GSTAT Orders IRCTC To Deposit ₹50.41 Crore For Failing To Pass On GST Benefit On Rail Neer

The GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) at Delhi has held that Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) failed to pass on the benefit of a reduction in tax rates on Rail Neer packaged drinking water after GST was introduced in 2017. The tribunal found that although the Railway Board fixed the maximum retail price (MRP), IRCTC had the discretion to determine the transfer price at which it supplied the product to railway licensees and contractors.A special bench comprising...

GSTAT Delhi Directs Builder To Pay ₹31.20 Lakh To 66 Homebuyers For Failure To Pass On ITC Benefit

The Principal Bench of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) at Delhi, on 30 September directed Mangalbela Real Estates Pvt. Ltd. to pay Rs. 31.20 lakh to 66 homebuyers of its Atri Green Valley Project in Kolkata, along with 18% annual interest. A Single Member Bench of Technical Member Anil Kumar Gupta rejected the company's objections to the re-investigation and held that it had violated Section 171(1) of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017, by failing to pass...

GSTAT Bengaluru Blocks Resort Construction ITC, Rules Safari Retreats Functionality Test Inapplicable

The Bengaluru Bench of the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) on 30 September held that the functionality test laid down by the Supreme Court in Chief Commissioner of CGST v. Safari Retreats (P) Ltd. cannot be applied to claim Input Tax Credit (ITC) on the construction of a hotel or resort building, particularly after the retrospective amendment to Section 17(5)(d) of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017. A Bench comprising Judicial Member Prabhakaran P.M. and Technical Member...

GSTAT Bengaluru Sets Aside ₹20.13 Lakh Penalty On Valuecart For E-Way Bill Lapse, Imposes ₹25,000 Fine

The Bengaluru Bench of the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) on 30 September partly allowed an appeal filed by Valuecart Private Limited against a penalty of Rs. 20,13,640 imposed under Section 129 of the Central and Karnataka Goods and Services Tax Acts, and reduced the penalty to Rs. 25,000 under Section 125 of the GST Acts for the procedural lapse. A Bench comprising Technical Member Sudha Koka and Judicial Member Srikanth Venkatraman held that failure to generate a fresh e-way bill for...

Commissioner's Approval Alone Cannot Sustain Departmental Appeal Below ₹20 Lakh: GSTAT Ghaziabad

On 1 October, the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT), Ghaziabad, held that a departmental appeal cannot be maintained when the disputed tax demand is below the prescribed monetary limit unless the Revenue establishes a recognised exception to the limit. A Division Bench comprising Judicial Member Dr. Sanjay Kumar Chandhariyavi and Technical Member Sungita Sharma dismissed the Revenue's appeal involving a disputed amount of Rs. 11.88 lakh at the threshold, without examining its...

GSTAT Lucknow Quashes ₹6.62 Lakh Demand Against Jai Enterprises, Says Suspicion Can't Prove Tax Evasion

The Lucknow Bench of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) on 16 September held that tax and penalty cannot be sustained merely on an inference that goods had been transported earlier or that e-way bills had been reused without evidence establishing either. A Two-Member Bench comprising Judicial Member Santosh Kumar Srivastava and Technical Member Arvind Kumar allowed Jai Enterprises' appeal and set aside the order of the Additional Commissioner Grade-2 (Appeals), Kanpur, which...

GSTAT Ernakulam Holds 7-Day Limit Mandatory For Penalty Orders, Quashes Order Passed After 445 Days

The Ernakulam Bench of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT), on 16 September held that the seven-day time limit under Section 129(3) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and the Kerala Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 for passing a penalty order is mandatory. A Bench comprising Vice-President Subramanya Rayaprol and Technical Member Ramamoorthi Sriram allowed the appeal filed by GMG Electric, Kochi against the order of the Joint Commissioner (Appeals), SGST...

Cinema Operator Cannot Use State-Set Ticket Price Limits To Avoid Passing On GST Cut To Consumers: GSTAT Delhi

The GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT), Principal Bench at Delhi, has held that a cinema operator cannot rely on State Government price regulations to avoid passing on the benefit of a GST rate reduction to viewers.A single member coram of Judicial Member Justice Mayank Kumar Jain, observed that the orders relied on by Alankar Cinema did not prohibit it from reducing ticket prices after GST on cinema tickets was cut from 18% to 12% from January 1, 2019. The tribunal observed, “In the absence of...

Taxpayer Can Seek GST Refund Even If Not Party To Case Striking Down Levy: GSTAT Surat

The Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT), at Surat, has held that a taxpayer can claim a refund of tax paid under a levy subsequently declared unconstitutional, even if the taxpayer was not a party to the proceedings in which the levy was struck down. “Therefore, a taxpayer may claim refund of tax collected under a levy subsequently declared ultra vires or unconstitutional in a judgment even if he was not a party to such judgment,” the tribunal held. The ruling came in 46...

Wrongful ITC Availment Alone Cannot Justify Tax Evasion Proceedings: Kolkata GSTAT

The Kolkata Bench of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) has held that invocation of Section 74 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 requires material establishing deliberate suppression, fraud or wilful misstatement with an intent to evade tax, and cannot rest merely on an allegation of wrongful availment of Input Tax Credit (ITC). A Two Member Bench comprising Judicial Member S.G. Chattopadhyay and Technical Member Bijoy Kumar Kar partly allowed the Revenue's...

GSTAT Lucknow Says Mere E-Invoice Lapse Cannot Establish Tax Evasion, Sets Aside ₹63.72 Lakh Penalty

The Lucknow Bench of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) on 28 September held that a procedural lapse in generating an e-invoice, without material showing tax evasion, cannot by itself warrant penalty under Section 129 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.A Bench comprising Judicial Member Santosh Kumar Srivastava and Technical Member Arvind Kumar allowed VLM Null Group's appeal against the order of the Additional Commissioner, Grade-II, State Tax, Kanpur, imposing a...

GST Department Can't Challenge Registration Restoration Orders After Implementing Them: GSTAT Hyderabad

The Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) at Hyderabad, on 18 September held that the GST Department cannot challenge orders restoring GST registrations after acting upon those orders and restoring the registrations. A Two-Member Bench comprising Judicial Member A P Ravi and Technical Member Duvvuri Krishna Srinivas disposed of 16 Department appeals as not maintainable, holding that they had become infructuous after the registrations were restored. The Tribunal observed: “Having...