set aside the rulings of the Authority for Advance Ruling and the Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling, as well as a single judge's order that had upheld the description of the...

Delhi HC Dismisses GST Dept Review, Says It Could Have Withdrawn SCN Instead Of Inviting Order On Merits

The Delhi High Court has dismissed a review petition filed by the GST Department against an earlier ruling restricting retrospective cancellation of a firm's GST registration. The court observed that in the facts of the case, the Department, having chosen to invite a decision on merits instead of withdrawing the defective show cause notice and seeking liberty to issue a fresh one, could not subsequently seek to reopen the issue in review jurisdiction.A Division Bench of Justices Nitin Wasudeo...

Delhi High Court Quashes State GST Order Citing Overlapping Proceedings With CGST Authority

The Delhi High Court has quashed an order passed by the State GST Authority against an engineering firm, holding that in the facts of the case, where proceedings had already been initiated earlier by the Central GST authority and involved overlapping entities, the State authority ought not to have proceeded further having regard to the mandate of Section 6 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. A Division Bench of Justices Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Ajay Digpaul was dealing with a...

Delay In GST Appeal Condonable On Showing Sufficient Cause: Gujarat High Court

The Gujarat High Court on 17 April, held that a short delay in filing an appeal under the GST regime can be condoned if the appellant demonstrates “sufficient cause”, and that appellate authorities must apply their mind to the reasons instead of mechanically rejecting appeals on limitation. A Division Bench comprising Justices A.S. Supehia and Pranav Trivedi allowed the writ petition filed by Manjulaben Vinod Patel and quashed the appellate order rejecting the appeal as time-barred. The judges...

Delhi High Court Sets Aside GST Demand Order Despite Delay In Filing Writ, Cites Denial Of Hearing

The Delhi High Court has recently set aside a GST demand order after finding that the taxpayer was not given an opportunity of hearing, even though the writ petition was filed belatedlyA bench of Justices Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Ajay Digpaul set aside a GST demand order passed under Section 73 of the Delhi Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, while imposing costs and granting conditional relief to the petitioner.Petitioner had challenged an Order-in-Original confirming a tax demand of over Rs. 20...